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Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- The existing gaps are complex and difficult to overcome as they are deeply rooted in culture, discriminatory social attitudes and practices, as well as weak or gender-blind systems which delay progress in the realization of the right, and fail to effectively make visible the existing barriers. Those challenges require more than ordinary efforts to enforce laws and put policies into practice; additional actions directed to provoke those changes in cultural patterns are required, and this can be obtained particularly through the combination of awareness-raising and public education, as well as through legal enforcement and legal aid, and provision of appropriate resources through the adoption of specific budgetary measures.
- 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
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- Human rights organizations and human rights funders should conduct audits of their priorities and programmes to assess whether adequate attention and resources have been provided to those whose right to life and right to housing have been violated. More attention should be paid to an assessment of whether States have taken reasonable measures to respond to systemic violations of the right to housing and the right to life. Strategic litigation and other initiatives should be developed and funded to advance, on a systematic basis, better recognition, advancement and protection of the rights claims of those living in extreme poverty and in grossly inadequate housing, or who are homeless.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 74
- Paragraph text
- National human rights institutions should jointly commit themselves to renouncing the false division between categories of rights and review their mandates and programmes to ensure that full attention is given to violations of the right to life linked to socioeconomic deprivation, including 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 73
- Paragraph text
- States must address issues of inadequate housing and homelessness and name them as core human rights issues linked to the right to life - in domestic law and policy and in international initiatives, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda. States must also conduct a thorough examination of legislation, court practice and public policies to ensure that the right to life is not restricted to a negative rights framework. States must formally recognize that the right to life includes the right to a place to live in dignity and security, free of violence, and ensure access to justice for all victims of violations of the right to life, including those linked to homelessness and inadequate housing. Governments must ensure the effective integration of housing policy and social protection with human rights frameworks, mechanisms and institutions, so that housing policy is properly framed around the implementation of core human rights obligations, and access to effective remedies is incorporated in programme design and implementation.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 72
- Paragraph text
- The true reunification of the right to life and the right to adequate housing, however, can only be accomplished by a global response, led by States, including their legislatures and courts, by human rights institutions and by civil society.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 70
- Paragraph text
- The narrowing of the right to life to a negative rights framework has deprived millions of already disadvantaged individuals of the full protection of this core right. In many domestic contexts, the right to housing may not be enshrined in law and cannot be claimed directly, whereas the right to life appears in most constitutions. In this context, a narrow interpretation of the right to life may prevent someone who is homeless or suffering severe housing inadequacy from making any human rights claim whatsoever. On the other hand, where the right to adequate housing is explicitly protected as a self-standing constitutional right, it is more effectively enforced by courts when connected to the right to life. Making this connection allows courts to better assess whether adequate resources have been allocated and reasonable measures taken in accordance with core human rights values.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- Assessing whether States have violated rights in these circumstances does not only mean considering whether actions of States caused a deprivation of life but also, and more fundamentally, whether there are actions which States can reasonably be expected to take to address such deprivations. Some violations of the rights to life and adequate housing may be subject to immediate remedy; others may require longer-term solutions but, regardless, access to justice must be ensured and the rights to life and adequate housing must be realized.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- The starting point for understanding the scope of the right to life should be what rights holders are entitled to, not the cause of the deprivation. Homelessness and grossly inadequate housing may be the result of actions leading to eviction and deportation, but equally may result from inaction - a failure to address long-term systemic patterns of social exclusion and deprivation. Nevertheless, the deprivation experienced is essentially the same: preventable illnesses, a shortened lifespan and deprivation of dignity and security.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Advances in the understanding of the right to life and the right to adequate housing by regional bodies and domestic courts provide a solid platform for a reunified approach to these rights at the international level, consistent with the principles of universality, indivisibility and interdependence. More importantly, rights holders living the connection between the right to life and the right to adequate housing must have their claims heard and responded to. The international human rights system must lead, not resist, the move towards a more inclusive understanding of these 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 65
- Paragraph text
- The new Constitution of Kenya (2010) includes both the right to life and the right to accessible and adequate housing as justiciable rights. Kenyan courts have affirmed an integrated understanding of the relationship between the two rights under the new Constitution. In the Garissa case, for example, a claim was filed on behalf of 1,122 people who were brutally evicted from land they had occupied since the 1940s. The High Court observed that the Constitution of Kenya recognizes all human rights as justiciable, noting that "people living without the basic necessities of life are deprived of human dignity, freedom and equality". The court found that the evictions violated the rights to life and to adequate housing and issued an injunction compelling the State to return the claimants to their land and to reconstruct their homes or provide alternative housing and other facilities. Similarly, in the Santrose Ayuma case, another large-scale eviction, the High Court found that evictions carried out without meaningful engagement with those affected and without provision of alternative shelter violated the rights to life and to adequate housing. The court insisted that resettlement plans be consistent with the right to a dignified life.
- 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
- All
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- There is a unique quality of empathy, humanity and commitment to justice in some of the judgments of the Supreme Court of India, as it has engaged directly with the lived realities of claimants in order to consider whether their right to life has been violated. By interpreting the right to life as including the right to housing, courts have responded to social movements and at the same time have acted as a catalyst for political inclusion. Those judgments are striking for their ability to bring to life the central ambition of the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Despite the fact that the Constitution of India separates the right to life as a justiciable right from the right to housing as a policy directive, the Supreme Court of India recognized the impossibility of separating the two rights as early as 1981, stating: The right to life includes the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it, namely, the bare necessaries of life such as adequate nutrition, clothing and shelter and facilities for reading, writing and expressing oneself in diverse forms, freely moving about and mixing and commingling with fellow human beings. This case was followed by a number of crucial decisions, including in the Olga Tellis case, in which it was explicitly recognized that the right to livelihood forms an integral part of the right to life; the Shantistar Builders Society case, in which it was held that the right to life "would take within its sweep … a reasonable accommodation to live in"; and Chameli Singh v. State of U.P., in which the state's obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Political Rights were considered and it was noted that "[the] right to shelter when used as an essential requisite to the right to live should be deemed to have been guaranteed as a fundamental right".
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 62
- 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.
- 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
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 61
- Paragraph text
- The European Court of Human Rights has adopted a somewhat more restrictive approach to the right to life. This may be attributable to the fact that it is bound by the wording of article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which refers to deprivations of the right to life which are intentional and suggests that the provision primarily addresses the use of force by the State. Even within these confines, however, the Court has affirmed that article 2 ranks as one of the most fundamental provisions in the Convention and "enjoins the State not only to refrain from the intentional and unlawful taking of life, but also to take appropriate steps to safeguard the lives of those within its jurisdiction". In the case of Önery?ld?z v Turkey the Court found that the failure of the authorities to do everything within their power to protect inhabitants of an informal settlement near a garbage dump from the immediate and known risk of a methane gas explosion gave rise to a violation of the right to life.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 60
- Paragraph text
- The European Committee of Social Rights has consistently emphasized that the "right to shelter is closely connected to the right to life and to the right to respect of every person's human dignity". In this context, it has not only addressed violations of rights linked to State action, such as evictions, but has issued far-reaching decisions regarding systemic violations and affirmed obligations to develop and implement national strategies and legislation to address 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- Similar approaches have been adopted in the African system. In the Pretoria Declaration on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights States parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights agreed that socioeconomic rights, including the right to housing, must be read into the Charter in the light of references to the right to life, stating: The social, economic and cultural rights explicitly provided for under the African Charter, read together with other rights in the Charter, such as the right to life and respect for inherent human dignity, imply the recognition of other economic and social rights, including the right to shelter, the right to basic nutrition and the right to social security. The Pretoria Declaration drew on the decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in the case of Social and Economic Rights Action Center and Center for Economic and Social Rights v. Nigeria. The Commission found that environmental degradation had "made living in Ogoniland a nightmare" and that destruction of land and farms "affected the life of the Ogoni society as a whole". The Commission concluded that "the most fundamental of all human rights, the right to life, has been violated".
- 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
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 49
- Paragraph text
- The concept of "minimum core content" has engendered considerable debate and discussion. Some courts have expressed doubts about its practical implementation. Yet there is general agreement that where significant numbers of people are denied basic requirements of life, such violations demand urgent responses. In the Special Rapporteur's view, an emphasis on the intersection of the right to life and the right to adequate housing in order to identify needs that must be addressed on an urgent basis would help to clarify State obligations to address the most serious deprivations, even in circumstances of scarce resources. Such an approach does not require attempting to define universally applicable minimum requirements of adequate housing and would rely instead on a contextual assessment of lived experience in relation to core human rights values.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 48
- Paragraph text
- The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has implicitly relied on the interdependence of the right to life and the right to adequate housing to identify deprivations of rights that must be addressed on a priority basis. The Committee has applied the concept of the "minimum core content" of rights, introduced in its general comment No. 3, to identify "minimum essential levels" of Covenant rights, such as essential foodstuffs or basic shelter. The Committee has stated that in circumstances of systemic deprivations of these essential levels, the State is "prima facie, failing to discharge its obligations under the Covenant".
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Of particular note is the recognition by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that the implementation of the right to adequate housing in domestic law often relies on courts and governments recognizing that the right to life is indivisible from the right to housing and other socioeconomic rights. The Committee has emphasized that, in circumstances where the right to adequate housing does not enjoy explicit constitutional protection but the right to life does, governments and courts are obliged to interpret the right to life so as to ensure access to effective remedies for Covenant rights (see E/C.12/CAN/CO/6, paras. 5 and 6).
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Other treaty monitoring bodies can also play a critical role in elaborating a more inclusive understanding of the right to life. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, for example, is responsible for interpreting and applying the right to adequate housing and other rights in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Rights as indivisible from and interdependent with the right to life. In its general comment No. 7 on forced evictions, the Committee noted that evictions may violate the right to life and in periodic reviews it has made important contributions to an understanding of the interplay between the right to adequate housing and the right to life.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 43
- Paragraph text
- The drafting by the Human Rights Committee of a new general comment (No. 36) on the right to life provides an important opportunity to reaffirm a commitment to a more inclusive understanding of the right to life. The Committee received submissions from many civil society organizations as well as from former Special Rapporteurs emphasizing the indivisibility and interdependence of the right to life with the rights to adequate housing, food, health and other economic, social and cultural rights and affirming the need for positive measures to address systemic violations. The Committee also generously set aside time to meet with the Special Rapporteur to discuss the particular relationship between the right to life and 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
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- The negative rights framework structures political and public responses to homelessness and inadequate housing as well. When systemic homelessness and grossly inadequate housing are not considered human rights violations by courts and are not given equal attention by international human rights funders, the media, non governmental organizations and human rights institutions, it is difficult to prompt rights-based responses at the political or societal levels. On the other hand, when courts and human rights bodies truly engage with the lived experience of those who are without homes or decent housing, this can create a mobilizing effect for rights-based advocacy in the political realm.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 41
- Paragraph text
- A refusal to hear, adjudicate and provide remedies for the category of claims to the right to life arising from systemic deprivations such as homelessness has immense consequences extending beyond the United Nations treaty monitoring system. It reinforces a negative rights practice which continues to deny access to justice for many of the most serious violations of the right to life in many jurisdictions. Often, the negative rights framework limits the types of cases for which victims are likely to have access to legal counsel, affects the kinds of arguments that lawyers are likely to advance, determines the cases courts are likely to hear and limits the remedies that might be sought and granted.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- In a few cases, the Committee has considered how homelessness creates a serious threat to life, health and personal integrity for individuals in vulnerable circumstances. Surprisingly, however, the Committee has been reluctant to engage with homelessness as a violation of the right to life. Instead it has found that State action leading to homelessness may constitute cruel and inhuman treatment, contrary to article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, or unlawful interference with the home, contrary to article 17. While recognizing the interdependence of civil and political rights with the right to adequate housing, the Committee has largely confined this recognition to a traditional negative rights framework of treatment, punishment or interference and has not engaged with substantive obligations to address homelessness and inadequate housing as violations of the right to life.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- The Committee's recognition in its general comment No. 6 and in periodic reviews that the right to life requires positive measures to address homelessness and poverty stands in marked contrast with the absence of consideration of these obligations in the Committee's consideration of alleged violations under the Optional Protocol.
- 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
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Failures of States to take positive measures to address systemic deprivations of the right to life tied to poverty, grossly inadequate housing and homelessness, as described in section II above, have not generally been addressed as violations. In this sense, the now rejected distinction between "first" and "second" generation rights, between justiciable rights and aspirational goals - a legacy of false dichotomies between the two covenants - has been perpetuated in the interpretation and application of the right to life as it intersects with 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)
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- In spite of the obvious convergence of the right to life and the right to adequate housing, the separation of these human rights in two covenants has tended to impoverish understanding of the interplay between the two rights. In order to conform with traditional notions of justiciable civil and political rights, violations of the right to life have been addressed primarily in cases where direct action or deliberate omissions by States have deprived or threatened to deprive individuals of life.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 29
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, the Human Rights Committee affirmed in its general comment No. 6 that the right to life is the "supreme right", which "should not be interpreted narrowly", and that it "cannot properly be understood in a restrictive manner, and the protection of this right requires that States adopt positive measures". In periodic reviews, the Committee has noted the documented effects of homelessness on health and on life and has stated that the right to life requires the adoption of positive measures to address homelessness (see CCPR/C/79/Add.105).
- 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
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- In its general comment No. 4 on the right to adequate housing, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights rejected definitions of adequate housing that focused on physical shelter and instead adopted a definition linked directly to the right to life. The Committee stated the following: The right to housing should not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with, for example, the shelter provided by merely having a roof over one's head or views shelter exclusively as a commodity. Rather it should be seen as the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Lived experience illustrates that adequate housing, dignity, security and life are so closely intertwined as to be essentially inseparable. The same is true in international human rights law. The right to life cannot be separated from the right to a secure place to live, and the right to a secure place to live only has meaning in the context of a right to live in dignity and security, free of violence.
- 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
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph