“Forced to Leave”

Soybean field on a commercial farm in Central province, Zambia. Several rural communities in Serenje district have been forced off land they have always lived on and farmed to make way for commercial farming. © 2017 Samer Muscati for Human Rights Watch

In March 2017, Ruth Mwitwa was convicted of criminal trespass for being on land she has farmed all her life, now allocated to a commercial farmer. She was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment and detained with her infant. “I was sent to prison for trespassing on the Muzungu’s [white man’s] land, when it is him who has entered the land where I and my children were born,” said Mwitwa, mother of nine children. © 2017 Samer Muscati for Human Rights Watch

For more than four years, some residents in Kasenga have lived in tents after a commercial farmer forcibly evicted them from land in the Luombwa farm block, Serenje district. © 2017 Samer Muscati for Human Rights Watch

Two women displaced by commercial farmers from land in Luombwa farm block walk more than 40 minutes each day to fetch water for their families. They said before displacement, water was readily accessible. “I was six months pregnant when all this [eviction] was happening. Our previous place was good because the water source was near and I could use a bucket to get water and quickly go home, but here the water is so far,” said Jane. © 2017 Samer Muscati for Human Rights Watch

With little access to water after being displaced by commercial farms, some residents have resorted to digging simple wells, with a rope and bucket, on their temporary lands. These shallow wells dry up in the drier months, so the residents end up walking to distant streams. © 2017 Samer Muscati for Human Rights Watch

When Felicia Kasenga and her family were forcibly evicted by a commercial farmer from land in Luombwa, they ended up homeless. Kasenga and her 10 children had to sleep in the open for several months. © 2017 Samer Muscati for Human Rights Watch

Esther Mambwe and her family were evicted from Kalengo section by a commercial farmer in 2016. “We didn’t know anything about this [commercial] farm until one day we saw a muzungu [white man] carrying something and he said he was making a boundary,” Mambwe said. © 2017 Samer Muscati for Human Rights Watch

Children at school in Luombwa farm block. Teachers here said they were worried that the school would shut down because of expanding commercial farming in the area, despite assurances from government officials and commercial farm operators that the school would not be shut. © 2017 Samer Muscati for Human Rights Watch

Farm permit given to residents by their chief. Although many residents of Kalengo section have these permits allowing them to use the land from the traditional authority, these are not recognized by government bodies and commercial farmers. © 2017 Samer Muscati for Human Rights Watch

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