2006年VOA标准英语-Forced Evictions in Africa Increasing

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
03 October 2006 

laborers2, who faces eviction4, inside their home near Messina, South Africa, in February 2005 " src="/upimg/allimg/070429/1352170.jpg" width="210" border="0" /> Unidentified children of farm laborers, who faces eviction, inside their home near Messina, South Africa, in February 2005

A new report says the practice of forced evictions is increasing dramatically in Africa. The joint⁵ report by Amnesty International and the Geneva-based Center on Housing Rights and Evictions says more than three million Africans in 20 countries have been forcibly evicted⁶ from their homes in the past six years. 

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The report calls forced evictions one of the most widespread and unrecognized human-rights violations⁷ in Africa.

The acting⁸ coordinator⁹ of the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions, Deanna Fowler, tells VOA governments throughout Africa continue to forcibly evict³ hundreds of thousands of people from their homes each year. In the majority of cases, she says, inhabitants are not given any notice that they are about to be thrown out of their homes.

"They just wake up and there are bulldozers and soldiers waiting outside their homes with guns asking them to move. And, they are not able to gather their property and if they did have some legal title, sometimes the papers for that are lost in the destruction," she said. "There is often violence that involves people being shot at with rubber bullets or with live ammunition¹⁰. People have been killed. There have been instances where pregnant women go into premature¹¹ labor¹ and lose their children."

The report says many African governments justify¹² forced evictions on the grounds they are essential for development and in the interest of the general public good. But it says the evictions are counterproductive because they create homelessness, destroy property and productive assets and rob people of their livelihoods¹³.

The report says the government of Zimbabwe is a case in point. In 2005, Zimbabwe forced an estimated 700,000 people from their homes and businesses. It says virtually nothing has been done since then to address the plight¹⁴ of the displaced, most of whom remain homeless and without work.

Zimbabwe is regarded as one of the main violators of housing rights in the world. But Fowler says it may not be the worst.

"I would say that Nigeria is one of the worst violators in the world right now," she added. "Since 2000, there have been an estimated two million people forcibly evicted."

According to Fowler, the Nigerian government says recent large-scale evictions in the country's capital, Abuja, are needed to carry out its urban development program.

"They argue that houses have been built illegally in the wrong places or have been built without following adequate standards and so they are dangerous," continued Fowler. "But, in the process of trying to make the city a very safe and well-planned area, they are creating homelessness that has reached almost a million people. It has worsened the crisis in unemployment and in housing and in food security."

The report also accuses Sudan of having forcibly evicted thousands of victims of conflict from camps for internally displaced people and resettling them in desert areas without access to clean water, food and other essentials.

The Center On Housing Rights And Evictions is equally critical of several other countries it ranks in the category of worst violators, including Angola, Kenya, Ghana and Equatorial Guinea.

1 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

2 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

3 evict   

vt.驱逐，赶出，撵走

参考例句：

• The lessor can evict the lessee for failure to pay rent.出租人可驱逐不付租金的承租人。
• The government always says it's for the greater good when they evict farmers from their land.当政府把农民从他们的土地赶出去的时候，总是号称是为了更大众的利益。

4 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

5 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

6 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

7 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

9 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

10 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

11 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

12 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

13 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

14 plight   

n.困境，境况，誓约，艰难；vt.宣誓，保证，约定

参考例句：

• The leader was much concerned over the plight of the refugees.那位领袖对难民的困境很担忧。
• She was in a most helpless plight.她真不知如何是好。