70-year-old Phumzile Dlamini is facing sustained pressure to leave her home to make way for timber company, Montigny Investment’s forestry plantation expansion programme in the village of Mhlambanyatsi, Eswatini. On 21 May, police officers visited Phumzile Dlamini’s home and urged her to sign Montigny “voluntary relocation” paperwork which she has refused to do and has done since the process began in March 2026. This raises serious concerns about intimidation and the risk of forced eviction in violation of international human rights law and standards, which prohibit forced evictions and require that any relocation affecting a person’s home be genuinely voluntary and based on free and informed consent, or otherwise meet strict safeguards and provide effective remedy.
