More than 50,000 people at risk of forced eviction in Kenya
The Kenyan authorities are preparing to forcibly evict more than 50,000 people, most of them slum-dwellers living alongside the country's railway lines, especially in the capital, Nairobi. This is to make way for improvements to the railway, but will leave these people destitute.
Under international human rights law, including treaties to which Kenya
is a state party, evictions may be carried out only as a last resort,
once all other feasible alternatives to eviction have been explored in
genuine consultation with the affected communities. Governments are
obliged to ensure that no one is rendered homeless or vulnerable to the
violation of other human rights as a consequence of eviction.
PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION NOW TO:
1. Call on the authorities to ensure that Kenya adopts and implements guidelines on evictions that conform with international human rights standards, before proceeding any further with the proposed evictions for the railway reserve;
2. Urge them to ensure that there is genuine consultation with affected communities on all aspects of the project to upgrade the railway system;
3. Urge them to identify in consultation with affected communities, all feasible alternatives to eviction, put in place procedural and legal safeguards and develop a comprehensive relocation and compensation plan for the affected communities.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION BEFORE 27 MAY 2010
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