New research shows that more than three million Africans have been forcibly evicted from their homes since 2000. Most of the evictions have occurred in Nigeria.

Amnesty International and the Center on Housing Rights and Evictions say the practice violates human rights law.

Kolawole Olaniyan is the director of Amnesty International’s Africa Program. From London, he spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua.

“Many governments in Africa have subscribed or signed up for agreements and treaties, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which prohibits forced eviction…and many governments in Africa have signed up for the Millennium Development Goals. And all these require governments not to engage in the practice of forced evictions. But what we have is the contrary. We have many governments in Africa, from Zimbabwe to Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana, (which) are engaging in this practice, which is clearly inconsistent with their human rights obligations.”

African governments that carry out forced evictions have said that they are needed to spur development. Olaniyan says it’s actually producing “the opposite result.”

The research also shows that violence is often associated with the forced evictions, including killings, beatings, torture and rape. (