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Forced Evictions in China (by Rory Chin, Anthony Law, 
                              Michael Moon, and Ronald Ting)

"The demolition and eviction management department came to say they had only two days to move before forced demolition. The government department did not approach them and offer an agreement. [My parents] didn't get any [compensation], and they had no help with resettlement." 
                   - "Kong," whose parents were forcibly evicted in Beijing

On July 14, 2001, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded Beijing the 2008 Olympic Games.  The IOC never could have imagined the consequences of this decision.  From September to December 2003, there was a wave of dramatic daily protests all across China.  The people at these protests opposed the Olympic Games, some through drastic methods like suicide and attempted suicides.  Aren’t the Olympics something everyone should be celebrating?  Not in this case, when residents in Beijing are being forcibly evicted from their homes; where residents come home from work to find their homes demolished. 

The government sees nothing wrong with forced evictions and demolitions, reasoning that this process is for national development and individual benefit.  Then again, most people do not see which individuals benefit from these evictions.  Any attempts to fight the government regarding these evictions have been ignored because the judicial process is irrelevant.  Under article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, it guarantees “the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living…including adequate food, clothing, and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.”  However, the Chinese government has ignored article 11 along with several other laws within the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.  Instead, the government responds by subjecting residents who protest to arrest and detention and directly violates their human rights, including the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association.

After China’s revolution in 1949, the state owned all the land, and private individuals or companies were not allowed to claim any of it. Since the late 1980s, China has advanced into a market economy, and demand for private home ownership increased, as did the demand of revenue for local governments, resulting in a growing real estate market.  When Beijing won the 2008 Olympic bid, the government increased demolition, forced evictions, and began construction in the city center and suburbs surrounding the town – it was a step back from the positive development the city had seen.

To properly evict a resident, a government must follow the following steps:

1) General Rules: State the conditions of the evictor who is trying to obtain the land and the evictee as the owner or resident of the property.

2) Demolition and Eviction Management: The evictor will file for any permits needed, and the length it will take to obtain the permits must be spent in waiting.  If the demolition and eviction is approved, the current owners of the land must not undertake any new construction or improvement. The developers and the property owner must sign a compensation and resettlement agreement. If the evictee signs the agreement, but refuses to relocate, the evictor may apply for arbitration, sue the evictee, and apply for permission to forcibly remove them.

3) Compensation and Resettlement: At this stage, both sides will determine an amount of compensation, and the evictee will determine how the funds will be disbursed.

4) Punishment Regulations: If the evictee violates the compensation and resettlement contract, the evictor can sue the evictee, and all the disputes will be settled in court.

5) Addendum: At this stage, the Demolition and Eviction Management sets dates of implementation of the law.

The procedure is straight forward, but it’s often violated in practice. In most of the cases, tenants were given little or no notice of their eviction, were treated at with a disadvantage in arbitration procedures, which were handled by the government, and were often denied justice in local courts.  In some cases, people who refused have been injured and even killed during forced evictions.

Many steps have been taken in an attempt to prevent this event from occurring but as of yet, nothing concrete has been done.  In a democratic society, people protest to get their point across to the government and other organizations.  Within China, however, authorities have not allowed protests against the evictions.  Along the way, China has arrested two tenants’ rights activists during protests. By not allowing the evicted tenants to protest, China goes against Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which gives everyone the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. As a member of the United Nations, China has chosen not to follow the rights and freedoms set out by the United Nations in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Most members of the public have accepted the position of the government’s denial of the right to peaceful assembly and have turned to petitions in order to get their point across.  Within the political system that reigns, the petitions have gone unnoticed and ignored. Chinese authorities have, however, allowed criticism through the Internet and editorial writers and journalists have also written negatively about the government. It is through the Internet that the voices of affected tenants have been heard most effectively. The people of China have taken their issue world wide, attracting international media to this issue. It is their hope that through the attention off international and independent media within China, they will be able to retrieve what they believe was unfairly taken.

The government realizes that it must try to change in order to regain a good image for the Olympic games. In December 2003, the National People’s Congress approved a draft constitutional amendment that takes affect in March 2004 and includes an amendment to Article 13, boosting existing language used to protect individual property rights. Secondly, on December 9, 2003, the State Council issued an important statement on land requisition in rural areas that criticized forcibly evicting tenants for commercial use. Finally, the government publicly denounced forced evictions. On September 18, 2003, an official at the Ministry of Construction warned against violating demolition and eviction law and policies.

With these human rights violations being related to the Olympics in Beijing, it is unfortunate to see that the Olympics are not always a joyful event.  If a city within a respected country bids for the Olympics, it should be aware of some of the consequences and people should not be victimized.  The government is finally taking some action after many protests from the public and legal experts. In a single incident 1000 protestors tried to block a train, and in another case, a man was crushed to death by a bulldozer while trying to protect his home. Must human lives be wasted to make the government realize that what they are doing is wrong?

Sources

“Demolition and eviction causes disturbance in Tongchuan district, Dazhou, Sichuan.” Peacehall.com. 15 September 2003. <http://www.peacehall.com/news/gb/yuanqing/2003/09/200309160611.shtml>.

“Ministry of Construction official announces it will seriously investigate local illegal and counter-policy demolition and eviction, and will evaluate work units.” China News. 18 September 2003. <http://www.chinanews.com.cn/n/2003-09-18/26/348068.html>.

“Train kills Chinese protestors.” BBC. 12 December 2003.

Xu Yonghai. “Open Letter to General Secretary Hu Jintao and the Central Committee.” 5 October 2004. <http://www.boxun.com>.

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