Eviction of Zamboanga refugees puts lives at risk, says Refugees Int’l

Aftermath of Zamboanga fighting in 2013. AFP PHOTO

WASHINGTON, DC – An international refugee aid group criticized officials in Zamboanga for “forcibly” evicting hundreds of displaced families on December 15 and transporting them to camps where “humanitarian conditions are appalling.”

Refugees International (RI) expressed deep concern about the evictions and urged both local and national authorities to halt any further transfers of refugees to camps that lack water, sanitation and other basic services.

According to witnesses this week police entered the Zamboanga Sports Complex, where roughly 10,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) were sheltering more than a year after fleeing violence in their home neighborhoods.

The IDPs have not been allowed to return to their home areas. Police dismantled shelters belonging to hundreds of families and forcibly removed them to the so-called Mampang transitional site on the outskirts of town.

As described in RI’s recent field report from Zamboanga, the Mampang site currently houses just 4,000 people but already lacks sufficient water, sanitation, health, or education facilities.

Last week, hundreds of IDP families living at the Sports Complex staged a demonstration to protest the city’s plan to relocate them to Mampang. While RI acknowledges that conditions at the Sports Complex are poor, many IDPs prefer to stay there because it is located close to schools and jobs.

“If this campaign of evictions goes forward, the population of the Mampang site will nearly triple, and the shortages of lifesaving aid and services will only get worse,” said Alice Thomas, RI’s Climate Displacement program manager.

“Many humanitarian actors question whether the city government’s actions are legal. But legal or not, it is deeply irresponsible to force people into a camp where basic humanitarian standards will not be met,” Thomas added.

In its latest report, Philippines: Displaced and Forgotten in Zamboanga, RI is urging the United Nations and donor governments to rapidly deploy more lifesaving resources to Zamboanga.

But until that happens, RI is also calling on the Philippine government not to force IDPs into sites where their basic needs will not be met. It also calls on city authorities to ensure that all transfers are voluntary, and comply with national and international laws governing the rights of IDPs regarding return, relocation and resettlement.

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