Zimbabwe, China and the Indian state of Maharashtra were named the world's worst violators of housing rights Tuesday by an advocacy group that branded forced evictions in Harare a crime against humanity.
The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) also praised a Pakistani official and an Indonesian activist for their work to support housing rights, in the group's annual awards meant to highlight violations around the world.
Zimbabwe's forced evictions of residents and informal traders earlier this year left more than 700,000 people homeless and forced to fend for themselves, the group's executive director Scott Leckie told reporters.
"It is abundantly clear that crimes against humanity have taken place in Zimbabwe in recent months, and those responsible should be held accountable and brought before the international judicial bodies to answer for those crimes," Leckie said.
Meanwhile, he said the situations in China and the Indian state of Maharashtra highlighted the need to balance rapid economic development with respect for human rights.
"More than 40 million Chinese farmers have lost their land and livelihoods in the past 20 years due to rapid industrialization and urbanisation," he said.
"COHRE is particularly concerned about the forced evictions of at least 400,000 people carried out in Beijing in connection with the upcoming 2008 Summer Olympic Games."
In Maharashtra, 350,000 people were evicted in India's commercial capital Mumbai in the last year as part of a redevelopment plan that calls for reducing slums to 10 percent of their current size, Leckie said. But the group also praised Tasneem Siddiqui, former head of the Sindh Katchi Abadis Authority in Pakistan, for his work to gain legal recognition for informal settlements.
Indonesian activist Wardah Hafidz was also singled out for her efforts to help poor urban leaders fight for the rights of their communities.