UN human rights experts urge India to stop eviction of Khori Gaon residents

Human rights experts of the United Nations on Friday called on the Indian government to stop the eviction of residents of Khori Gaon in Faridabad district of Haryana.

Demolition of over 10,000 settlements in Khori Gaon encroaching on the Aravalli forest land started on Wednesday after the Supreme Court refused to stop the process. The court directed the Haryana government to evict slum dwellers from the land by July 19.

In a statement from the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the experts said that the land was designated as a protected forest in 1992, despite there being no forests on it.

“We appeal to the Indian government to respect its own laws and its own goal of eliminating homelessness by 2022 and to spare homes of 1,00,000 people who mostly come from minority and marginalised communities,” the UN experts said. “It is particularly important that residents be kept safe during the pandemic.”

They pointed out that those living in Khori Gaon, including 20,000 children and 5,000 pregnant or breastfeeding women, have already been hit hard due to the coronavirus pandemic and the eviction would lead to more hardships for them.

The UN statement also said that human rights activists and residents of Khori Gaon who held protests against the…

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