A/HRC/49/48
United Nations
General Assembly
Distr.: General
10 November 2022
Original: English
Human Rights Council
Forty-ninth session
28 February 2022–1 April 2022
Agenda item 3
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil,
political, economic, social and cultural rights,
including the right to development
Spatial segregation and the right to adequate housing
Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component
of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to nondiscrimination in this context, Balakrishnan Rajagopal*
Summary
In the present report, the Special Rapporteur draws attention to spatial segregation as
a major obstacle to enjoyment of the right to adequate housing. Spatial segregation is a
reflection of multiple, compounded and intersectional forms of discrimination, results in
violations of the equal and non-discriminatory enjoyment of the right to adequate housing,
and is also linked to the violation of a wide range of other interrelated human rights.
In order to address and reverse the detrimental consequences of spatial segregation, it
is important to understand its different forms, to identify it correctly, and to understand the
frameworks and mechanisms through which it is manifested. Alongside historic forms of
spatial segregation, such as those that existed in apartheid South Africa, the Special
Rapporteur points to informal settlements, resettlement sites, gated communities and
residential institutions as types of spatial segregation that can have similar damaging and
long-lasting consequences. Measuring, spatial mapping and data visualization are identified
as important tools for identifying cases of spatial segregation. The present report examines
how land use planning and discriminatory zoning, physical barriers, forced evictions and
displacement, social and public housing policies, and criminalization and stigmatization of
vulnerable minority groups can become drivers of spatial segregation.
Finally, the report discusses how international frameworks, strategic litigation,
housing policies, urban and territorial planning, and neighbourhood upgrading programmes
can be effective in addressing and reversing the consequences of spatial segregation – and
draws out relevant recommendations. The report is the second of two interrelated thematic
reports of the Special Rapporteur. His first report on discrimination in the context of housing
was presented to the General Assembly in October 2021.
* The present report was submitted after the deadline in order to reflect the most recent developments.
GE.22-25346(E)