Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 - PoA-ISS

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132 Security of tenure Control of land is particularly important for women question of how best to ensure that tenure security can be accessible to all. For example, policies that focus on the possession of freehold title as a means of increasing security of tenure 60 tend, effectively, to leave out those who do not wish to, or who cannot, become possessors of freehold title. It is important to recall, however, that a nation’s wealth is not invariably linked to the percentage of those owning property. For example, during the early 20th century when the power of the UK was at its peak, up to 90 per cent of its population were tenants. Similarly, tenants today form the majority among the population in some of the world’s wealthiest countries, including Germany, Sweden and Switzerland. Tenants in these and similar countries have substantial security of tenure protections, grounded in enforceable law before independent and impartial courts, which may be a reflection of their overall share of the total population and corresponding political influence. Women Box 5.15 Inheritance and gender Beyond the trends of increasing poverty and inequality, continued discrimination against women also contributes to tenure insecurity and resultant forced evictions. The World Bank notes that ‘control of land is particularly important for women… Yet traditionally, women have been disadvantaged in terms of land access.’ 61 In many (if not most) countries, traditional law implies that women’s relationship to men Inheritance is often treated as peripheral to, or semi-detached from, general debates and policy formation concerning security of tenure, land rights, land reform or regularization. However, inheritance is one of the most common ways of women acquiring land or access to land. Since women in many countries have not generally been able to purchase property or benefit from land reforms, in many cases a woman could only become a landowner by inheriting land from her husband or companion on his death. Issues related to succession and inheritance are regulated through the civil codes in most Latin American countries, with the exception of Costa Rica and Cuba, where these have been laid down in family codes. In countries such as Panama, Honduras, Mexico and Costa Rica, absolute testamentary freedom leaves the surviving spouse defenceless in a marriage under a separate property regime. In the Balkans, Serbia Montenegrin inheritance laws identify the surviving spouse and his/her children as the heirs of the first inheritance degree who inherit in equal parts per person. The laws also protect the spouse through a lifetime right to use the deceased’s real property, or a part thereof if such request is justified by the spouse’s difficult living conditions. Under compulsory Islamic law, only one third of an estate can be bequeathed, with the remaining subject to compulsory fixed inheritance rules that generally grant women half of that which is granted to males in a similar position. Most of Southern Africa has a dual legal system where inheritance is governed by both statutory and customary laws. In a number of countries, including Lesotho, Zambia and Zimbabwe, the constitution still allows the application of customary law in inheritance matters and courts have upheld discriminatory practice. Under customary law and with only a few exceptions, inheritance is determined by rules of male primogeniture, whereby the oldest son is the heir (the oldest son of the senior wife, in case of polygamy). Property grabbing from widows of HIV/AIDS-affected husbands is a particularly acute problem in Southern Africa, although the act of dispossessing widows of property is a criminal offence in most countries of the region. Source: UN-Habitat, 2006f defines their access to land. ‘Legal recognition of women’s ability to have independent rights to land is thus a necessary, though by no means sufficient, first step toward increasing their control of assets.’ Without such independent recognition, including structural discrimination in the areas of inheritance and succession rights, women experience constant insecurity of tenure (as well as that of children). This is particularly highlighted in the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic as the death of a husband (or father) may lead to the eviction of the rest of the household. Although women’s equal rights to housing, land, property and inheritance are well established under international human rights law, major obstacles are still inherent in policies, decisionmaking and implementation procedures in realizing these rights. Hence, women are disproportionately affected by gender-neutral approaches to land inheritance and are often unable to access their formal rights (see Box 5.15). Moreover, when the lack of secure tenure facilitates the carrying out of forced evictions, women are disproportionately affected, as noted by the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE): Indeed, for most women, the home is the single most important place in the world. Beyond shelter, it is a place of employment, where income is generated; it is a place to care for children; and it provides respite from violence in the streets. Evictions often take place in the middle of the day, when the men are away from home. Women are left to fight to defend their homes, and the evictors meet such resistance with violence, beating, rape, torture and even death. Violence and discrimination against women are not only the result of evictions; rather, they are often the cause. Domestic violence frequently drives women out of the home, effectively forcibly evicting them. In all situations, women forced from their homes and lands are further robbed of economic opportunities, ability to provide for their families’ stability and means of autonomy. Women often experience extreme depression and anger in the aftermath of forced evictions. As a result of a lack of autonomy or stability, women become even further marginalized. 62 In many parts of Africa, for instance, women have access to land so long as they remain within their husband’s and/or parents’ land because ‘traditional law implies that women’s access to land is mediated through their relationships with men’. 63 Achieving security of tenure rights without a formal link to a male relative can thus still be impossible in a number of countries. Women often face disproportionate challenges in landownership even in cases where their spouses have died and they should be the bona fide owners (see also Box 5.16). Yet, it should be noted that legal recognition of women’s ability to have independent rights to land is a necessary, although by no means sufficient, first step towards increasing their control of assets.
Security of tenure: Conditions and trends 133 Other vulnerable and disadvantaged groups A number of other groups suffer detriment and discrimination in terms of access to secure tenure and the benefits that such access can bestow. Such groups include children (including orphans, abandoned children, street children and those subjected to forced/child labour), the elderly, the chronically ill and disabled, indigenous people, members of ethnic and other minorities, refugees, internally displaced persons, migrant workers, and many others. Such groups often suffer discrimination with respect to their ability to own and/or inherit land, housing and other property (see also Box 5.16). While this <strong>Global</strong> <strong>Report</strong> does not attempt to describe the problems faced by each of these groups, Box 5.17 provides an example of the particular problems faced by migrant workers in the rapidly expanding urban areas of China. SECURITY OF TENURE IN THE AFTERMATH OF DISASTERS AND ARMED CONFLICT Just as particular groups are more exposed to tenure insecurity, particular events are also major factors affecting security. Natural and technological disasters, as well as armed conflict and civil strife, are major factors threatening the security and safety of large urban populations every year. This section highlights the links between security of tenure and such disasters and conflicts. Disasters and secure tenure Natural and technological disasters – including earthquakes, tsunamis, storms and floods – often result in the large-scale displacement of people from their homes, lands and properties (see Part IV of this <strong>Global</strong> <strong>Report</strong>). Earthquakes alone destroyed more than 100 million homes during the 20th century, mostly in slums, tenement districts or poor rural villages. 64 In some settings, the displaced are arbitrarily and/or unlawfully prevented from returning to, and recovering, their homes, and/or are otherwise involuntarily relocated to resettlement sites despite their wishes to return home and to exercise their security of tenure rights. This remains the case, for instance, in Sri Lanka where large numbers of those displaced by the tsunami in late 2004 are still prevented from returning to their original homes and lands. 65 Tenants and other non-owners are also facing discriminatory treatment in Aceh (Indonesia), and are not being allowed to return to their former homes and lands, even while owners are able to exercise these restitution rights. Housing and property restitution measures can be used as a means of ensuring secure tenure and facilitating the return home of all persons displaced by disaster, should this be their wish. Box 5.16 Forced evictions and discrimination in international law The most authoritative international instrument on forced evictions, United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) General Comment No 7 on forced evictions, has the following to say about discrimination against women and other vulnerable individuals and groups: Women, children, youth, older persons, indigenous people, ethnic and other minorities, and other vulnerable individuals and groups all suffer disproportionately from the practice of forced eviction.Women in all groups are especially vulnerable given the extent of statutory and other forms of discrimination which often apply in relation to property rights (including homeownership) or rights of access to property or accommodation, and their particular vulnerability to acts of violence and sexual abuse when they are rendered homeless.The non-discrimination provisions of Articles 2.2 and 3 of the Covenant impose an additional obligation upon governments to ensure that, where evictions do occur, appropriate measures are taken to ensure that no form of discrimination is involved. Source: CESCR, General Comment No 7, para 11 Box 5.17 Security of tenure for migrant workers in China The size of the migrant workforce in China, the so-called floating population (liudongrenkou), may today be as high as 150 million to 200 million. It is likely to increase further to reach 300 million by 2020. With the rapid expansion of the migrant workforce, affordable housing options in the city centre or on work sites have become scarce. The overflow is now taking refuge in informal settlements (chengzhongcun) or urban villages. More and more, these resemble in size and form peri-urban settlements that characterized rapid urbanization processes in other developing countries during the 1950s and 1960s. The earliest of these were developed during the 1980s on the peripheries of China’s faster growing major cities (i.e. Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai and Beijing). At first, when they grew large enough to draw the attention of local authorities, they were suppressed and eventually torn down. Among the largest and most famous of these cases was Zhejiangcun (Zhejiang village). Before its demolition in December 1995, Zhejiang village housed a population of some 100,000 individuals and thousands of enterprises. The village governed itself, establishing health clinics, water and sanitation systems, recreational facilities, schools, etc. It also proved itself to be a major boon to Beijing residents who rented land to the village and who bought the village’s prodigious output of low-cost fashionable clothing. By 2002, more than 1 million people were living in Beijing’s 332 informal settlements. The 2002 census estimated that some 80 per cent of these were migrants. Today the numbers are thought to be much larger. What is sure is that many cities around China are planning to suppress or redevelop informal settlements. In Beijing’s case, the 2008 Olympics are adding urgency to this task (see Box 5.13). Since 238 of these settlements for migrant workers are being demolished before 2008, it still remains unclear where the residents will be relocated. While these migrant workers have contributed greatly to urban development in China over the last two decades, the formal housing provision system has made little or no provision for them. Even in Shanghai, where policies towards migrants have been relatively progressive, employment and lengthy employment tenure in the city had not yet freed the migrant workers from insecurity of tenure to housing. It is no exaggeration to say that once in the city, migrants continue to be on the move. But such mobility is not necessarily driven by the need for tenure or even amenity. Few migrants make the transition from bridge headers to consolidators after years of living in the city, a trend in migrant settlement seen elsewhere in other developing countries. Instead, most remain trapped in the private rental sector or stay in dormitory housing. Homeownership is yet to become attainable for migrants, and self-help housing is largely absent, primarily because of the attitudes of municipal authorities. Source: Westendorff, 2007
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ENHANCING URBAN SAFETY AND SECURITY
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First published by Earthscan in the
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INTRODUCTION Enhancing Urban Safety
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The preparation of
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LIST OF FIGURES, BOXES AND TABLES F
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1 CHAPTER CURRENT THREATS TO URBAN
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46 Urban crime and violence Box II.
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50 Urban crime and violence Formal
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60 Urban crime and violence Figure
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78 Urban crime and violence General
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220 Natural and human-made disaster
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330 Statistical annex Islands, Micr
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332 Statistical annex NOMENCLATURE
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INDEX ACHR (Asian Coalition for Hou
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Index 435 security of tenure 134 co
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Index 437 domestic abuse see intima
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Index 441 Kosovo, security of tenur
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Index 443 participation 38, 296-299
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Index 445 individual 34-35 municipa
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Index 447 gun ownership 78 Homeless
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