Mayra Gómez: "the impact of forced evictions on women and women's resistance", 2015 October 05

This video is restricted and cannot be viewed on the HRDI website. Session is conducted in English. Mayra Gómez, co-director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, presents on forced evictions within the Polochic communities in Panzós, Guatemala. The presentation begins with photographs of women who have been evicted from their homes throughout the world, in places such as Nairobi, Cambodia, India and Guatemala. She details the motivations behind forced evictions: primarily as “land grabs” made by a powerful organization or business, leaving thousands of people homeless, or relocated to non-arid lands where they can no longer engage in subsistence level farming. Presentation includes an analysis of gender-based human rights issues as they relate to forced evictions, such as increased rates of domestic or sexual violence experienced by women who are forcibly evicted from their homes and land, and their increased chances of becoming victims of human trafficking. There is a short film screening of a documentary produced by Witness about forced evictions in the global community [not included in footage]. Session closes with questions from the audience. [RT 37:28]