WUNRN
INDIA - INTENSE COLD - HOMELESS
WOMEN & CHILDREN
Adnan Abidi / Reuters
A homeless woman adjusts a bed inside a
shelter for homeless women and children managed by a non-governmental
organisation (NGO) in
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http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=33528&Cr=india&Cr1
India - UN Expert Sounds Alarm on Dire Situation of
New Delhi Homeless
20 January 2010 – A United Nations
independent human rights expert today voiced concern over the deaths of
homeless people in India’s capital from a cold wave, underscoring the need for
adequate shelter to protect them from harsh weather.
“The lives of hundreds of homeless people in India are at risk as temperatures near zero degrees,” said Raquel Rolnik, the Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing.
Ten homeless people have lost their lives
in the past month in New Delhi, while some 100 people have reportedly died in
northern India due to the freezing cold over the last few weeks.
The number of homeless people in India has
grown since 2007, but the number of shelters for them has plummeted from 46 to
24 in New Delhi, Ms. Rolnik pointed out.
This year’s Commonwealth Games appears to
be driving the closing down of shelters in New Delhi, with public authorities
evicting homeless people and tearing down their places of residence in spite of
the frigid temperatures.
Late last month, the Municipal Corporation
of Delhi demolished a temporary night shelter on Pusa Road, leaving 250 people
without shelter and allegedly resulting in the deaths of two people. In spite
of an order by the Delhi High Court on 7 January requesting the immediate
restoration of the shelter and the protection of the uprooted families,
authorities have yet to help them.
A further 400 people were evicted from an
area they were using as shelter at Pul Mitahi, where many construction workers
for the Commonwealth Games and Dalit families were living.
Ms. Rolnik, who reports to the Geneva-based
Human Rights Council,
welcomed the Delhi High Court’s ruling and urged authorities to “halt the
demolition of homeless shelters, to provide immediate assistance and adequate
shelter to the affected persons, and not to evict homeless persons in the
winter, on humanitarian grounds.”