Rio’s Poor Threatened by Olympic Housing Evictions

RIO DE JANEIRO—When it was announced last October that Brazil would host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, it immediately brought fear to thousands of poor families in Rio de Janeiro—fear about being evicted to make way for Olympic construction projects.

To fulfill its promises to the International Olympic Committee (IOC), it was forecast that more than 3,500 families in six slums in both western and northern areas of Rio de Janeiro would be removed. Vila Autódromo was one of the first slated for removal, a poor community that is home to 2,000 families.

"We want to show society that the prefecture’s aim is to divide up the city to exclude poor people and to service the needs of the middle and upper classes," said Jane Nascimento, 54, an artisan and director of the social movement, Olympics Does Not Justify Removal.

Soon after Rio won the bid in Copenhagen in October, 2009, the city's Mayor Eduardo Paes, said that the removal of the Vila Autódromo community would be necessary to build the Olympic media center and that the entire process would be negotiated in consultation with the community, by including residents in discussions about building low-income housing.

Subsequent to the mayor’s declaration, in community gatherings organized by the Autódromo neighborhood association in which more than a thousand people have participated—residents have expressed that they wish to stay in their homes. "We will not leave!" said Jane Nascimento.

Beijing human rights violations

On 26 March, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Adequate Housing, Raquel Rolnik, met with representatives of communities at risk in Rio at the Social Urban Forum.

In her speech she said, "As a Brazilian, I'm worried about a repeat of what happened in the Olympics in other countries,” referring to the human rights violations that occurred to make way for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing among others.

"For relocation projects, communities must be consulted and they [the communities] should be modified as little as possible and they should respect international law,” she said.

In her blog, Rolnik states, “After presenting my Report on Mega Events earlier this month, the Council of the U.N. Human Rights in Geneva passed a resolution requiring the cities and countries that host sports’ mega-events to respect the right to housing. The text explicitly mentions the need to promote the right to housing in order to make the post-games legacy increase social housing opportunities.”

On March 3, leaders and residents of Vila Autódromo met with Mayor Paes and Municipal Secretary of Housing Jorge Bittar, at Rio’s City Hall. At the opening of the meeting, the mayor pledged he would not take action without prior dialogue with community residents. He further pledged that he hopes the Olympics will mean social change and real improvements for the entire city, such as the urbanization of slums. In the case of Vila Autódromo, he proposed compensation or nearby resettlement for the affected families.

However, community members say they oppose the policy of removal and did appear to believe the mayor’s promises.

"I understand what you offer, but I know that is not what the community wants,” Altair Guimarães, president of the Residents’ Association, told the mayor.

"They presented the proposal to compensate us with a condo that we know has apartments that are quite small. Moreover, the most important issue is that we have an emotional and historic bond with our community. … Even if they offered mansions, most people would not accept to be removed," said Altair in an interview at the Social Urban Forum.

The association of residents of Vila Autódromo argues that the process of involuntary removal scarcely considers people’s rights and violates both Brazilian law and the principles Brazil has agreed to in its international commitments.

The association also says that the community was never consulted at any time about their inclusion in the Olympic project submitted to the IOC. They say they only learned from the media that they would be removed and that international guidelines state that involuntary resettlement is an extreme measure that should occur only when there is no alternative, and it is not the case for Vila Autódromo.