Illegal Settlements Research Articles

The Obligation to Withhold from Trading in Order Not to Recognize and Assist Settlements and their Economic Activity in Occupied Territories

This article argues that trade embargoes toward illegal settlements in occupied territories are an obligation under general public international law, when such trade primarily benefits the occupant. In this case, the self-executing duty of non-recognition applies. There is no need for an explicit trade embargo imposed by the United Nations Security Council. For, transferring parts of an occupant’s civilian population to occupied territories, and gaining economic benefits from occupation, both violate peremptory norms of public international law. Equally, withholding trade is also permitted under the law of the World Trade Organization (WTO). This article shows that according to Article XXVI.5.(a) of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), the GATT does not apply to illegal settlements. A WTO panel could reach this conclusion, either by denying jurisdiction through finding that the occupying State has no legal standing or by scrutinizing Article XXVI.5.(a) on its merits. However, if a panel would, erroneously, decide the GATT does apply to settlements; trade sanctions could still be allowed in a dispute settlement. This can be done by either accepting the relevant rules of public international law as an independent defense, or by using it in the interpretation of public moral and security exceptions under GATT Article XX and XXI.

Automated House Detection and Delineation using Optical Remote Sensing Technology for Informal Human Settlement

The paper presents preliminary results of legal and illegal settlement extraction in Pulau Gaya, Sabah using high resolution Quickbird and SPOT-5 multi-spectral imageries using automated house detection technique. The technique developed is spatial-based using tree counting approach. From the results, edge to edge of the house features was found precisely separated and can be delineated between houses that less than 2m distance. Results show that the technique able to delineate legal houses from Quickbird image more than SPOT-5. Differs results would be due to different spatial and spectral resolution of images.

A multi-temporal remote sensing approach for monitoring changes in spatial extent of freshwater lake of Deepor Beel Ramsar Site, a major wetland of Assam

Sustainability of wetland ecosystem is necessary for various important functions such as food storage, water quality continuation and providing habitat for different species of flora and fauna. Hence, an inventory of wetlands of any region is a pre-requisite for their conservation and management. This study has been carried out to delineate the change in freshwater lake of ‘Deepor Beel’ wetland of Assam, India, using LANDSAT TM data. Field observation shows that the ecosystem is facing both natural as well as anthropogenic threats. Rapid urbanization, Illegal settlements, industries, invasive species (Eichhornia crassipes) are the major cause of this wetland decline. It has been found that massive decline occurred between the period 1991 to 2001 i.e., 1.891 sq.km which was at the rate of -0.171 per year where as the decline between the period 2001 to 2010 was found to be 1.013 sq. km which was at a rate of -0.101. The total area of open water bodies has decreased by 2.904 sq. km from 1991 to 2010 i.e. 59.19%. Thus the overall rate of change in the water bodies from 1991 to 2010 to other land use categories was found to be -0.145. Hence the study reveals the potentiality of Landsat TM data mapping the change in the wetland ecosystem. It is further hoped that the study will have high utility in preparing management plan for conservation of this ecosystem. Keywords: Wetland; Landsat TM; Thresholding; density sliceDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jowe.v5i0.4696 J Wet Eco 2011 (5): 40-47

Evidence against early nineteenth century major European induced environmental impacts by illegal settlers in the New England Tablelands, south eastern Australia

Paleoenvironmental reconstructions from Little Llangothlin Lagoon have been used to argue for early European impact on the eastern Australian landscape. In particular, these studies have argued for European arrival on the New England Tablelands at about 1800 AD, with significant impacts including the clearance of one species of Casuarina before 1820 AD and significant erosion by 1836 AD ( Gale et al., 1995; Gale and Pisanu, 2001; Gale and Haworth, 2002, 2005). We have re-cored the lagoon, dated the cores using 210Pb and radiocarbon, and counted pollen and other proxies. Our 210Pb results indicate that 210Pb background was achieved stratigraphically later than the erosion event and we have three early Holocene radiocarbon ages in the erosion event interval. We conclude that the ‘erosion event’ predates European settlement. The 210Pb results indicate much less erosion in response to European settlement than suggested by these earlier studies. We also find no notable decline in Casuarina in the pollen record spanning the time of initial European impact, and in fact we find very little Casuarina in the record. Instead of a Casuarina dominated vegetation we conclude that the area was dominated by open Eucalypt forest prior to European settlement. Rather than changes in the regional vegetation in the early 19th century, we attribute changes in the palynoflora spanning the ‘erosion event’ to changes within the lake/wetland and in particular to changes in the dominance of different species of Myriophyllum; most likely due to water depth fluctuation. This site has stood out as indicating an earlier European impact than other localities in eastern Australia, beyond the original limits of settlement near Sydney. Our findings suggest that a more traditional interpretation of this site is warranted and that no very early impact is discernable.

Land Administration in a Micro-State: The Role of Land Use Planning

Land policy in micro-states and the land administration that underpins it is often devised within a legacy framework inherited from a colonial past. Independence has allowed self-determination of the future political direction yet the range, legal framework, institutional structure and administration systems tend to mirror those of ex-colonial powers. Do land policies, administration systems and processes developed to serve large heavily populated countries scale down to serve the requirements of micro-states? The evidence suggests not: many land administration systems in the Caribbean face difficulties due to poor records, unclear title, exploitation of state lands, incomplete or ongoing land reform programmes, irregular or illegal settlement and non-enforced planning regulations. Land matters are typically the responsibility of several government departments and agencies responsible for land titling and registration, cadastral surveying of property interests, physical planning, taxation and financial regulation. Although planning is regarded as a land administration function, organisational responsibility usually rests with local rather than central government in large countries, but in microstates local government may be politically weak, under-resourced or even non-existent. Using a case study approach this paper explores how planning functions are organised in the Caribbean state of St Vincent & the Grenadines in relation to land administration as a whole and compares the arrangement with other independent micro-states in the region.

Zheltuga Republic: The Case of Social Development at the Chinese-Russian Border

The article elucidates a little-studied page of Russian history – the creation of the Zheltuga Republic from the illegal settlement of gold miners on the River Zheltuga (the Amur Basin) at the end of the 19th century. In short period of time, the multi-ethnic community of gold miners managed to create a proto-state formation based on the Russian principles of state-building, which had its own legislative, executive, and judicial authorities, coat-of-arms, fl ag, army, and punitive agencies. The Republic attracted over 10,000 people and became an economic and cultural center of Transbaikalia.

Individual, institutional and collective vigilance in protecting fundamental rights in the EU: Lessons from the Roma

In the summer of 2010, French authorities organized the systematic dismantling of illegal Roma settlements. This resulted in the departure of a large number of Roma-EU citizens from France, as well as a significant dispute between France and the European Commission. While the dispute raises a number of issues of substantive EU law, it also illustrates some important strengths and weaknesses in the system of fundamental rights protection in EU law. This article takes these events as a test case to illustrate that tackling complex problems of human rights protection in the EU requires a hybrid approach in which individual and institutional enforcement mechanisms are complemented by a third level of collective vigilance. While ever since Van Gend & Loos the EU has built a comprehensive system of individual and institutional remedies for the enforcement of EU law, social and political factors may limit their usefulness for vulnerable minorities. The vigilance of collective actors such as networks, NGOs, trade unions and agencies may offer a useful additional layer of protection where they are well-integrated within the classic system of remedies for fundamental rights protection in the EU.

Indian cities, sanitation and the state: the politics of the failure to provide

The environmental problems confronting Indian cities today have arisen because millions of people have been forced to live in illegal settlements that lack adequate sanitation and other basic urban services. This is the result of two factors. The first is the legacy of the colonial city characterized by inequitable access to sanitation services, a failure to manage urban growth and the proliferation of slums, and the inadequate funding of urban governments. The second is the nature of the post-colonial state, which, instead of being an instrument for socioeconomic change, has been dominated by coalitions of interests accommodated by the use of public funds to provide private goods. This has enabled the middle class to monopolize what sanitation services the state has provided because the urban poor, despite their political participation, have not been able to exert sufficient pressure to force governments to effectively implement policies designed to improve their living conditions. The consequence is that public health and environmental policies have frequently become exercises in crisis intervention rather than preventive measures that benefit the health and well-being of the whole urban population.

A2. Eu Heads of Mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah, Recommendations to Reinforce Eu Policy on East Jerusalem, 7 December 2010.

The EU heads of mission in Jerusalem and Ramallah annually produce an end-of-year report on Israeli activities in East Jerusalem for the EU's Political and Security Committee. Though classified as secret, the reports are invariably leaked and widely circulated for the useful historical overview and update they provide on Israel's illegal settlement activity and efforts to Judaize Jerusalem. Unusually this year, Annex 2 of the report, which contains the heads of mission recommendations on steps the EU should take in the coming year to reinforce its longstanding policy on Jerusalem, was also leaked, and attracted particular notice for their somewhat undiplomatic and even confrontational nature.The main “Jerusalem Report 2010” restates the base EU's policy as last reiterated on 8 December 2009: (1) “the EU will not recognize any changes to the pre-1967 borders including with regard to Jerusalem, other than those agreed by the parties”; (2) negotiations must “resolve the status of Jerusalem as the future capital of two states”; and (3) Israel must “immediately end all settlement activities in East Jerusalem, which the EU considers illegal under international law” and “cease all discriminatory treatment of Palestinians in East Jerusalem.”The full text of the “Jerusalem Report 2010” and the recommendations reproduced below are available on the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center Web site at www.jmcc.org.

Water Management for a Megacity: National Capital Territory of Delhi

Urban and regional demand for freshwater in National Capital Territory of Delhi has grown significantly over the last few decades. The National Capital Territory, Delhi is one of the most rapidly growing urban centers of the world, with a population of about 15 million people, a high rate of immigration and numerous illegal settlements. In order to meet the increasing water demand, the government is focused almost exclusively on supply management and engineering solutions, which have resulted in investments of hundreds of millions of Rupees. Environmental, economic and social policies associated with water management are largely inadequate and insufficient, which is resulting in increasing deterioration in the environment, health and socio-economic conditions of a population living in one of the largest urban agglomerations of the world. Surprisingly, however, no long-term strategies on demand-management, reuse, conservation, and improved water-management practices have been developed so far. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the urban water use with a view to enhance the understanding of the factors influencing urban water demand for residential, commercial and industrial sectors in National Capital Territory of Delhi. The analysis indicates an urgent need to radically improve the current water supply and wastewater management practices to become sustainable. Other measures such as public education and information/awareness will be necessary to achieve desired rationalization in water consumption, especially in the residential and commercial sectors.

From illegal migrant settlements to central business and residential districts: Restructuring of urban space in Beijing’s migrant enclaves

As China’s capital, Beijing has attracted a large number of rural migrants and, as a result, the number of migrant settlements experienced a rapid increase. However, after reaching their peak in 1990s, most of Beijing’s migrant settlements either disappeared or were forced out from their original locations to more remote, impoverished areas. Based on an ethnographic study, this research highlights the uneven relationships among suburban villagers, rural migrants, government agencies, and real estate developers, as they engage in the reconfiguration of migrant settlements with different aims and interests. By analyzing the conflict, struggle, and negotiation of space in the urban redevelopment process and the interaction between different government agencies and various social groups, this research provides deeper insight into a dramatic shift from a low-end alliance between local Beijing villagers and migrants to a high-end alliance between the Beijing government and large-scale real estate developers. This analysis on the recent restructuring of post-reform urban space in Beijing’s migrant settlements will then emphasize the need to examine the intimate relationship between the hukou system and land use rights during the urban redevelopment process.

Status of forests in Uganda

AbstractTrees, forests and woodlands cover about 14% of Uganda’s land surface. Over the last 30–40 years, growth in human population and corresponding increase in demand for forest products for domestic and industrial use, expansion of agricultural land, illegal settlements and weak forest management capacity have adversely affected the status of natural forests in Uganda, particularly the biodiversity. Until recently, little attention had been paid to development of commercial forests which should have provided alternative forest products and services to relieve the pressure on natural forests and conserve biodiversity. As a result, Uganda’s forests have been degraded, and in some cases, the biodiversity has been eroded. There is a need for regular data collection and monitoring of the status of the forests in terms of areal extent, distribution, plantation species introductions and biodiversity.

Palestinian Women: Caught in the Cross Fire Between Occupation and Patriarchy

Palestinian women face violence and humiliation from the Israeli occupation, as well as violence and discrimination in their own society. Both the male perpetrators of violence and sexual violence against women in Palestinian society and the Israeli perpetrators of violence and human rights violations are able to act with impunity, escaping investigation and punishment. The women's movement in Palestine faces the difficult challenge of working to improve the status of women in the context of a decades-long military occupation. Existing laws in the occupied Palestinian territory are often discriminatory and do not offer sufficient protection for women. Progress toward reform is held back by classic patriarchy, and also by the fractured and limited autonomy of the Palestinian Authority caused in large part by the occupation. Palestinian women are also subjected to violence and humiliations from Israeli soldiers and settlers and to other human rights violations caused by military incursions, the route of the separation wall, the steady expansion of the illegal settlements, house demolitions, and the closure regime and associated controls. Only an end to the occupation will bring an end to these violations, and on the domestic front, meaningful progress will be an uphill struggle for the women's movement without self-determination and a viable Palestinian state. International law has, as yet, provided no forum for accountability and redress.

The Last Slum: Moving from Illegal Settlements to Subsidized Home Ownership in Chile

The living conditions of the urban poor have dramatically changed in Chile in the past two decades. On one hand, through a massive program of investment in subsidized housing, more than a million Chileans have moved out from slums and shantytowns and become property owners. On the other, youth violence, drug trafficking, and other social maladies are increasing in many neighborhoods. It appears that home ownership has not been enough to overcome marginality and disintegration. Moreover, in some cases, moving to subsidized housing projects contributes to increased social problems, especially those related to violence and disintegration. To acquire knowledge about shantytown living conditions and the changes attendant to the move to home ownership, six focus groups were conducted with former residents of La Toma de Peñalolén, the last important slum remaining in Santiago and eliminated in 2006. This article analyzes the ways in which residents who have moved out from a shantytown compare the houses and neighborhood in which they used to live with their current setting. It analyzes the changes and continuities in living conditions and the aspects of shantytown living that former residents remember as valuable. The article ends with a discussion regarding the conditions of home ownership, social control, stigmatization, and the identity and value transformation residents have experienced.

Approcci innovativi alla mobilità urbana: il caso di Istanbul

Istanbul is one of the oldest metropolis of the world, standing upon two continents, but its modern history, which is linked to planning exercise, can be traced back the beginning of the last century. In fact, the industrialization was the most attractive factor for people without job, living in the underdeveloped rural regions of the country, bringing serious problems to the city: urban sprawl, unemployment, insufficient infrastructures and public services and, over all, the illegal settlements called gegekondu (built-in-a-night houses), located in the outskirts of the urban area. In general, the growth goes over forward three branches, which are population, land use and transportation network, but it is possible to recognize in the linear form the influence of mobility factors: ferry, railways and highways. The current structure of the metropolitan area of Istanbul clearly shows the relationship between the mobility system and an uncontrolled urban sprawl. Starting from 1950 public investments have been oriented towards the construction of urban highways as an answer to the increasing exodus of rural population and to the related occupation of urban soils. In this sense, many authors underline how the proposed solutions and the reasons of the problems paradoxically tend to coincide. On the other hand, planning tools which have been used in the past have proved ineffective and have produced a largely illegal and ungovernable city. In fact, it is possible to describe the evolution of city planning as a result of the difficult to apply planning and development tools successfully experienced in the European countries but not adequately conceived with regards to the local social and economic structure of Istanbul. In particular, polycentrism, which has been largely evocated in planning tools – think of Sir Patrick Abercrombie’s proposals, at the middle of the Fifties, or of Luigi Piccinato’s plan of the metropolitan area (1969) – has constantly exceeded by the diffusion of illegal settlements. It probably means that changes are faster than the duration required for the processes which are used in planning and transportation organization. Also the new tools, as strategic plan and urban project, seem to show their limits. A larger integration between still sectoral urban policies can contribute to the definition of innovative approaches. An example is given by the pilot project “Street are Ours, One Day a Month”: the slogan “moving people is more important than moving cars” clearly shows the “communicative” dimension of the initiative, aimed at the experimentation of innovative forms of alternative mobility in the framework of a broader involvement of inhabitants in planning choices. In this sense, the pilot project is oriented towards a reinforcement of the meanings related to the concept of proximity, involving not only mobility issues, but also those of community and local identity.

Biotope mapping of the Kumodraz stream watershed

Increasing negative changes in the biosphere, many of them irreversible, impose the need for the recording of the state of abiotic and biotic environmental factors in order that, with adequate measures, left over significant areas protect, degradation process slows down and lost area compensation accordance with possibilities. Therefore, for ecological planning in many developed countries, method of mapping and assessment of biotopes was introduced, firstly in rural areas and later in urban zones as well. Due to characteristic position in the transition direction from the city frindge to towards its core, area of the Kumodraz watershed area offered good basis for the application and examination of urban biotope mapping procedures. Different ways of land use, preservation of the relatively large area of open urban areas between two types of build structures and part of the free course of the Kumodraz stream offer good base for the assumption that habitats worth being preserved can be expected. The paper present results of the investigations carried out in 2006, which were compared with previous investigations as well as with the state in 2009. Prominent heterogeneity of and use, spreading of illegal settlements, but also existence of structures, which can be significant for encasement of the system of green and open spaces indicate on inadequate development of this area and also need for further investigations, which would lead to adequately planning solutions. By the mapping of the whole stream waters head and collection of attributes which characterize biotopes in details information bases for the further work on the assessment of the town biotope was obtained, as well as for argumentation for the directing the development towards protection of the remaining green areas of the city fringe.

Legalizing and upgrading illegal settlements in Turkey

The rapid urbanization experienced during Turkey's industrialization has led to the development of gecekondus 1 1 Gecekondu is a structure constructed illegally by an individual on an occupied public or private land. surrounding the cities. Various Governments have developed two different approaches to solving the issue since the 1950s. The main principle of the first approach was demolishing gecekondus, but it failed due to political, social and economic reasons. Therefore, the second approach has been adopted, which relies on legalizing them. This approach has also been unsuccessful because gecekondus have begun to be regarded as an enrichment tool by squatters. 2 2 Squatter is an individual who lives in a gecekondu. Consequently, the Turkish Housing Development Administration developed a new model in 2003 that aimed to upgrade illegal settlements through demolishing existing slums 3 3 Slum is an unlicensed house constructed by the landowner on his/her own land. and gecekondus and constructing new residential units in the same or different area. The model provides housing units to slum owners as compensation for their slums while giving an opportunity to the squatters and low-income people living outside of the upgrading area to buy a housing unit with affordable long-term payments. Thus, it prevents the construction of new gecekondus, as an enrichment tool by not sharing annuities of urbanization with squatters.

Urban conflicts and the policy learning process in Hong Kong: urban conflict and policy change in the 1950s and after 1997

This paper considers how the dynamics of a series of conflicts influence policy making and learning from experience. Two different series of conflicts centered on housing and public space are described and compared. First is the series of crises around illegal squatter settlements and fires that resulted in the Squatter Resettlement Programme, which eventually became a broad-ranging public housing programme accommodating half of Hong Kong's population. Second is a series of conflicts around post-1997 restructuring of urban space and public housing, which produced a number of setbacks for government plans. The first conflicts are interpreted as producing a learning process where initial responses failed to resolve the problems, failures demonstrated by subsequent crises, prompting new initiatives, eventually resulting in a partial solution through the adoption of permanent multi-storey Resettlement blocks. The second set of conflicts has revolved around public perceptions of a tight government/property developer nexus that drives public policies in detrimental ways. While the current set of conflicts has not been resolved yet, this paper will consider whether a similar learning process can be discerned. As yet, it appears that the opponents of government policy have been learning from their successes more than the government has from their setbacks.

The rise (and fall?) of a state land bank

Land markets in most poor cities do not work very effectively and contribute to making social housing unaffordable. One once popular response was to set up a public land bank. In truth, few such banks were terribly successful and, with the onset of neo-liberalism, the approach fell out of fashion. However, one government recently established a state land bank in an attempt to slow the growth of illegal settlement and to improve housing conditions for the poor. Bogotá's efforts have had some measure of success although the agency could never achieve the ambitious goals set for it. The paper describes the different approaches of the agency over the last decade, the problems that it has faced and what it has managed to achieve. Today, the agency no longer buys land and prefers to work in association with private landowners; in effect, Bogotá no longer has a state land bank. However, what it does have is an interesting set of tools with which to confront land speculation and to discourage owners from holding on to serviced land. Whether this set of tools will be able to confront the perennial problem of providing land for affordable social housing remains to be seen. Nevertheless, Bogotá provides many lessons for governments in poorer cities about how and why they should take measures to improve the working of the land market.

Belize-Guatemala Territorial Dispute and its Implications for Conservation

Guatemala has claimed Belizean territory for 150 years, ever since the colonial era. While several attempts have been made to settle this dispute, with no final resolution, several problems both on the land and sea still exist, including illegal settlements, illegal logging, illegal hunting, illegal fishing, illegal harvesting of forest products, illegal farming, illegal land subdivisions, loss of property and threat to human life. These problems have created conflict between the two nations along with a series of confrontations among the military forces, communities, and fishermen in the two countries. A proposal facilitated by the Organization of American States for confidence-building measures between the two countries did not succeed. Both countries now seek to finalize the settlement at the International Court of Justice. This paper introduces the issue with a summary of the history of Belize's territory and the origins of the claim, followed by a summary of the treaties and negotiations agreed to between the two countries, important elements of the Belize Maritime Act, and a discussion of the implications for conservation and efforts made to resolve this conflict.