Raquel Rolnik, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, expressed concern about Brazil’s ongoing and planned displacement of many thousands of families and individual residents to make way for beautification and development projects for the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games. [UN News Centre] In particular, she signaled that the hasty evictions and “very limited compensation offered to affected communities” could constitute human rights violations.
The Special Rapporteur indicated in a released statement:
I am particularly worried about what seems to be a pattern of lack of transparency, consultation, dialogue, fair negotiation, and participation of the affected communities in processes concerning evictions undertaken or planned in connection with the World Cup and Olympics.
[…]
The Government should adopt a ‘Legacy Plan’ to ensure the holding of the World Cup and Olympic Games has a positive social and environmental impact and avoids violations of human rights, including the right to adequate housing. This is a fundamental requirement to guarantee that these two mega-events promote respect for human rights and leave a positive legacy in Brazil.
Events such as the Olympic Games have historically generated concerns of possible violations of the rights to adequate housing and to freedom of expression. For more information, see the Centre on Housing Rights and Eviction‘s reports here.
The components of the right to adequate housing are articulated in General Comment 4 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. For more information, see the website of the special rapporteur.