Prodita Sabarini, Jakarta – A human rights organization has filed an amicus brief with a district court to support plaintiffs in a class action on forced evictions at Papanggo Ujung, North Jakarta.
The Centre on Housing Rights and Eviction (COHRE), a Geneva-based international group, and the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) also demanded Thursday a moratorium on evictions in Jakarta until the city administration could provide alternative housing solutions for evictees.
COHRE attorneys Bret Thiele and Hannah Neumeyer said the organization filed the amicus curiae (a brief filed by someone who is not a party to a case) on Oct. 7. Thiele said the brief would show the panel of judges their view on the legal and human rights aspects of the case.
The Papanggo residents, who were evicted without notification by the North Jakarta public order officers on Aug. 24 and Oct. 8 last year to make way for the BMW Park, filed a class action against the North Jakarta municipality in May this year.
According to the class action document, the residents began to occupy Papanggo in 1998, during the term of then Jakarta governor Sutiyoso. Sutiyoso had called for people to make use of idle land in Jakarta after the economy was hit by the Asian financial crisis.
During the eviction, the officers burned down houses of residents who had been living in the area for more than 10 years. Some 347 households were affected. In their class action against the municipality, the residents said they suffered total material losses of almost Rp 7 billion.
Neumeyer said the Indonesian government had ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2006, and that the international law was legally binding as national law had incorporated the international law into the domestic legal order. "Government agencies at all levels have the duty to respect, pro-tect and fulfill these obligations," she said.
"The obligation to protect means the government should ensure that third parties cannot interfere or limit the housing rights of the people. and the obligation to fulfill means the government needs to progressively work to make housing better," she said. She said there should be a moratorium on evictions. "Never ever should people be made homeless," she said.
The Jakarta administration carried out eight evictions in 2009, forcing 7,814 people out of their homes. The North Jakarta municipality has been the most active, carrying out four evictions this year. In 2008, the Jakarta administration carried out evictions in 16 areas in Jakarta, forcing out more than 7,000 people.
LBH Jakarta director Nurkholis Hidayat said the administration had yet to provide adequate housing for the poor in Jakarta. Public and private housing projects in East and West Jakarta have yet to be completed, he said.
LBH Jakarta lawyer Edy Gurning said these apartments were not affordable for the poor, with selling prices starting at Rp 144 million.
Edy also pointed out that the administration had allocated Rp 600 billion for public housing and Rp 300 billion for the public order agency that carried out evictions. "So the government allocates half the amount for building houses to tearing them down," he said.