Between 2004 and 2006, a massive programme of evictions has been carried out in forest areas of Kenya. Houses, schools and health centres have been destroyed, and many have been rendered homeless. Estimates indicate that in six forests alone, more than a hundred thousand persons were forcibly evicted between July 2004 and June 2006.  Evictions in a number of forest areas are reportedly continuing and humanitarian groups are expressing growing concerns about the ongoing increase in internally displaced persons from forest areas in Kenya.

In this report, the COHRE Women and Housing Rights Programme (WHRP) documents the fact that under both statutory and customary law, the overwhelming majority of women in sub-Saharan Africa (regardless of their marital status) cannot own or inherit land, housing and other property in their own right.