•  
  •  
 

Abstract

As urban development accelerates, urbanization has simultaneously grown as an inseparable phenomenon. However, beneath this transformation lies a crisis within the capitalist system known as overaccumulation, which has led to the marginalization of urban poor groups. This phenomenon results in the creation of slums, one of which is found in the periphery of railway tracks, where the urban poor reside. Semarang the capital of Central Java Province, Indonesia, is an apt example of such developments,. This study takes as starting point that the right to adequate housing is an integral part of human rights and addresses the issue of why the right to adequate housing is not realized for those living on the outskirts of railway tracks. Using a socio-legal approach and drawing on a critical geography conceptual framework, this research reveals that the realization of the right to adequate housing in these areas is hindered by vulnerability to eviction, a consequence of the capitalist-driven urban development paradigm. Moreover, human rights approaches tend to be liberal, based on the assumption that all individuals are equal before the law, without considering the spatial context that influences how these rights are constrained and, therefore, difficult to realize.

Bahasa Abstract

Seiring dengan pesatnya pembangunan kota, urbanisasi turut berkembang sebagai fenomena yang tak terpisahkan. Namun, di balik transformasi tersebut, terdapat krisis dalam sistem kapitalisme yang dikenal sebagai overaccumulation, yang berdampak pada marginalisasi kelompok-kelompok miskin kota. Fenomena ini menyebabkan terciptanya pemukiman kumuh, salah satunya di pinggiran rel kereta api, yang menjadi tempat tinggal bagi kaum miskin kota. Di Kota Semarang, kondisi serupa dapat ditemukan pada banyak pemukiman di kawasan tersebut. Studi ini bertujuan untuk merefleksikan status hak atas perumahan yang layak sebagai bagian integral dari hak asasi manusia, dan untuk merumuskan permasalahan mengapa hak atas perumahan yang layak tidak dapat direalisasikan bagi mereka yang tinggal di pinggiran rel kereta api. Melalui pendekatan socio-legal dan dengan menggunakan kerangka konseptual geografi kritis, penelitian ini mengungkap bahwa realisasi hak atas perumahan yang layak di kawasan ini terkendala oleh kerentanan terhadap ancaman penggusuran, yang merupakan konsekuensi dari paradigma pembangunan kota yang berlandaskan kapitalisme. Lebih jauh lagi, pendekatan hak asasi manusia yang diterapkan seringkali bersifat liberal dan bersandar pada anggapan bahwa setiap individu setara, tanpa memperhitungkan konteks spasial yang mempengaruhi pemenuhan dan pembatasan hak tersebut.

References

Ankerl, Guy. 2019. “Human Beings are Born Neither Free nor Equal.” Journal of Southeast Asian Human Rights. 3 (1): 1-6. https://doi.org/10.19184/jseahr.v1i2.6135.

Badan Pusat Statistika. 2019. “Persentase Rumah Tangga Kumuh Perkotaan (40% Ke Bawah), Menurut Provinsi (Persen), 2018-2019.” https://www.bps.go.id/id/statistics-table/2/MTU2MSMy/persentase-rumah-tangga-kumuh-perkotaan--40-persen-ke-bawah---menurut-provinsi--persen-.html.

Batubara, Bosman., Guntoro., Rachman, Noer Fauzi., Herlily., Adianto, Joko. 2024. “Land Occupation, Re-occupation, and Housing Cooperative: Commune Formation by Jakarta’s Urban Poor.” Agrarian South. 13 (1): 89-109. https://doi.org/10.1177/22779760241226816.

Batubara, Bosman., Kooy, Michelle., & Zwarteveen, Margreet. 2018. “Uneven Urbanisation: Connecting Flows of Water to Flows of Labour and Capital Through Jakarta's Flood Infrastructure.” Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography. 50 (5): 1186–1205. https://doi.org/10.1111/anti.12401.

Batubara, Bosman., Kooy, Michelle., & Zwarteveen, Margreet. 2023. “Politicising Land Subsidence in Jakarta: How Land Subsidence is the Outcome of Uneven Sociospatial and Socionatural Processes of Capitalist Urbanization.” Geoforum. 139: 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103689.

Batubara, Bosman., & Rachman, Noer Fauzi. 2022. “Extended Agrarian Question in Concessionary Capitalism: The Jakarta’s Kaum Miskin Kota.” Agrarian South. 11(2): 232-255. https://doi.org/10.1177/22779760221095121.

Borgohain, Trinity. 2021. “Slums on Railway Land in Guwahati City, Assam: A Sociological Review.” In Mitra, Saptarshi., Bandyopadhyay, Sumana., Roy, Stabak., Dentinho, Tomaz Ponce., (eds.). Railway Transportation in South Asia: Infrastructure Planning, Regional Development and Economic Impacts. New York: Springer.

Brenner, Neil., & Schmid, Christian. 2015. “Towards a New Epistemology of the Urban?.” City: Analysis of Urban Change, Theory, Action. 19 (2–3): 151–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/13604813.2015.1014712.

Brenner, Neil. 2019. New Urban Spaces: Urban Theory and the Scale Question. New York: Oxford University Press.

Cooper, Sarah EV. 2024. “The Right to Housing in a Neoliberal and Colonial Context.” Planning Practice & Research. 39 (6): 1012–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/02697459.2024.2385226.

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 1991. “, General Comment No. 4: The Right to Adequate Housing (13 December 1991) E/1992/23.” https://www.refworld.org/legal/general/cescr/1991/en/53157.

Davis, Mike. 2006. Planet of Slums. London: Verso.

Donnelly, Jack. 2013. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice. New York: Cornell University Press.

Elena, Fátima García. 2020. “The Spatial Aspect of Human Rights: A Framework for the Structural and Spatial Analysis of Human Rights Practice.” The International Journal of Human Rights 25 (4): 579–93. https://doi.org/10.1080/13642987.2020.1783530.

Ghosh, Swarnabh., & Meer, Ayan. 2020. “Extended Urbanisation and the Agrarian Question: Convergences, Divergences and Openings.” Urban Studies. 58 (6): 1097-1119. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098020943758.

Habibi, Muchtar. 2021. “Masters of the Countryside and Their Enemies: Class Dynamics of Agrarian Change in Rural Java.” Journal of Agrarian Change. 21(4): 720-746. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723638.2019.1688535.

Harvey, David. 1973. Social Justice and the City. Georgia: University of Georgia Press.

Harvey, David. 1982. The Limits to Capital. Oxford: Blackwell.

Harvey, David. 1985. The Urbanization of Capital: Studies in The History and Theory of Capitalist Urbanization. Oxford: Blackwell.

Harvey, David. 2003. The New Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Harvey, David. 2004. Paris, Capital of Modernity. London: Routledge.

Harvey, David. 2006. The Limits to Capital. London: Verso.

Harvey, David. 2008. “The Right to the City.” New Left Review 58. https:// newleftreview.org/issues/ii53/articles/david-harvey-the-right-to-the-city.

Harvey, David. 2012. Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution. London: Verso.

Hafez, Nahla Mahmoud., Kamel, Rowaida Reda., Elsherif, Doaa Mahmoud., & Nasreldin, Rania Ibrahim. 2021. “Realization of the Key Aspects of the Right to Adequate Housing in Affordable Housing Programs in Egypt.” Journal of Engineering and Applied Science. 68 (21): 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s44147-021-00018-8.

Hernández-García, Jaime. 2023. “Covid-19 and Informal Settlements: Reflections from Bogota.” In Irawaty, Dian Tri (ed.). Pandemic Lessons from the Global South. Jakarta: Rujak Center for Urban Studies.

Hohmann, Jessie. 2014. The Right to Housing: Law, Concepts, Possibilities. Oxford: Hart.

Irianto, Sulistyowati., & Meij, Lim Sing. 2013. “Praktik Penegakan Hukum: Arena Penelitian Sosio Legal yang Kaya.” In Irianto, Sulistyowati., & Shidarta (eds. ). Metode Penelitian Hukum: Konstelasi dan Refleksi. Jakarta: Yayasan Pustaka Obor Indonesia.

Jordan, Mark. 2024. “Contesting Housing Inequality: Housing Rights and Social Movements.” Modern Law Review. 87 (1): 52-79. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12828.

Karmilah, Mila., Handriana, Eka., Atia, Syarifah., & Nihayah, Umdatin. 2023. Urip Dioyak-Oyak Banyu: Perjumpaan Manusia, Abrasi, Rob, dan Infrastruktur di Sayung. Bantul: Mata Kata Inspirasi.

Khan, Shahed Anwer. 1994. “Attributes of Informal Settlements Affecting Their Vulnerability to Eviction; a Study of Bangkok.” Environment & Urbanization. 6 (1): 25-39. https://doi.org/10.1177/095624789400600103.

Kothari, Miloon. 2007. Report of the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing as a Component of the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living–A/HRC/4/18/Add.2. Geneva: United Nations.

Komisi Nasional Hak Asasi Manusia. 2022. Standar Norma dan Pengaturan tentang Hak atas Tempat Tinggal yang Layak. Jakarta: Komnas HAM.

Kurniati, Nia. 2014. “Pemenuhan Hak atas Perumahan dan Kawasan Permukiman yang Layak dan Penerapannya Menurut Kovenan Internasional tentang Hak-Hak Ekonomi, Sosial, dan Budaya di Indonesia.” Padjajaran: Jurnal Ilmu Hukum. 1 (1): 78-98. https://doi.org/10.22304/pjih.v1n1.a5.

Kusumawati, Erna Dyah. 2018. “Between Public and Communal Interests: A Legality Issue of Forced Evictions Occurring in Jakarta.” Indonesia Law Review. 3 (1): 87-108. https://doi.org/10.15742/ilrev.v8n1.384.

Kusno, Abidin. 2019. “Middling Urbanism: The Megacity and the Kampung.” Urban Geography. 41 (7): 954–70. https://doi.org/10.1111/joac.12433.

Laliberté, Nicole. 2015. “Geographies of Human Rights: Mapping Responsibility.” Geography Compass. 9 (2): 57-67. https://doi.org/10.1111/gec3.12196.

Leckie, Scott. 1989. “Housing as a Human Right.” Environment & Urbanization. 1 (2): 90-108. https://doi.org/10.1177/095624788900100210.

Lefebvre, Henri. 1991. The Production of Space. Oxford: Blackwell.

Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Jakarta. 2016. Mereka yang Terasing: Laporan Pemenuhan Hak atas Perumahan yang Layak bagi Korban Penggusuran Paksa Jakarta yang Menghuni Rumah Susun. Jakarta: LBH Jakarta.

Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Jakarta. 2017. Mengais di Pusaran Janji: Laporan Penggusuran Paksa Di Wilayah Dki Jakarta Tahun 2017. Jakarta: LBH Jakarta.

Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Jakarta. 2018. Masih Ada: Laporan Penggusuran Paksa di Wilayah DKI Jakarta 2018. Jakarta: LBH Jakarta.

Marx, Karl. 2000. “On the Jewish Question.” In Karl Marx: Selected Writings. David McLellan (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Moyn, Samuel. 2018. Not Enough: Human Rights in an Unequal World. Harvard: Harvard University Press.

Mutua, Makau. 2016. Human Rights Standards: Hegemony, Law, and Politics. New York: State University of New York Press.

Nasihudin, Muhamad. “Kampung-Kampung Kota di Yogyakarta.” Kampungkota: Buletin Kompor, April 2025.

Primawardani, Yuliana. 2018. “Peremajaan dan Pengembangan Wilayah Perkotaan Melalui Penggusuran dalam Perspektif Hak Asasi Manusia di Kota Surabaya.” Jurnal HAM. 9 (1): 51-58. http://dx.doi.org/10.30641/ham.2018.9.51-58.

Purcell, Mark. 2007. “City-Regions, Neoliberal Globalization and Democracy: A Research Agenda.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 31(1): 197-206. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2427.2007.00714.x.

Rachman, Noer Fauzi., & Luthfi, Ahmad Nashih. 2020. Nanos Gigantum Humeris Insidentes: Sebelum Meneliti Susunlah Bibliografi Beranotasi dan Kajian Pustaka. Yogyakarta: STPN Press.

Recio, Redento B., & Dovey, Kim. 2021. “Forced Eviction by Another Name: Neoliberal Urban Development in Manila.” Planning Theory & Practice. 22 (5): 806–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2021.1958537.

Smith, Neil., & Low, Setha. 2013. The Politics of Public Space. London: Routledge.

Smith, Neil. 1982. “Gentrification and Uneven Development.” Economic Geography, 58 (2): 139–55. https://doi.org/10.2307/143793.

Smith, Neil. 2008. Uneven Development: Nature, Capital, and the Production of Space. Georgia: University of Georgia Press.

United Nations. 2024. “Progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals: Report of the Secretary-General (A/79/79–E/2024/54).” United Nations Economic and Social Council & General Assembly. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/files/report/2024/secretary-general-sdg-report-2024--EN.pdf.

United Nations for Human Settlements Programme. 2003. The Challenge of Slums Global Report on Human Settlements 2003. London: Earthscan Publications Ltd.

Vols, Michel., Hoogenhout, Isabella., Schaetzel, Max., & Schubert, Lea. 2023. "The Right to Adequate Housing & brics: An Exploratory Comparative Analysis of Brazil, China and Russia." European Journal of Comparative Law and Governance. 11 (1): 1-41. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/22134514-bja10055.

Wahyuni, Ridha. 2022. “Perlindungan Hak Atas Tempat Tinggal Warga Terdampak Penggusuran di Kawasan Perkotaan Berdasarkan Perspektif HAM.” Jurnal Yuridis. 9 (1): 37-55. https://doi.org/10.35586/jyur.v9i1.4170.

Wilson, Stuart. 2020. “The Right to Adequate Housing.” In Porter, Bruce., Dugard, Jackie., Ikawa, Daniela., & Chenwi, Lilian., (eds.). Research Handbook on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as Human Rights. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Zizek, Slavoj. 2006. “Against an Ideology of Human Rights.” In Tunstall, Kate E. (ed.). Displacement, Asylum, Migration: The Oxford Amnesty Lectures 2004. New York: Oxford University Press.

Download

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.