The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 62
Paragraph
Paragraph text
Experiences at the domestic level suggest that the right to adequate housing is most effectively claimed and adjudicated when it is linked to the right to life and other core human rights principles. Even in jurisdictions in which the right to adequate housing is recognized as a self-standing right, the effective claiming and adjudication of this right has usually relied on recognition of its inherent connection to dignity and to the right to life. The Constitutional Court of South Africa, for example, abandoned a deferential approach to adjudication and committed itself to assessing the reasonableness of positive measures taken by governments when it was confronted with the "intolerable conditions" in which Irene Grootboom and her community were living (under plastic tarpaulins on a sports field with no water or sanitation), which were in stark contrast to the constitutional values of dignity, equality and freedom.
Legal status
Non-negotiated soft law
Body
Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
Document type
Special Procedures' report
Means of adoption
N.A.
Topic(s)
Equality & Inclusion
Social & Cultural Rights
Water & Sanitation
Person(s) affected
All
Year
2016
Paragraph type
Other
Reference
SR Housing, Report to the UNGA (2016), A/71/310, para. 62.