A/HRC/13/20 population was forcibly evicted and 48,000 buildings were demolished in preparation for the 1988 Olympic Games;11 (b) in Barcelona, 200 families were evicted to make way for the construction of new city ring roads prior to the 1992 Olympic Games;12 (c) in Beijing, nine projects related to venue construction, covering over one million square meters, involved relocation of residents;13 allegations of mass evictions were reported, sometimes conducted by unidentified men, in the middle of the night and without prior warning, and with residents and housing activists often subject to repression, harassment and arbitrary detention;14 (d) in New Delhi, 35,000 families were evicted from public lands in preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games;15 (e) in South Africa, the N2 Gateway housing project involving the construction of rental housing for the 2010 World Cup entailed the removal of over 20,000 residents from the Joe Slovo informal settlement, and local residents were moved to impoverished areas at the edge of the city;16and (f) in London, the Compulsory Purchase Order, issued in preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games, and that grants powers to local authorities to assemble land required for major regeneration projects, forces residents to leave Olympic districts.17 2. Indirect displacement due to gentrification 19. Although not directly a consequence of the construction of facilities to host the games or the urbanization projects aimed at improving the image of the host city, mass displacement may also result from indirect processes, such as gentrification and escalating housing costs. Gentrification can be triggered by the redevelopment projects undertaken in preparation for the events. Once involved in regeneration processes, underdeveloped neighbourhoods attract high-income earners, who start moving into the area. The sudden interest of real estate investors in areas previously considered of low market value raises property and rental prices. This has an impact on affordability for local residents, and often results in their de facto expulsion from the area. In particular, tenants who have no means to rent the new premises are forced to resettle in other regions, and often receive no compensation, alternative housing or financial aid. Property owners are sometimes included in joint development programmes with private developers, which ensures them access to the new residences; in other cases, they are forced to sell and leave the area either as a result of increased costs or of intimidation from construction companies. 20. Consequently, gentrification and escalating prices have the effect of forcing out lowincome communities in favour of middle- and upper-class residents. The community thus suffers a major change in its demographic composition. While middle- and high- income populations move into former poor areas and find housing increasingly available, former residents are pushed to the outskirts of the city, losing their communal ties and enduring further impoverishment owing to the reduction of employment and schooling opportunities, as well as the increase in their commuting costs. 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 Solomon J. Greene; “Staged cities; mega events, slum clearance, and global capital” in Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal, vol. 6, 2003, pp. 171, 179. “Fair play for housing rights”, op. cit., p. 197. Information provided by the International Olympic Committee, based on Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee sources. “Beijing 2008. Human rights and the Olympics in China” (2004); and “Demolished: forced evictions and the tenant’s rights movement in China”, Human Rights Watch, Vol.16, No. 4; 2004. “Fair play for housing rights”, op. cit., p. 28. Caroline Newton, “The reverse side of the medal: about the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the beautification of the N2 in Cape Town”, Springer Netherlands, vol. 2, No. 1, 2009, p. 9. See the website of London Development Agency, at www.lda.gov.uk; and “Hosting the 2012 Olympic Games: London’s Olympic preparations and housing rights concerns”, 2001, COHRE p. 26. 7