Kenyan Government must end forced evictions

On 10 May 2013, nearly 400 homes were destroyed in a forced eviction carried out at City Carton informal settlement in Nairobi, after the settlement was cordoned off by 170 police officers between 4 and 5am.

Before the break of dawn on 10 May 2013, community members at City Carton informal settlement were awoken by about 200 young men and forced from their homes. While police watched, the men, wielding crowbars and sledgehammers, then began demolishing the houses…

- Account of the forced eviction at City Carton, recorded by Amnesty International researcher, in Nairobi Kenya.

Housing is a Human Right

No one should be forcibly evicted, no matter where they live. Forced evictions are illegal under international and regional human rights law. People living in informal settlements have the same rights to adequate housing, water, sanitation, education and health care as all others do.

To date, the Kenyan authorities have failed to plan for over 50% of Nairobi’s population. Approximately two million of the city’s residents are estimated to be living in slums and informal settlements with inadequate or no access to housing, water, schools, health care and security. As with informal settlements in Mombasa and Kisumu, these residents pay taxes, vote, contribute to the economy and society just like other urban residents, but they are excluded from city budgets and plans.

Please join our call on Kenyan Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Housing and Urban Development and sign the petition here...