Communication to Pakistan concerning the ongoing forced evictions and home demolitions along Karachi’s waterways (nullahs)

On December 22, 2022, five UN Special Rapporteurs on the right to adequate housing, the right to health, rights of internally displaced persons, extreme poverty, discrimination against women and girls, issued a communication to Pakistan concerning the ongoing forced evictions and home demolitions along Karachi’s waterways (nullahs), against the backdrop of the severely negative impacts and destitution caused by the unusually heavy monsoon rains, and devastating seasonal floods of 2020 and 2022. The evictions allegedly take place in the context of Pakistan’s climate change adaptation strategy, including implementation of a Supreme Court order that instructed the National Disaster Management Authority to remove all (informal) encroachments in and around the nullahs, due to their increased risk of flooding. Despite the Court’s ruling that people affected by the removal were to be rehabilitated, the evictions and home demolitions are allegedly carried out without consultation with the affected people and in the absence of a rehabilitation plan, and with disparate and inadequate compensation. The communication describes situations of homelessness, displacement, serious destitution, and inadequate living situations dangerous to health (e.g. overcrowding, lack of walls, rats, mosquitos and pest infestations, vector-borne and water-borne disease). It also describes how evictions and demolitions lead to loss of livelihoods for many, including especially women, as small businesses are run from their homes (e.g. tailoring). Whilst understanding the 'enormity' of the challenges facing Pakistan in the wake of catastrophic floodings, and that Pakistan has been only modestly responsible for causing climate change, the communication recalls UN human rights bodies’ previous guidance on rights-based climate adaptation, supporting that priority should be given to adaptation measures that preserve existing communities, even for those living on or near waterways and shorelines. States must consult with residents to identify the measures needed for their protection, including the possibility to remain ‘in situ’; ‘resettlement and relocation should only be considered when strictly necessitated by the unsustainability of maintaining human settlements in at-risk zones’. The situation described in the communication violate international human rights law, including the right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, housing, water and sanitation, as well as adequate access to health care services. Relevant legal provisions - set out in an Annex to the communication – that govern the situation, include: Articles 6 and 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), pertaining to the right to life (with dignity) and right to non-interference with privacy, family and the home; Article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), on the right to adequate housing, including as interpreted in CESCR General Comment No. 4 on the right to housing, and CESCR General Comment No 7 on forced evictions; and Article 12 ICESCR on the right to physical and mental health. Especially the right to housing includes a ‘right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity', with 'security of tenure, availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure, affordability, habitability, accessibility, location and cultural adequacy'. An adequate house 'must protect inhabitants from cold, damp, heat, rain, wind or other threats to health, structural hazards, and disease vectors'. Other international legal guidance documents relevant to understanding the legal content of the right to housing, as related to evictions in a context of climate adaptation, include the UN Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, and the UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement. The latter spells out criteria for urban or rural planning and development planning, including in terms of ensuring rights-based information, consultation and participation. It stresses that displacement must be minimized, and that ‘eviction impact assessment’ should include exploring alternatives and strategies for minimizing harm to people and communities. In this sense, it is ‘essential that the full scope of all the environmental risks faced by informal settlements be assessed, drawing on the knowledge of inhabitants or experts hired on their behalf, since they are more familiar with the environment in which they live and have often adopted risk management practices'. Any 'immediate and effective disaster risk management measures' taken in at-risk areas, should be tailored to suit the specific needs of the community. The communication further acknowledges the specific rights of and obligations towards women in this respect, as clarified, inter alia, In CEDAW General Comment No. 37 on gender-related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in a changing climate.