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Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- A variety of rental sub-markets exists, including rooms in inner city tenements, custom-built tenements, rooms in informal settlements, renting land and building rental units to let or building units in the backyard of dwellings. The trend is particularly noticeable in Latin America, where informal owners enlarge their homes to house tenants in order to rise their incomes. In Sub-Saharan Africa, taking in lodgers within the existing structure is common in several countries. The transformation of Government-built housing to include rental units is widespread in Northern Africa as well as Sub-Saharan Africa. In Asia, informal rental ranges from unlicensed high-rise buildings that accommodate migrant workers in the "urban villages" of China to rented plots in some Indian and Thai cities where tenants build their own shelter. Most of those options - ignored by regulations - offer very precarious conditions to tenants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- The main purpose of community land trusts is to lock the value of the land in order to preserve the long-term affordability of housing for low- and middle-income households. Such affordability and location aspects are therefore one of the main pillars of community land trusts, and purchase or rental prices are usually below market value (typically 20 to 65 per cent), essentially because the leaseholder only pays for the home and not the land. In exchange, homeowners accept limitations when reselling their homes, usually committing to a maximum 25 per cent profit of the original price paid. This allows future low- to moderate-income households to access the same property at an affordable cost and help the community to resist gentrification processes and development-related displacement.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- In the Special Rapporteur's view, there is a real risk that the implementation framework for the sustainable development goals will remain exclusively focused on statistical measurement and assessment without the meaningful accountability, participation, legislative action or access to justice that is required for the realization of all human rights. International human rights standards regarding development-based displacement, allocation of maximum of available resources, the adoption of national and urban housing and homelessness strategies and the obligation to take immediate steps to address discrimination and inequality - all of which are key to the enjoyment of the right to housing - have thus far not received much attention in discussions. In general, the continued neglect of the right to adequate housing in the sustainable development goals creates well-founded concern that commitments made to the right to adequate housing at Habitat III might very well be sidelined.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Urbanization has created new patterns of discrimination and inequality based on spatial and socioeconomic marginalization. Exclusionary patterns of governance and citizenship have given disproportionate power and influence to property owners and investors while depriving those without land or property of a meaningful say in decisions that will have significant impact on their lives and on their ability to obtain housing. Refugees, migrants, persons with disabilities, children and youth, indigenous peoples, women and minorities are most likely to find themselves homeless or relegated to the most marginal and unsafe places in cities, treated as non-citizens or outsiders.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- In some cases, survival strategies of those who are homeless or have no access to land have been criminalized (see A/66/265). Public space has become contested space: rather than being designed to meet the needs of those who are homeless as well as others, public spaces have been designed to drive out the homeless. In many developed countries it has become common to enact legislation prohibiting, and sometimes criminalizing, activities such as "loitering", "panhandling", outdoor charity food services and sleeping in public spaces. Park benches are even designed to prevent homeless people from lying down. Marginalized groups - particularly street children and those who are homeless - are "cleared" from urban areas in order to attract new businesses, tourists and investors or to host mega events (see A/HRC/13/20). In these ways, many of those who have come to cities as a result of displacement or discrimination find themselves revictimized by further displacement and discrimination.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- Urbanization is directly linked to migration and displacement, and housing for migrants and internally displaced persons is currently one of the most serious challenges for cities. There are over 1 billion persons considered migrants worldwide, of whom approximately one quarter have migrated to another country, with the majority locating to cities. According to recent estimates, since 2008, about 26.4 million people have been displaced by disasters alone each year.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- Migrants and internally displaced persons are often treated as outsiders, left out of local decision-making processes and frequently subjected to discriminatory or xenophobic attitudes. Residency status and citizenship are often used as eligibility criteria for subsidized housing programmes, forcing many migrants to rely on unregulated private housing in overcrowded, inadequate and informal settings, often resulting in homelessness.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- While the structural causes of migration and displacement must be addressed by all levels of government and by the international community, the need of new arrivals for housing and related services, as well as their related need to retain their cultural practices, identity and sense of community, must be met in cities. Local governments are increasingly responsible for addressing housing needs linked to migration and displacement to cities, yet they often lack the necessary resources and capacity to provide adequate housing and services. Moreover, local governments may themselves respond in a discriminatory and punitive fashion to migrants or the internally displaced. It has become alarmingly common for foreign migrants, especially those who are undocumented, to be deprived of social protection, including emergency shelters, in cities - sometimes at the insistence of national-level Governments that provide funding for housing and social protection programmes. Such discrimination and the resulting homelessness among migrants impose further costs on cities. Ensuring that migrants have a secure place to live, can access rental accommodation and can choose to live in the most appropriate and affordable neighbourhoods is essential to combatting their exclusion and imbuing in them a sense of belonging in the city.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Xenophobia and discrimination against those who are considered "outsiders" has long been a central concern of human rights and it is important that these issues also be recognized and addressed as human rights issues in cities. Human rights norms and legal protections can play an important role in clarifying governments' obligations to develop programmes and responses to the distinctive needs of migrants as well as of vulnerable people affected by natural disasters and internal conflict (see, for example, A/65/261 and A/HRC/14/30).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- At the national level, relevant jurisprudence has also emerged. In case T-025 in Colombia, for example, the Constitutional Court required the implementation of effective programmes to respond to the unconstitutional state of affairs confronting internally displaced persons, where 63.5 per cent of the displaced population had inadequate housing and 49 per cent lacked access to appropriate public utilities. In Bhim Prakash Oli et Al. v. Government of Nepal et al, a case involving internally displaced persons, relying on international human rights law, the Supreme Court of Nepal held that the State was required to implement and monitor non discriminatory, holistic plans and programmes to integrate displaced populations into existing housing priorities.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- Those who are affluent and own land, homes or other property in cities have dramatically increased their wealth because of speculation and inflation of values. Those who cannot afford ownership face increasing housing costs and are driven to the outskirts of cities or to informal settlements, dislocated from their sources of livelihood and lacking security of tenure. Inequality in access to land and property, affecting marginalized groups including women, migrants and all those living in poverty, has become embedded in housing inequality and spatial segregation, dividing cities between those who own land and property and have access to basic services and infrastructure and those who do not.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Informal settlements, however, are not just the sum total of deprivations, but are also often the result of concerted decisions that have displaced people, denied them services and refused them recognition and security of tenure. This suggests that "upgrading slums" will not result in the systemic change necessary to slacken the pace of the development of informal settlements. The causes will have to be addressed alongside the symptoms, otherwise it will be a zero-sum game: for every slum that is upgraded, another will be created.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 66
- Paragraph text
- Human rights must be accorded a status of paramountcy within urban law so as to guide the design, interpretation and application of all other laws, policies and programmes. Paramountcy of human rights means that decision makers are legally required to consider and apply the right to housing in their areas of responsibility. Planners must recognize in situ rights of those living in informal settlements. A tribunal or court reviewing intended evictions needs to consider all possible alternatives and, if evictions are unavoidable, ensure that those being displaced have been fully consulted and engaged and provided with adequate and appropriate alternative housing. Zoning laws, property rights or urban development plans must be developed in consultation with and with the participation of those who will be directly affected and assessed in terms of their effect on marginalized or vulnerable groups. Any officials engaged in administering laws or policies linked to the right to housing should be provided with training in the meaning and application of the right to housing in their areas of responsibility.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 76f
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur recommends that the urban rights agenda should:] Focus on eliminating social exclusion, inequality and discrimination as human rights violations and prevent the criminalization and stigmatization of people on the basis of their housing status. Particular housing experiences and needs of all migrants, displaced persons, persons with disabilities and women, children and youth in situations of vulnerability should be addressed;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 5
- Paragraph text
- Elsewhere, financialization is linked to expanded credit and debt taken on by individual households made vulnerable to predatory lending practices and the volatility of markets, the result of which is unprecedented housing precarity. Financialized housing markets have caused displacement and evictions at an unparalleled scale: in the United States of America over the course of 5 years, over 13 million foreclosures resulted in more than 9 million households being evicted. In Spain, more than half a million foreclosures between 2008 and 2013 resulted in over 300,000 evictions. There were almost 1 million foreclosures between 2009 and 2012 in Hungary.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- A report on the topic is timely as States embark on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals. If the commitment in target 11.1 to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services is to be achieved by 2030, it is essential to consider the role of international finance and financial actors in housing systems. That will help to identify and address more effectively patterns of systemic exclusion, to ensure more meaningful human rights accountability for issues of displacement, evictions, demolitions and homelessness, and the engagement of all relevant actors in the realization of the right to adequate housing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- International and domestic financial institutions and markets are created and sustained by Governments and must be made accountable to States' human rights obligations. Millions of foreclosures, evictions and displacements and more than a billion people living in grossly inadequate housing conditions and homelessness worldwide signal, among other things, the failure of States and of the international community to manage the interaction between financial actors and housing systems in accordance with the right to adequate housing. The absence of any effective human rights monitoring or accountability in that sphere also signals the underestimation on the part of Governments, international and national human rights bodies, domestic courts, lawyers and advocates of the role that domestic, regional and international human rights law could play as a framework for both regulating financial actors and engaging financial systems in the realization of the right to housing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- In addition to the more obvious requirements, within the framework of human rights, to ensure that housing developers exercise due diligence, comply with safety standards and adopt policies of non-discrimination, for example, States may also be required to ensure that investment in housing complies with a rights-based housing strategy and with the target of ensuring adequate housing for all by 2030. Private actors may be required to take particular steps to ensure access to credit for disadvantaged households and to address the needs of residents of informal settlements, women, migrants and people with disabilities. The obligation of States to facilitate the realization of the right to housing by establishing a coherent strategy at both the national and international levels with clearly allocated roles and responsibilities is central to the commitments made by States in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- The housing sector in the global South has not been subject to extensive financing of homeownership. Only about 17 per cent of the population in Botswana, Kenya, Namibia and Zambia, for example, would be eligible for mortgage finance based on existing criteria. Low-income, informal and indigenous communities have nevertheless experienced, first-hand, the power of financial corporations to appropriate land and real estate and to generate vast disparities in wealth by treating housing and land as commodities. The displacement of Garifuna communities by model cities containing luxury developments for tourists and wealthy residents in Honduras is an example of the kinds of displacements of communities and forced evictions that are occurring in many countries (see A/HRC/33/42/Add.2, para. 56). Many local and national governments looking for capital investment have opted to sell land to major developers at the expense of indigenous and impoverished communities and those living in precarious housing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- Decisions made by global financial corporations, institutions and private equity firms regarding access to credit, foreclosures and development priorities have a direct impact on homelessness, displacement and access to affordable housing. The adoption of progressive policies with respect to corporate social responsibility by investors in housing and real estate could play an important role in redirecting investment towards the social use of housing and advancing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- States should take immediate and progressive measures to confer legal security of tenure on individuals and communities currently lacking protection. States should undertake human rights impact assessments of proposed measures, in the housing, land and financial sectors. These assessments should examine potential effects on all existing tenure forms and on groups vulnerable to eviction, including market-induced displacements. If there is risk of exacerbating tenure insecurity, alternatives should be considered or, as a last resort, mitigation measures should be developed. Based on these assessments, States should take legislative and programmatic measures to secure diverse tenure forms, prioritizing arrangements for those facing barriers to the full realization of their housing rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Administrative and judicial procedures for the recognition of adverse possession should be simple, prompt and affordable. Both individual and collective adverse possession should be recognized. Where owners have been forcibly displaced or forced to flee their homes, caution should be exercised to ensure that one's right of adverse possession does not obstruct others' right to return.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Urban plans should incorporate citywide strategies for any necessary resettlement. They should identify available, suitable and safe locations for resettlement, ensuring access to livelihood opportunities, services and facilities. Resettlement is only permissible under international human rights law where it is assessed, in consultation with the community, and subject to administrative and judicial review, that in situ upgrading is not viable due to exceptional circumstances and the absence of feasible alternatives to eviction. Authorities should not resettle any household until it has adopted a resettlement policy that is fully consistent with their international human rights law obligations.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- The collection of official data. Individuals without legally recognized tenure, including those living in urban settlements, homeless and displaced persons, are often not covered in censuses and other official data collection. When their information is ignored, their lack of legal tenure status effectively denies them official recognition as members of society. This exclusion exacerbates their invisibility in policy design and budget allocations essential to the realization of their human rights. States should ensure that such individuals are counted and included in all official data collection processes.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Access to humanitarian assistance. Sometimes tenure documentation, such as title, is a prerequisite to establishing eligibility for humanitarian assistance to ensure the sustainability of the assistance provided and avoid fraudulent tenure claims and future conflict. However, often those most in need are displaced, landless and/or tenure insecure, and may not hold title or evidence of occupancy in their names, or may have lost their documentation during the conflict or disaster. In many contexts, various forms of customary tenure that do not rely on documentary evidence are dominant and can provide a reliable basis for durable shelter assistance.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Humanitarian
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- If a business enterprise causes or contributes to adverse impacts on security of tenure, including through its business relationships, it should immediately take all relevant steps to address it. If an impact is current or ongoing, the business enterprise should immediately cease the activity causing it. If an adverse impact, such as a forced eviction, has already occurred, the business enterprise should provide remediation through legitimate processes and in consultation with the affected individuals or groups to ensure that the remedy is comprehensive and legitimate in their view. When people have been forcibly evicted or displaced, remedy should include return of the land, housing and resources to the victims and compensation for any losses, including of livelihood. When return of the land and housing is impossible, for example, when it has been destroyed, or when the business enterprise is not in a position to ensure its return, all possible steps should be taken to ensure other forms of reparations, such as secure alternative land and housing of the same or better quality and location.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- People on the move, especially international migrants, refugees and internally displaced persons, are also at significant risk of homelessness. Those groups suffer multiple discrimination and numerous obstacles in securing temporary or permanent housing. In many countries, such as Denmark and the Netherlands, public shelters do not accommodate migrants or only accommodate them for limited periods of time. Migrants are consequently forced to settle in slums, shacks and derelict or unfinished buildings; migrant domestic workers have reported being forced to sleep in hallways, unprotected living spaces or closets of the homes in which they work.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have developed important jurisprudence recognizing the obligation of the State to protect the special relationship between indigenous peoples and land in addressing violations in which, for example, members of indigenous communities have been "violently forced from their homes and traditional lands into a situation of ongoing displacement". In addition, in considering the plight of street-connected children, the Court has explained that the right to life requires States to take positive measures to ensure access to the conditions needed to lead a dignified life, recognizing that the right to life belongs "at the same time to the domain of civil and political rights as well as economic, social and cultural rights".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- The Supreme Court of India has affirmed that the right to life "includes the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it, namely, the bare necessities of life, such as adequate nutrition, clothing and shelter". The High Court of New Delhi initiated a case on its own motion to consider whether the demolition of a temporary homeless shelter in preparation for the 2010 Commonwealth Games had violated the right to life. The loss of the shelter resulted in the death of one former resident. The Court ordered the Delhi government to rebuild the shelter and to stop evicting homeless persons in winter.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- A human rights approach to effective measurement must involve genuine consultation with stakeholders. For some groups, statistical invisibility or being excluded from a census is experienced as marginalization and likely to lead to neglected needs in programmes and legislation. For other groups, however, such as street-connected young people or irregular migrants, being identified by government authorities may be threatening. Homeless people are best placed to ensure that methods of measurement are accurate and inclusive and at the same time sensitive to their circumstances.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph