Call and invitation to join the ITE Asia session

The International Tribunal on Evictions (ITE) is a peoples’ and opinion tribunal established in 2011 by the International Alliance of Inhabitants and civil society organisations for the World Zero Evictions Days to put forced evictions from around the world in the dock. The ITE has so far organized 10 thematic and territorial ITE sessions on all continents, including the  ITE East Asia (Taipei, 2-4/07/2016), the last one on the climate crisis at COP 25 (Santiago del Cile-Madrid, 5-8/12/2019).

The ITE Asia Session 2024 is carried out relying on the voluntary and free commitment and collaboration between the International Steering Committee and the Local Organising Committee, the working group of professor Paolo de Stefani, Human Rights and Multilevel Governance (HRG), University of Padova, Italy, the working group of professor Geeta Pathak Sangroula, Professor, Kathmandu School of Law, Nepal and professor Rajagopal Balakrishnan, UN Special Rapporteur on Right to adequate housing.

👉 To strengthening the IAI independence and ITE autonomy, we have launched a Fundraising Campaign to which all of you are invited to contribute, with your organization and personally, and to ask for solidarity contributions from other comrades and friends!

The goals of the ITE session Asia are:

• to give direct voice to victims-witnesses of relevant cases of evictions (unaffordable costs, large projects, migration, discrimination, real estate speculation, climate crisis...) in Nepal, India, and the rest of the continent, and to organizations advocating on behalf of violated human rights
• to draft a verdict and recommendations to the institutions accountable at various levels to remedy concrete situations and achieve policy change with full respect for human rights.

The Tribunal relies on the expertise of an international Jury of well-respected and competent individuals:

• Agustin Territoriale, Human rights lawyer, Argentina
• Hung-Ying Chen, International coordinator of the East Asia ITE 2016, Professor, University of Taipei, Taiwan
• Geeta Pathak Sangroula, Professor, Kathmandu School of Law, Nepal
• Raju Prasad Chapagai, Jurist, Nepal
• Medha Patkhar, Activist, India 
• Paolo de Stefani, Professor, Human Rights Center, Political Sciences, University of Padua, Italy

• With the collaboration of Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, USA

Eviction cases under indictment by ITE Asia session

These eviction cases was selected as a result of the Call for Cases:

• Forced eviction in Thapathali, Bagmati River, Kathmandu, Nepal
• Threats of eviction in Dhangadhi Sub-Metropolitan City -1 Sudurpashchim Province, Nepal
• Birendranagar Municipality Violating the Constitution provision for Landless Dalit, Surkhet, Nepal
• The “right to life” VS “the protection of cultural monuments”. Tugalkabad, New Delhi, India 
• Forced displacements along waterways in Chennai: Eco-restoration projects and the politics of exclusion, India
• Massive Eviction in the Narmada, affected by Sardar Sarovar & cascade of large & Medium dams over years, India
• Lu Gong Canal Relocation, Xindian District, New Taipei City, Taiwan
• Green Line MRT G12-13a Station Peri-Urban Land Development Project, Taiwan
• Neoliberal policies on the ruins of Sitio San Roque, Quezon, Philippines

PROGRAM ITE ASIA - KATHMANDU, 15-19 FEBRUARY 2024

The Asia session of the International Tribunal on Evictions (ITE) will be held from February 15-19, 2024, at Saint Xavier College, Maitighar, Kathmandu, Nepal & Online in the framework of WSF 2024.

👉 Please register in advance on zoom https://eu01web.zoom.us/meeting/register/u50vce2rqTgvHNUpidqv1i9jOEqMHQLjjMcn

Interpreters: EN, HI, ES, FR, PT ...

Schedules are displayed in Nepali time zone:
Philippines +2:15
India -0:15
CET -4:45
UTC -5:45  
Argentina/Brasil -8:45
New York -10:45

WEDNESDAY, 14/02/2024 

16:00 - 17:00 (click for your local time)

• Presentation press conference ITE Asia session

THURSDAY 15/02/2024

11:00-12:30: Solidarity March at opening of WSF at Kulla Manch P838+R28, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal

16:00-18:00: Cultural Program of WSF at Kulla Manch P838+R28, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal

17:00-18:00 (click for your local time)

• Methodological meeting Jury members /Witnesses-victims

18:00 - 19:30 (click for your local time)

Opening Session ITE Asia:

- Presentation

- Cultural event

- Dinner

19:30-20:00 (click for your local time) 

• Methodological meeting Jury members /Witnesses-victims

FRIDAY 16/02/2024 

09:30 - 13:00 (click for your local time)

• Part 1: Hearings of testimony/victims of eviction (oral + video or photo)
• Part 2: Hearings of defendants charged with eviction cases. If absent they will be tried in absentia

- tea/coffee break

14:00 - 15:30 (click for your local time)

• Open floor for eviction cases (5’ - 8’ each)

15:30 -17:30 (click for your local time)

International conference: Human rights activists' challenge to evictions, from basti to AI

Moderator

• Cesare Ottolini, IAI Global Coordinator, Italy

Speakers

• Balakrishnan Rajagopal, UN Special Rapporteur Right to Housing

Strengthening human rights tools to defend the Right to Housing, from international treaties to activists.

• Pascale Thys, Habitat et Participation, Belgium

Habitat World Map. Fact sheets of eviction cases ITE Asia session.

• Br. Varghese Theckanath, Director Montfort Social Institute, Hyderabad, IAI Coordinator Asia, India

First lessons from Asia ITE session: causes and pervasiveness of evictions on the Continent of five billion people.

• Prafulla Samantara, National convener, National Alliance of People Movements, India

People's strategies, mobilizations and judicial, to defend the right to housing and human rights activists

SATURDAY 17/02/2024

09:30 - 13:00 (click for you local time)

• Part 3: Analysis of the causes
• Part 4: Proposals for human rights respectful solutions

- tea/coffee break

14:00 - 17:30 (click for your local time)

• Part 5: Final questions and answers
• Part 6: Popular Jury / Jury Interaction

SUNDAY 18/02/2024

• Working group of the Jury members to draft the Verdict and General Recommendations. (Free schedule)

18:00 - 21:00 (click for your local time)

• Closing session ITE Asia

- Reading of Verdict and General Recommendations

- Cultural event

- Dinner

MONDAY 19/02/2024

09:30 - .... (click for your local time)

WSF Forums and Assemblies: Convergence of Assemblies and Movements, Square of statements at Kulla Manch P838+R28, Kathmandu 44600, Nepal

• Presentation of the Verdict-General Recommendations within the framework of the WSF

International Steering Committee of the International Tribunal on Evictions

• Soha Ben Slama, Coordinator of the International Tribunal for Evictions, IAI Coordinator in Tunisia
• Cesare Ottolini, IAI Global Coordinator, Unione Inquilini Padua. Previously member of the UN Habitat advisory group on Forced Evictions, Italy
• Agustin Territoriale, Human Rights Lawyer, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Mike Davies, Coordinator of Anglophone Africa for the IAI and  co-founder of SMART Harare, and a technical producer for Urban Farming Zimbabwe.
• Rob Robinson, Coordinator of the USA-CANADA of the IAI and Co-founder and member of the Take Back the Land, USA
• Br. Varghese Theckanath s.g.,  Founder and director of the Montfort Social Institute, Hyderabad, and IAI Coordinator for Asia, India
• Hung-Ying Chen, Taiwan/UK Durham University -  Co-founder and member of the Executive Committee of the Taiwan Alliance Against Forced Evictions and  the international coordinator of the 2016 East Asia ITE
• Ernesto Jimenez Olin, Coordinator of the Committee of colony Valle Gómez, Monitoring and Evaluation Committee of the Human Rights Program of the Federal District, Mexico

Organizing Committee of the ITE Session on Asia

• Br. Varghese Theckanath, Director Montfort Social Institute, Hyderabad, IAI Coordinator Asia, India
• Shweta Tambe, Director Habitat and Livelihood Welfare Association, India
• Fr. Roy Sebastian SJ, Director of Nepal Jesuit Social Institute, Nepal
• Bikash Dhungana, Opportunity Village Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal
• Sr. Taskila Nicholas, OLCGS, Country Representative, Good Shepherd International Foundation, Nepal
• Fr. Bibin Matathil, Nepal Little Flower Society, Director of Social Work, Nepal
• Dharm Raj Joshi, Habitat for Humanity, Nepal
• Jagat Basnet, Executive Director Community Self Reliance Centre, Nepal
• Vanessa Peter, Activist/Policy Researcher, Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities, India

Collaborators:

• Kathmandu School of Law in Kathmandu, Nepal
• Master's degree in Human Rights and Multilevel Governance (HRG) International law of human rights University of Padua, Italy
• Rajagopal Balakrishnan, UN Special Rapporteur on Right to adequate housing, USA

Contacts

• Soha Ben Slama, ITE Coordinator, Tunisia ite.coordinator@habitants.org
• Bikash Dungana, Bikash Dhungana, Opportunity Village Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal, whatsapp +977 984 9207319 bikash.dhungana@ovnnepal.org
• Dharm Raj Joshi, Land and Advocacy Specialist, Habitat for Humanity Nepal, Kathmandu, Whatsapp +977 9849206101 drjoshi@habitatnepal.org
• Cesare Ottolini, IAI Global Coordinator, glob.coord.iai@habitants.org

Please sign the Declaration of the International Tribunal on Evictions - Asia Session at WSF 2024 and calling for support of its Recommendations, a powerful weapon of the Zero Evictions Campaign, a contribution to building another possible world. Now!

● International Alliance of Inhabitants
● Montfort Social Institute, Hyderabad, India
● Opportunity Village Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal
● Nepal Jesuit Social Institute, Nepal
● Habitat for Humanity, Nepal
● Nepal Little Flower Society, Director of Social Work, Nepal
● Habitat and Livelihood Welfare Association, India
● Good Shepherd International Foundation, Nepal
● Self Reliance Centre, Nepal
● Justice and Rights Institute (JuRI-Nepal), Nepal
● Kathmandu School of Law, Bhaktapur, Nepal
● Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities, India
● Habitat et Participation, Belgium