Somalia: The harsh reality of the devastating impact of forced evictions

Over 2.6 million Somali people live in camps for internally displaced people. One million Somali people have become refugees and are living neighbouring countries – mostly in Kenya and Ethiopia. In total, displaced people represent approximately 20 per cent of the current estimated population of Somalia.

Due to the massive migration from rural areas, a large number of people have come to live in cities where they face challenges in finding work to provide for their families. There are also hundreds of thousands of Somali returnees from refugee camps in Kenya who have settled in cities. According to a World Bank report, this suggests that 54 per cent of the Somali population lives in cities.

Forced evictions without prior notice

Lul Hassan is a 56-year-old mother of seven children. She lives in the Dofil camp for the internally displaced people in Beletweyne, in the Hiran region. In 2017, a severe drought forced Lul and her family to flee their village in central Somalia. They arrived in Beletweyne, where they lived in an informal settlement. Lul started selling tea to earn a living and feed her children.

Lul and her family were victims of forced evictions after settling on privately owned land. Like most internally displaced people, they set up their home in an informal settlement in Beletweyne. In total, Lul has been forcibly evicted three times from different camps. She recalls the most recent eviction, a little over a year ago.

“It was around seven o’clock in the morning. I was in the kitchen, preparing breakfast for my children, when armed men with tractors came to the settlement and started destroying our houses, telling us to leave immediately,” says Lul. “We quickly rushed out of the house with our household items. I didn’t have time to take down my house so I could use the sticks and plastic sheet later. After a short time, everything was destroyed.”

Lul continues: “My children and I sat on the ground. I didn’t know what to do. We had lost our home, and we didn’t know where to go. After sitting on the ground for more than three hours, we were approached by supportive people from the local host community. They gave us money so we could relocate to another camp.”

Lul is living in a new camp now, but she still worries: “I came to the Dofil camp for internally displaced people, on the outskirts of Beletweyne. I set up a new makeshift shelter. We have lived her for a year now, but similar to other families, I still worry that we will be evicted one day because this land is also privately owned and we can be told to leave anytime.”

How NRC is responding to the situation

With funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) was able to reduce eviction rates and support 500 households including Lul’s family with five years of land tenure security.

The use of verbal agreements between landowners (or their representatives) and tenants in the settlements for internally displaced people has been cited as one reason for the high number of evictions in Somalia, which are more likely to occur in situations where land tenure arrangements are not properly negotiated and/or documented.

NRC has worked with local authorities to support efforts to formalise land tenure agreements between landowners and internally displaced people. Now, legal tenure security documents have been issued under the leadership of local authorities in an attempt to create a more stable situation for displaced families. They also received information on housing, land and property rights.

“Internally displaced people usually live in privately owned settlements without land tenure documents. This has resulted in a number of forced evictions, which remains a critical protection concern. To avoid this, we negotiated with landlords in the presence of local authorities. This resulted in a formal land tenure document, which allows these families to stay in this settlement for five years,” says Abbas Ahmed. NRC’s ICLA Project Manager in Somalia.

“Before the land tenure agreement, we were extremely worried about our future, and how long we would be able to stay here. We lived in constant fear of being evicted and forced to leave at any time,” says Lul.

“I am very happy now. I can live here peacefully with my children. I don’t have to worry about being evicted any longer. At least, we can stay a place where we can feel safe. Knowing that we can stay here for years to come, I can now focus on providing for my family. I also hope to expand my tea shop to earn a better living, ” concludes Lul.