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Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 87
- Paragraph text
- Homelessness disproportionately affects particular groups, including women, young people, children, indigenous peoples, people with disabilities, migrants and refugees, the working poor, and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, each in different ways, but with common structural causes. These include: (a) the retreat by all levels of government from social protection and social housing and the privatization of services, infrastructure, housing and public space; (b) the abandonment of the social function of land and housing; (c) the failure to address growing inequalities in income, wealth and access to land and property; (d) the adoption of fiscal and development policies that support deregulation and real estate speculation and prevent the development of affordable housing options; and (e), in the face of urbanization, the marginalization and mistreatment of those who are most precariously housed in informal settlements, living in temporary overcrowded structures, without access to water, sanitation or other basic services and living under the constant threat of eviction.
- 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
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- LGBTQI+
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- While improved statistical data will be important to guide public policy and to hold governments accountable, adjustments will need to be made for the inevitable limitations, omissions and possible distortions in available data. Challenges associated with measuring homelessness should not be allowed to encourage policies that respond only to the visible and more easily measured forms of homelessness. Homelessness among single men living on the streets or using emergency shelters is more easily measured. It is more difficult to measure homelessness among women, children and young people living temporarily with family or friends, or among those most marginalized and precariously housed within informal settlements, who may be altogether left out of census or data collection. It is equally difficult to identify and measure homelessness among indigenous households or communities displaced from ancestral lands. Members of ethnic minorities may not wish to be identified by authorities. In Kenya, for instance, many of the people who become homeless because of ethnic violence did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal. Policy responses and assessments of progress in eliminating homelessness must make allowances for less visible dimensions of homelessness that may not have been measured.
- 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
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Once homeless, women's experiences are acute. They are exposed to high rates of violence, including rape. In its inquiry into the situation of missing and murdered indigenous women in Canada, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women recognized the link between Aboriginal women's poverty, homelessness and their disappearances and murder.
- 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
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 50
- Paragraph text
- States are also called upon to confer security of tenure to all those who lack it. This seems to imply that one focus of State action should be on the most disadvantaged and insecure. An examination of the authoritive guidance of United Nations mechanisms confirms that States must secure tenure particularly for the most disadvantaged and marginalized, such as low-income groups, informal settlers, and minorities.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2013
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 82a (v)
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [In that regard, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations:] [In consultation with persons with disabilities and their organizations, States should:] Adopt a clear policy framework for the inclusion of all persons with disabilities in all areas of housing policy and design, ensuring that those living in poverty or homelessness, women, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities, indigenous peoples, migrants and both young and older persons are fully included;
- 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
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Youth
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 91k
- Paragraph text
- [In line with the present conclusions, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations to States:] Special attention must be directed to homelessness among indigenous peoples caused by displacement from land and resources and the destruction of cultural identity. Indigenous peoples should be provided with resources to implement programmes to address homelessness in both urban and rural contexts, consistent with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
- 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
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur is deeply concerned about the discrimination and inequality in housing experienced by various individuals and groups, especially those most marginalized and vulnerable to rights violations. Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, particular groups of women (such as women with children and older women), migrants, ethnic and racial minorities, and many other marginalized groups continue to be disproportionately affected by homelessness and inadequate 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
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 14, 2020
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Discrimination is compounded by other grounds, notably sex, gender, socioeconomic status, race and belonging to ethnic, religious or linguistic minority groups. Indigenous peoples in Canada experience twice the rate of disability as the non-indigenous population and are subjected to intersecting discrimination on the basis of indigeneity, poverty and disability. Criminalization of persons with disabilities, in particular those living in homelessness and those with psychosocial disabilities, is common. A typical pattern for persons with psychosocial disabilities is first to lose their housing, when their needs are not accommodated or when they do not receive adequate financial assistance, then to be criminalized in the context of homelessness and then to be incarcerated. In prison, punitive responses for persons with psychosocial disabilities result in extended isolation, segregation, further deterioration of mental health and an ongoing cycle of homelessness and incarceration.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 71
- Paragraph text
- Fifty years after the separation of international human rights into the two covenants, the United Nations is well situated to retrieve a unified and inclusive understanding of human rights and to affirm that the right to life includes the right to a place to live in dignity and security, free of violence. The Human Rights Committee has the opportunity to affirm this integrated understanding of the right to life in the ongoing preparation of its general comment No. 36. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has the opportunity under its Optional Protocol to highlight the connection between the rights to life and adequate housing in lived experience. Other treaty monitoring bodies have the opportunity to ensure that the understanding of the rights to life and adequate housing is informed by the experiences and unique claims of people with disabilities, women, children, migrants, racial minorities and indigenous peoples, among others.
- 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
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Persons with disabilities
- Women
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- Another rich source for understanding the right to life and the right to adequate housing in international human rights law is article 7 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It affirms that indigenous individuals "have the rights to life, physical and mental integrity, liberty and security of person" and that indigenous peoples have "the collective right to live in freedom, peace and security as distinct peoples". The development and application of these rights has the potential to enhance the understanding of the social dimensions of the right to life and the interplay between the collective and individual dimensions of that right; it may also prompt a response to violations of rights to lands, territories or resources.
- 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
- Ethnic minorities
- Year
- 2016
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has recognized positive measures taken to develop housing strategies at the local level that promote inclusion of racial and ethnic minorities. The Committee has also expressed concern that, despite national level efforts to support subsidized housing at the local level, the autonomy of municipalities has acted "as a major obstacle" to achieving non-discrimination in access to social housing, raising concerns in a number of cases about discrimination against migrants, racial minorities, persons of foreign origin and Roma.
- 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
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women has also dealt with housing cases that engage subnational level governments. In Kell v. Canada (CEDAW/C/51/D/19/2008), an indigenous woman alleged that in the context of domestic violence, she had been dispossessed of her housing as a result of decisions taken by the local housing authorities. The Committee deemed the Northwest Territories Housing Corporation and the local housing authority to be agents of the State party, referring to them as such, and concluded that, as a result of the actions of the local housing authority, the State party had violated articles 2, paragraphs (d) and (e), and article 16, paragraph 1 (h), read in conjunction with article 1 of the Convention, which protect against discrimination by public authorities and the equal rights of spouses with respect to property.
- 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
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- The mandate on adequate housing regularly receives allegations that identify local, municipal and other subnational authorities as pertinent to the claims made by individuals and communities. Those submissions raise concerns of imminent threats, including alleged forced evictions, forced displacement or development-basis eviction without application of existing international standards; restrictions and other discriminatory practices on access to housing by specific populations groups, including refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented migrants, and ethnic, religious or other minorities; and changes in housing subsidies and welfare programmes directly impacting on people living in poverty, the unemployed, persons with disabilities or women. Complaints also refer to the lack of affordable housing, substandard housing, fuel poverty, and denial of or inadequate services, including water, sanitation and electricity.
- 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
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Poverty
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2015
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
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
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- In relation to customary and religious tenure systems, States should adopt measures, in consultation with communities, and with due respect for the rights of indigenous peoples and religious freedom, to eliminate discriminatory practices that deny women security of tenure. Efforts should be made to engage and cooperate with community and religious leaders in designing and implementing such measures. Women-led initiatives, in particular, should be supported. For instance, on Erromango Island, Vanuatu, women have challenged custom and successfully claimed land rights in the absence of male heirs.
- 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
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- A number of developments related to the grounds of discrimination have emerged under international human rights law. For example, the unique effects of "multiple discrimination" (such as the experience of women belonging to racial or ethnic minority groups) have now been recognized as requiring specific consideration and remedies. In addition, the ground of "economic and social situation", including homelessness and poverty, is now understood as a distinct ground of discrimination. It is recognized that those facing discrimination in access to housing because of ethnic origin, sex or disability, for example, are often subject to further stigmatization, discrimination and criminalization because of their socioeconomic and housing status, such as living on the streets, in informal settlements or in substandard 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
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2014
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Concerns also emerged which were more regionally specific. In Africa, urbanization, climate change, low levels of financial literacy amongst women, and the rising number of female headed households all emerged as key issues affecting the status of women's right to adequate housing in the African continent today. In Asia, as well as in Africa, the consultation revealed how women are negatively affected by the impact of the agrarian crisis, as well as by "land grabbing", further limiting women's already precarious access to, and control over, land and other natural resources. The e-consultation in Eastern and Central Europe highlighted the importance of recognizing intersectional discrimination as it affects certain groups of women, in particular vis-à-vis the segregation of Roma communities. In the Middle East and North Africa, lack of law enforcement; conflict and occupation; and discrimination against minorities all negatively impact women's right to adequate housing. In Western Europe and North America, key issues highlighted included inadequate supply of public housing and lack of government assistance for housing; lack of affordable housing; domestic violence; and discrimination against women on public assistance, women with disabilities, and women belonging to racial/ethnic minorities, including Indigenous women. And in Latin America, where the e-consultation highlighted many of the issues already mentioned - including discrimination in matters related to housing against indigenous and Afro-descendant women, lack of access to justice, and domestic violence - participants also highlighted the need for better statistical information related to women and housing, as well as the urgent need to close the implementation gap between policy and practice.
- 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
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Women
- Year
- 2012
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
Migration and the right to adequate housing 2010, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- In some cases, non-citizens are subject to double discrimination as both migrants and members of minority groups. During her missions, the Special Rapporteur has encountered numerous cases of migrants from minority groups who have been denied residency permits even though they have lived in the host country for decades or even generations. The lack of regularization obstructs their access to housing in private markets as well as housing assistance from local governments. The Special Rapporteur also received numerous complaints of forced eviction of migrants belonging to minority groups.
- 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
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2010
- Date modified
- Feb 13, 2020
Paragraph
19 shown of 19 entities