China Continues Evictions in Preparation for 2008 Beijing Olympics

China has continued its wide-scale relocation of residents as it prepares to host the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing next year.

An estimated 1.5 million residents will be evicted according to the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions, a number contested by those organizing the Olympic Games. While the COHRE has said China has continued to evict 13,000 residents per month, the director of construction committee has said the numbers were tremendously inflated.

China has insisted that the Geneva-based COHRE has not recognized the affordable housing that has been built for displaced residents and that the compensation offered to people being evicted has been fair.

Several housing buildings have been demolished since Beijing was awarded the Olympics as they continue to construct venues for the Summer Games.

Despite the offering of compensation for evicted residents COHRE has said, “In Beijing, and in China more generally, the process of demolition and eviction is characterized by arbitrariness and lack of due process. In many cases, tenants are given little or no notice of their eviction and do not receive the promised compensation.”

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