People living in poor housing are being forcibly removed from their homes. It is happening in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province and Seoul's Yongsan neighborhood, among other places, and in some places residents are in engaging in standoffs with employees of companies hired to clear areas for development. There needs to be measures to deal with the problem because residents are either being forced to lives with relatives or are living in the streets in the cold of winter.
Forced relocations in winter began again last year after having been banned for humanitarian reasons by Goh Kun, then Seoul's mayor, in 1990. Unlike in the days of authoritarian governments, however, such actions are taken by companies hired to do the people-clearing, hired by private developers out to make a profit. Local governments are saying there's nothing they can do about it, leaving neighborhood residents with nowhere to appeal to.
Kicking people who are poor, powerless and have not money out into the cold is like sending them to the brink of death. It may take place as private sector activity, but if you look at it from a humanitarian perspective there needs to be government involvement. An elderly man injured his back resisting the forced removal and had to spend the first day of the new year in a hospital. A brother and sister returned from school to find that their house was gone, and when they found their grandmother they had to spend the night in the hospital because she had been injured.
The government grants deferments on electricity and gas payments to poor citizens during wintertime, and takes measures to protect the homeless and people living in improvised housing. It should not sit back acting helpless saying there's nothing it can do.
The United Nations Human Rights Commission says forced relocations are a clear violation of human rights. The government would doing right to follow the recommendation of the National Human Rights Commission, which says that it should prevent them from happening and that residents should receive protections. One would like to see the government prevent relocations from happening at least during winter, and that it resolve the issue by building temporary housing for revolving redevelopment. It should review its plan to create one million temporary housing units by 2012 so as to protect the urban poor's housing rights, in order to make sure the plan is implemented without any setbacks.
The Hankyoreh, 6 January 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Stop Forced Relocations in Wintertime |
