Olympic Officials Plan to Evict 13,000 People

Filed in archive Olympics on December 5, 2007

In preparation for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, China plans to evict 13,000 people per month. This decision, however, is not without controversy from human rights groups, namely, the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions.

The same group reports that, by the end of evictions, more than 1.5 million people will be displaced by the beginning of the Games. But, Olympic officials are fighting back, saying that most residents are happy, especially with the money they have received.

"Despite courageous protests inside China, and condemnation by many international human rights organizations, the Beijing municipality and Beijing Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games have persisted with these evictions and displacements," said Jean du Plessis, the Geneva-based COHRE's deputy director.

The group - which claimed in June that 1.25 million had already been displaced - said it returned to Beijing in August and found that forced evictions were continuing unabated.

In September, the Beijing municipality demolished several buildings in a run-down neighborhood called the "petitioners' village" in Fengtai District, which provided housing for thousands from all over China who came to complain to the central government about land seizures, forced evictions and corruption, COHRE said.

"Evictions in Beijing often involve the complete demolition of poor peoples' houses," the group said. "The inhabitants are then forced to relocate far from their communities and workplaces, with higher transportation costs driving them further into poverty.

"In Beijing, and in China more generally, the process of demolition and eviction is characterized by arbitrariness and lack of due process. In many cases, tenants are given little or no notice of their eviction and do not receive the promised compensation."

The group said it was pleased the International Olympic Committee is taking housing rights more seriously, including guaranteed commitments that local people would not be displaced in its deal with Russia for the 2014 Winter Games, which will be hosted by the Black Sea resort of Sochi.