Housing and Land Rights Network
New Delhi

PRESS RELEASE

3 August 2006


Report Reveals Violations of Tsunami Survivor's Human Rights to Housing, Land
and Livelihood in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands




"Battered Islands" - a report on a fact-finding mission to the tsunami-affected
areas of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands by the Housing and Land Rights Network,
New Delhi - highlights the dire situation with regard to human rights of tsunami
survivors in the Islands. A fact-finding team visited several affected islands
in January and February 2006, a year after the tsunami, to study the situation
of the affected and their living conditions.



It is tragic that even after a year and a half after the December 2004 tsunami,
people continue to live in makeshift shelters and are yet to be adequately
rehabilitated. The situation in the Islands typifies what happens once the early
enthusiasm and activity surrounding an emergency dies down. The report points
out the pervading sense of neglect and betrayal among survivors and a feeling of
fatigue, as patience and endurance levels are repeatedly tested and tried. It
focuses on the shelter and housing component of rehabilitation in the Islands
through the lens of human rights. A situational analysis revealed that
intermediate shelters constructed across the Islands do not meet international
human rights standards of "adequate housing." Instead the small tin structures
are largely uninhabitable due to their tendency to trap heat and humidity. A
woman from Great Nicobar Island is quoted in the report as saying the shelters
are like "toasters." They also threaten privacy and safety, especially of women,
since they are built in lines with common partitions that do not reach the
ceiling. Sanitation and solid waste management facilities are largely absent in
most sites while drinking water shortages are acute.



Across the Islands, the report reveals that rehabilitation is slow and
consultation with people has been minimal. Though the Administration has
recently finalised designs for permanent housing, local communities have not had
any say in the final plans, which continue to be rife with controversy. Wastage
of resources are rampant, be it through the construction of defunct toilets, the
provision of unnecessary wheelbarrows for garbage collection, or the
transportation of non-durable pre-fabricated construction sheets from the
mainland.



Shivani Chaudhry from the Housing and Land Rights Network, one of the members of
the fact-finding team asserts, "The remoteness of the Islands can in no way
condone the obvious disrespect for the human rights of the survivors. While
rehabilitation is conducted in a very top-down manner with no space for
community participation, critical issues such as housing and livelihood are
still not being given the priority they require." Enakshi Ganguly Thukral, a
child rights activist working with HAQ: Centre for Child Rights, another member
of the team, mentioned the severe and long-lasting impacts on children and
negligence on part of the authorities in providing them with the systematic
attention they deserved.



While several actors are involved in rehabilitation work and most of them
well-intentioned, coordination between them in most areas is insufficient.
"Relocation of displaced communities, especially tribals evacuated to other
islands, is a major concern as people have not been consulted and have been
forced to settle in areas predetermined by the Administration", says the report.
Another egregious issue with post-tsunami rehabilitation is that women's needs
have not been adequately considered. The authors express concern about the
"gender-neutral" nature of resettlement and rehabilitation processes and plans,
thus leading to specific concerns of women remaining unaddressed.




Recommendations made to government and non-government agencies as well as other
involved actors such as funders, include the need for participatory and in-depth
consultations with communities, immediate recognition of the inadequacies of
intermediate shelters and urgent redressal of persistent housing problems;
incorporation of human rights standards of "adequacy" into any plans for
permanent housing; provision of special facilities for women and children,
including the establishment of functional Child Welfare Committees. The report
urgently calls for all involved agencies to adhere to internationally accepted
human rights standards and develop a strong human rights-based approach to
long-term rehabilitation work. The authors assert that "the right to
humanitarian relief and rehabilitation must be recognised and upheld as a basic
human right and cannot be viewed as charity."



For more information, including to request a copy of the report, please write
to: schaudhry@...

or call (011) 2435-8492.



The report will soon be available as a pdf file on www.hic-sarp.org



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Housing and Land Rights Network
South Asia Regional Programme
B-28 Nizamuddin East
New Delhi - 110 013
INDIA
Telefax: 91- (0) 11-2435-8492
www.hic-sarp.org


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