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More than 10,000 families in Luanda have been made homeless after being forcibly evicted from their homes since July 2001. These evictions have been carried out by police officers, soldiers, municipal officials and private security guards, often using excessive force and firearms. Police have on some occasions also arrested and briefly detained those resisting the evictions and members of the local housing rights organization, SOS-Habitat, who were trying to persuade the authorities to stop the forced evictions. Most recently, around 3,000 families were forcibly evicted from their homes in the adjoining neighborhoods of Iraque and Bagdad in the Kilamba Kiaxi municipality of Luanda. The families’ homes were demolished, their possessions destroyed, and they were left without shelter. The demolitions, which took place between 20 and 26 July 2009, were carried out at an unprecedented scale and left Bagdad completely flattened and Iraque partially destroyed. Those still in Iraque endure threats of forced eviction.

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José da Silva Ferreira - Minister for Urban Planning and Housing

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Dear (recipient name),

More than 10,000 families have been forcibly evicted from their homes in Luanda since 2001. Most of the victims have not received alternative housing or compensation and many continue to live in deplorable conditions. In addition, thousands of families in Luanda remain at risk of further forced evictions.

I urge you, as Minister for Urban Planning and Housing, to ensure that there are no further mass forced evictions in Angola, that the victims of previous forced evictions, including those in Bagdad, Iraque, Cambamba I, Cambamba II and Cidadania neighbourhoods in Luanda, receive adequate compensation, and that those who cannot provide for themselves receive alternative housing, thus prioritizing the most vulnerable.

The government of Angola should make plans to ensure security of tenure and access to adequate safe water and sanitation for those living in informal settlements. I also urge you to adopt guidelines for evictions which comply with international human rights law, based on the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement.

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