OLYMPICS: GENTRIFICATION DISPLACES RENTERS IN CHINA AND CANADA.

By Am Johal

VANCOUVER, Canada, Jun. 7, 2007 (IPS/GIN) -- Governments compete fiercely for the honor of hosting the world's premier sporting event, but the Olympic Games tend to harm rather than help low-income residents of cities that host the gala event.

A report released Tuesday by the Geneva-based Center on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE), a U.N.-funded agency, says gentrification and soaring real-estate prices linked to the Games have displaced more than 2 million people in the last 20 years.

Titled "Fair Play for Housing Rights: Mega-Events, Olympic Games and Housing Rights," the report says the vast majority of the forced evictions happened in Seoul, South Korea, and in Beijing, where the 2008 Summer Olympics will take place.

"It is shocking and entirely unacceptable that 1.25 million people have already been displaced in Beijing, in preparation for the 2008 Games, in flagrant violation of their right to adequate housing," said Jean du Plessis, COHRE's executive director, in …