1 billion people, across all continents, live in slums

Without warning bulldozers and police entered the
Dey Krahorm community in Phnom Penh early in the
morning on Saturday January 2 ©Nicolas Axelrod

Almost 1 billion people, across all continents, live in slums. These communities, where residents live, work, and raise their children, are characterized by grossly inadequate housing and living conditions, lack of basic services and overcrowding. In some countries, people living in slums also experience high levels of violence – both from the police and criminal gangs.

Homeless former tenants at Sambok Chab,
Cambodia ©Licadho

Governments are failing in their duty to ensure the human rights of those who live in these communities are fulfilled.

More and more people are being forced to live in slums and informal settlements. Disinvestment in rural areas, conflict, natural disasters, climate change, forced evictions and corporate land grabbing continue to force people to migrate to urban areas where affordable housing is scarce.

Woman carrying bucket of water on street in slum.
Makoko large slum area, Lagos.  ©Amnesty International

People living in slums experience a staggering number of human rights violations. They are routinely denied their right to adequate housing, safe water, sanitation, health and education. They are often not given protection from police and gang violence,

Slum residents pay disproportionately high rents in some countries because rent control legislation is rarely imposed in areas considered by the authorities to be “unregularized”. Residents often have little, or no, say in slum upgrading processes – or other city planning and budgeting issues.

The absence of health facilities and schools within many slums severely restricts access to health care and education. Malnutrition and child mortality rates in slums are much worse than those for other urban residents and often match the rates found in rural areas.

Women and children in Old Fadama, Slum Community,
Accra, Ghana, September 2009 ©Amnesty International

Many urban residents in the developing world lack security of tenure, increasing their susceptibility to forced eviction and often restricting their access to services. In some countries, people who live in slums or informal settlements are also denied the right to vote because of the lack of a proper “address.

Forced evictions are a violation of human rights and often result in people losing their possessions, social networks, and access to work and services. Mass forced evictions are increasingly carried out by governments so that slums can be cleared for urban development, city beautification or national projects.

Group 78 received a final eviction notice
dated 20 April 2009 giving them 15 days to dismantle
their homes and move from the are ©Amnesty International

Women are particularly vulnerable in slums, where lack of facilities place them at greater risk of sexual assault and harassment, and where the reporting of domestic violence is often not treated seriously by police.

The negative perceptions of people living in slums have contributed directly to a serious deterioration in public security in these communities.
Governments have failed to address these issues at both national and international levels. They need to end forced evictions, ensure equal access to public services for people living in slums, and ensure their active participation in all plans directed at slum upgrading.

For more on specific country examples, see

Insecurity and indignity: Women's experiences in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya

Europe: Stop forced evictions of Roma in Europe
Thousands left homeless by forced evictions in Chad Cambodia: 160 families have one week to dismantle homes
The wrong answer: Italy's 'Nomad Plan' violates the housing rights of Roma in Rome 
Treated like waste: Roma homes destroyed, and health at risk, in Romania Cairo's poorest risk being buried alive in their homes