The autonomous gathering of civil society organisations in Carlos Pelegrini 211 has now collected more than 3,000 signatures. During a ‘week-long camp’, from 12th to 16th of May 2008, they will be present 24 hours a day (120 hours non-stop) campaigning for a positive response for decent housing projects in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.

One year on from the new presidency, heralded as pro-reform, what has been achieved?

Adoption of the enforceable right to housing is far from being accomplished. Voted in a hurry during the electoral campaign, the law was designed to house categories of people requesting housing considered to be priority cases, including the homeless. Target figures have not been met and procedural obstacles for candidates to be recognised as priority cases have multiplied.

Research conducted by Amnesty International and the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) reveals that the practice of forced evictions has reached epidemic proportions in Africa.