- Hundreds of settlers were evicted from Garden Hills along Waigani Drive in Port Moresby
- The land belongs to the Assembly of God church
- Settlers had lived there for more than 30 years and ignored a 30-day notice
- A promised relocation site had not been provided
Hundreds of people were evicted from the Garden Hills settlement along Waigani Drive in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, in December 2021, on land owned by the Assembly of God church, Asia Pacific Report said on December 14, 2021, republishing reporting by Marjorie Finkeo of the PNG Post-Courier.
The settlers had occupied the land for more than 30 years. They were served a 30-day eviction notice, which they ignored. “But they did not move so the church got an eviction order and police just enforced the order,” said Deputy Commander Laimo Asi.
Police described the settlement as a crime hotspot and said two people had recently been killed in a drunken brawl. In December 2020 Governor Powes Parkop had promised to relocate the residents to Fareya, behind the air transport squadron at Eight Mile, but that had not happened by the time of the eviction.
The eviction left hundreds of people without homes on church land they had occupied for three decades.
Informal settlements are also common in Jamaica, and church land can be among the land occupied without agreement. Letting occupation drag on makes the eventual problem harder for everyone. A church that owns idle land should decide early how it will be used, whether through leases, sale to occupants or a housing partnership, and should work with housing authorities on relocation before turning to the courts and police.
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