Slum dwellers and forced evictions

Forced slum evictions remain a persistent challenge to ensuring the basic necessity of housing of the slum dwellers in Bangladesh. A significant number of statistics exist to show the magnitude of such evictions. To cite a few, in early 2019, an eviction drive by the National Housing Authority at Bhasantek left almost 10,000 slum dwellers homeless by destroying nearly 2,000 shanties. ¹ Another state-led eviction bulldozed the houses of 500 slum families on 21 May 2017. ² It is estimated that during the eviction of Kalyanpur slum in 2016, around 40,000 people became homeless. ³ When slums are demolished without any provision for rehabilitation, the primary and immediate violation of the right suffered by the evictees is related to their loss of home. Ultimately, forced evictions infringe their right to work, right to food, right to education, right to health, and overall, their right to an adequate standard of life. ⁴