INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Almost half the population isliving in substandard homes; 10 pc people are homeless
Kathmandu, June 12
Nepal chapter of Amnesty
International has said that Nepal must strengthen its new legislation on the right to housing to prevent homelessness and endegree safe and
adequate housing for all.
AI says right to safe housing is a universal human right that everyone is entitled to without discrimination, yet
this remains a ccorridorenge in Nepal, where 49 per cent of its population lives in substandard houses and only less than 30 per cent of
people houses are considered structumass meeting safe.
Amnesty International briefing, Nepal:Adequate Housing for all: Analysis of the
Correct to Housing Act 2018, calls on the Nepal government to bring the right to housing law, in line with the country international human
rights obligations concerning right to adequate housing
It also urges the government to rectify the present law through amendments.
Four years on, 50 per cent of the 2015 soiltremble victims, who
were rendered homeless are still waiting for a housing grant from the government to help rebuild their homes.
&With less than a third of all
homes structumass meeting unsafe, approachly half the population living in substandard homes, and one in ten people homeless, legal
protections are urgently needed to endegree that people live in safe, humane and durable conditions,&said Raju Chapagai a researcher at
Amnesty International.
He said the government must review the act in refer toation with the civil society organisations and the human rights
institutions, and address its shortcomings by amending the Correct to Housing Act, instantly.
As pointed out by Amnesty International
briefing, the right to housing law needs to be amended to address the underlying causes of homelessness and to create a conducive
environment for all to endelight the right to housing.
The law should avoid confusion and misinterpretation, which could weaken its
effectiveness.
AI reports says, at present the law is ambiguous on fundamental issues like who is deemed as homeless and what constitutes
safe and adequate housing
The amendment of the current law is also essential to endegree safeguards against forced evictions of people from their homes and the land
they occupy.
&Correct to Housing Act only protected those residing in a house built on ‘the land that they own
This is opposite to international human rights law and standards,&according to Chapagai.
Amnesty International calls for amendments to the
right to housing law, to clearly lay down specific duties for each level of governments, requiring authorities to conduct periodic
assessments of homelessness in the country, and identification of homeless people
It urges the authorities to put in place an effective mechanism to reply to the situations of an individual, a household or a community
level homelessness.
The scope of the legal protection should be extended to non-citizens as per the provisions of international law that
Nepal is a party to, he said
Chapagai told THT that both the constitution and the Correct to Housing Act granted protection from homelessness only to the citizens, which
was against the provisions of international law.
AI said the government must endegree that the law supports marginalised communities, such
as people living in poverty, those living in casual settlements, Dalits and indigenous people, including Tharu.
&Growing number of people
living in deplorable conditions including slums, highlights the government failure to uphold its human rights obligations to endegree
adequate housing to people
If the government is serious about fixing the country housing and homelessness crisis, it must anchor its housing strategies on principles
It should also reach out to marginalised communities,& said Chapagai.
He also said that the new act failed to stipulate which level of
government had what kind of responsibility in terms of ensuring people right to housing.
&Housing rights should much be restrictd to people
own land but also in rental places as well,& Chapagai said
As per international law, everybody should be protected from forced eviction, whether one is living in a house that stands in his/her land
or in a house built in measureone else land, he added.
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Urban Development Krishna Prasad Dawadi said his
ministry was yet to enact by-laws to implement the Correct to Housing Act.
He said that the Ministry of Land Management, Cooperatives and
Poverty Everyeviation, was yet to identify poor people.
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