The government should develop a comprehensive national policy for internally displaced persons in consultation with displaced persons, government, non-government and inter-governmental organisations, and in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, says Human Rights Watch

The Indian government must stop the alleged forced eviction of tens of thousands of tribal people from their forest settlements in Andhra Pradesh (AP), where they are said to have sought safety from Naxal violence in neighbouring Chhattisgarh, says Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The international watchdog body, in a recent press release, said: “In the latest crackdown against displaced persons, the Andhra Pradesh forest department, on April 5, 2008, destroyed the homes of displaced indigenous persons residing in Kothooru village, to forcibly evict them. Since January 2007, the Andhra Pradesh forest department has made about 10 attempts to forcibly evict displaced persons from Kothooru.”

“Many thousands of men, women, and children fled to Andhra Pradesh from conflict areas in Chhattisgarh. Instead of providing them with safe sanctuary, the authorities are tearing down their homes and putting them in harm’s way,” says Meenakshi Ganguly, HRW’s senior researcher for South Asia.

She adds that, since June 2005, between 30,000 and 50,000 people have fled to Khammam and Warangal districts in Andhra Pradesh following rising tension in neighbouring Chhattisgarh between the Maoists and Salwa Judum, a “state-supported” vigilante group.

Calling the settlements illegal, the authorities, without prior notice or due process, repeatedly burned down the hamlets of hundreds of displaced persons, forcibly evicting them from the forests, says HRW.

“In some cases, Andhra Pradesh forest department officials forced them into trucks and dropped them close to the Chhattisgarh state boundary,” claims the organisation. Many members of the allegedly pro-Maoist Gothi Koya tribe who migrated from Chhattisgarh still occupy habitations in forests along the Andhra-Chhattisgarh border.

According to Warangal divisional forest officer (north), Suman, the foresters were only evicting tribals who engaged in banned podu cultivation and set up home in reserved forest areas. “We never forcibly evicted them,” he says. “We counsel them on unauthorised settlement in reserved forest areas and indiscriminate tree felling.”

Suman adds that the Andhra Pradesh Tribal Act, 2006, clearly states that tribal people who stay in a particular forest area for three generations or 75 years would get rights over that particular forest area. “But that doesn’t mean that they can fell trees at will,” he says.  

Meanwhile, Khammam conservator of forests S M Selvaraj says: “Protecting reserved forests is our duty. Any person who occupies reserved forest areas will have to be evicted.”

The Andhra Pradesh police have denied any role in the eviction of tribals.

Meanwhile, NGOs are demanding that the government recognise tribals who migrated to the state and provide them with the facilities they need.

“There are around 22,000 tribals in the area who have migrated from Chhattisgarh. Most have fled from attacks by the Salwa Judum,” says Sheikh Haneef of Sitara, an NGO working in the area. “The rights of displaced tribals have to be protected and the recent Forest Rights Act must be implemented,” he adds. “Most of the tribals came here in 2005. They have been denied access to health facilities and education.”

HRW says the authorities have failed to provide the displaced people with even basic facilities including food, water, shelter, medical services, sanitation, and livelihood opportunities as set out by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement.

“The Indian federal and Andhra Pradesh state governments have done nothing in nearly three years to address the massive displacement of people from Chhattisgarh,” Ganguly says.

HRW called on the Indian government to immediately draw up a plan to address the specific protection and assistance needs of displaced persons in Andhra Pradesh.

“The Indian government should also develop a comprehensive national policy for internally displaced persons in consultation with displaced persons, government, non-government, and inter-governmental organisations, and in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement,” said the international watchdog body.

Source: Deccan Chronicle, April 15, 2008
PTI, April 15, 2008
 http://www.hrw.org, April 2008