Mumbai, Jan 19 – Social activists urged civil-society to take up the cause of the homeless at a global level during a workshop titled “Searching for Survival with Dignity on City Streets” held by ActionAid India, an international development organisation, during the on-going World Social Forum (WSF) 2004 here today.

Unjust globalisation and unchecked liberalisation has aggravated the plight of homeless persons and the magnitude of the problem, speakers said. “The homeless are the most marginalised and vulnerable of the urban poor but have remained invisible to everyone including planners, policymakers and people,” said Miloon Kothari, U.N. special rapporteur on Adequate Housing.

“Homelessness is an issue that needs to be taken up at the global level. It is important that the State takes responsibility. Countries like India are bound by U.N. Conventions to address this issue. The issue should be pushed in the housing agenda,” he said.

Displaced by natural calamities like earthquakes, unjust trade practices and political catastrophes, millions of men, women and children are left with no choices but to sleep under the sky -- on pavements, rickshaws, railway platforms, on water pipes and even on trees, speakers said.

Harsh Mander, Country Director, ActionAid India (AAI), said: “There have been two ways the state machinery has related to the homeless, one to criminalise them and other to institutionalise them. The civil society has responded by demonising them, creating and propagating misconceptions and surely ostracising them.”

He said the homeless have no address therefore they are not entitled to any basic rights including the right to franchise and the right to dignity of life. In addition, they face exploitation and abuse by those heading the administrative machinery.

Street children initiated the workshop with a street play that depicted their predicament. The play titled – “Patri Par Bachpan” – has been conceived and scripted by the children themselves who call their group “Jamghat” (gathering).

Sandeep Chachra, Director (Policy), AAI, shared the experiences and learning from the work done on the issue in India where the organisation has been working since 1972. Every year thousands of homeless persons die in India due to lack of shelter. “AAI believes the homeless themselves must play an active role in asserting and securing their right to shelter which is enshrined in the Constitution of India through collective action,” he said.

While working with homeless people to empower them to demand their rights, AAI has been actively lobbying for pro-poor housing and shelter policies. Legal interventions include petitions challenging the closure of night shelters in some areas, a public interest litigation (PIL) on burial of deceased homeless persons and research on anti-homeless laws like the Bombay Vagrancy Act, 1959.

AAI has supported a PIL filed in Supreme Court of India recently seeking suitable directions to the administration to ensure that every citizen of this country gets practical and realistic access to basic shelter in accordance to Article 21 of the Constitution of India.

The workshop concluded with testimonies of homeless women and men from across the country who have formed collectives to demand their rights. They unflinching resolve was to make another world with no homeless persons.

Ends