‘Rights group: Olympics have displaced 2 million people over last 20 years” (article url)
Erica Bulman, Canadian Press
Published: Tuesday, June 05, 2007GENEVA (AP) - The Olympic Games have displaced more than two million people in the last 20 years, mostly minorities such as the homeless and poor, a rights group said Tuesday.
Some 1.5 million people will have been displaced by the Beijing Games alone, according to a report by the Geneva-based Center on Housing Rights and Evictions.
"Our research shows that little has changed since 1988 when 720,000 people were forcibly displaced in Seoul, South Korea, in preparation for the Summer Olympic Games," said Jean du Plessis, the group’s executive director. "It is shocking and entirely unacceptable that 1.25 million people have already been displaced in Beijing, in preparation for the 2008 Games, in flagrant violation of their right to adequate housing."
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The report, titled "Fair Play for Housing Rights: Mega-Events, Olympic Games and Housing Rights," also examines other major international events such as the soccer World Cup, World Expos, IMF/World Bank conferences and even beauty pageants such as the Miss World and Miss Universe contests.
The study says that large-scale events often lead to rising housing costs, resulting in forced evictions, displacement and criminalization of homelessness.
Five years ahead of the London 2012 Olympics, more than 1,000 people face the threat of displacement from their homes, while housing prices are escalating, the study said.
The report said organizers of the 2010 Vancouver Games had vowed to respect housing rights, but preparations already have led to the loss of 700 low-income housing units and the conversion of inexpensive housing into tourist accommodations has displaced hundreds of poor and elderly.
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at http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=06759c4a-677c-4c48-98e4-9fa9c87e4a81&k=22111
