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Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- The urban poor face significant barriers in accessing justice, owing to, inter alia, political influence and corruption in courts and administrative bodies; prohibitive costs of legal representation; absence of legal information; and lack of legal recognition of persons without official identity documentation, including a registered address. States should take all measures to remove these barriers and ensure that the urban poor can access effective remedies through a range of judicial and administrative mechanisms. As an alternative to the courts, land dispute and grievance mechanisms that are inexpensive, accessible, socially legitimate and rule-bound should be established. States should establish, fund and enable legal aid and assistance for the urban poor, in order to address power asymmetries that pervade conflicts over land and obstruct access to justice.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- Remedies for violations of the right to adequate housing may include restitution, reparation, the provision of alternative adequate housing, rehabilitation of housing or livelihoods, financial or non-financial compensation for loss and damage, and punitive sanctions against the perpetrator. An injunction, precautionary measures or other judicial or administrative intervention may be required to prevent imminent forced eviction or other violation. Remedies may also include repeal or amendment of law or policy and quashing of administrative decisions. In this regard, States should ensure that policies and decisions affecting tenure security are subject to administrative and judicial review. In the case of an unjustified failure of the State to adopt appropriate and timely measures to address tenure insecurity taking into account its use of available resources, redress may include an injunction to devise and implement a reasonable plan of action towards security of tenure for aggrieved groups.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
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. 11
- Paragraph text
- Achieving the objectives of Habitat III will rely on the unique ability of human rights to effect transformative change through the application of universal norms and guiding principles to specific contexts and in response to emerging challenges. This essentially describes the key features and benefits of a human rights approach. Human rights can effect the kind of spatial, geographic, social and attitudinal change required to address the structural causes of exclusion and inequality, so that cities become places of opportunity and well-being for everyone - where adequate housing, food, water and sanitation, education, employment and health are realized as fundamental rights.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 55
- Paragraph text
- Land administration programmes, housing policies and urban planning. Discrimination on the basis of tenure status is prevalent in land, housing and urban policies. Land administration programmes typically only register freehold rights, while ignoring the multiple other existing tenure forms. Housing policies commonly also promote freehold, with benefits and support, such as access to finance, made conditional on homeownership. Meanwhile, many urban planning processes aim to benefit only those with registered tenure rights and fail to take into account the circumstances of urban poor communities whose arrangements are not legally recognized. These exclusions impair the enjoyment of human rights by those without freehold or other legally recognized tenure rights vis-a-vis other sectors of the population. States should ensure that land administration, housing policies and urban plans protect and secure a variety of tenure arrangements, prioritizing the most vulnerable and marginalized. For example, the Mexico City Housing Improvement Programme offers credit regardless of tenure status.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Police procedures. Residents of urban settlements and homeless persons face disproportionate levels of police intervention and use of force without due process. In many countries, police enter homes in poor settlements, sometimes in major operations, without a court order, violating residents' rights to protection against arbitrary interference with their privacy, family and home. Homeless persons, who have no choice but to sleep, eat and conduct other life-sustaining activities in publics spaces are commonly harassed, fined and detained for doing so. Police must follow due process and respect human rights in conducting law enforcement activities, including in urban settlements, and ensure that any use of force is strictly necessary and proportional to lawful objectives. States should decriminalize homelessness and ensure full respect by police of human rights of homeless persons.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Families
- Year
- 2014
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. 76e
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur recommends that the urban rights agenda should:] Reflect the experiences of city residents and establish a process of ongoing participation and engagement, particularly with those who currently lack access to adequate housing. Access to justice should be ensured for all aspects of the right to adequate housing. Human rights institutions, ombudspersons and other human rights bodies should be actively engaged in promoting and protecting the right to housing at the city level;
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Decentralization has been strongly promoted in the area of housing. The Habitat Agenda, adopted at the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul in 1996, affirmed that "Governments should strive to decentralize shelter policies and their administration to subnational and local levels within the national framework, whenever possible and as appropriate". Proponents of decentralization in housing related programmes have argued that it enables local participation in housing management and decision-making, avoids excessive bureaucracy, allows sensitivity to local needs, draws on local capacities, increases transparency and local control and allows for more creative and innovative programming.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- As noted by the former Special Rapporteur on adequate housing in the report on her mission to Indonesia (A/HRC/25/54/Add.1), as a result of decentralization, significant powers have been partially devolved to the provinces, districts and municipalities. However, the decentralization of planning and land administration did not appear supported by institutional capacity, resources or organizational tools (paras. 10-11). During her mission she identified many of the obstacles to the implementation of the right to adequate housing associated with decentralization when it is not properly informed by human rights, such as "the fragmentation of programmes between various agencies and the inefficiencies of existing coordinating mechanisms" (para. 25) and the limited capacity of local governments to provide alternative housing to people who had been evicted from their homes (para. 51).
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 16
- Paragraph text
- State compliance with the right to adequate housing must ultimately be assessed in relation to the circumstances of rights-holders. A human rights framework for addressing the financialization of housing must challenge the way in which accountability to the needs of communities and the human rights obligations of Governments has been replaced with accountability to markets and investors. Mechanisms must be established for rights-holders to be fully heard and engaged in decisions that affect them. States must ensure that financial institutions and investors are responsive to the needs of marginalized communities, behave in a manner that is consistent with the full realization of the right to adequate housing and provide complaints procedures and access to effective remedies.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 52
- Paragraph text
- The excessive financialization of housing is directly related to systemic patterns of inequality in investment treaties and in domestic law that fail to recognize the paramountcy of human rights over investor interests and deny access to justice for those whose right to housing is at stake. Ensuring meaningful accountability of financial institutions and private actors to the right to housing will require a significant transformation of current systems of law and accountability and new avenues of access to justice at the local, national and international levels.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- Policy responses to the financialization of housing have tended to prioritize support for financial institutions over responding to the needs of those whose right to adequate housing is at stake. Spending on bailouts of banks and financial institutions after the 2008 financial crisis far outstripped spending to provide assistance to the victims of the crisis. In fact, many national Governments made substantial cuts to their housing programmes. As noted above, the World Bank continues to promote "financial liberalization" rather than active State intervention in housing provision in emerging economies, despite the evidence that financialization generally increases inequality and fails to address the needs of the millions of households living in situations of homelessness or grossly inadequate informal housing.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 56
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur is concerned that victims of violations of rights to adequate housing by local and other subnational governments are often denied access to justice or effective remedies, even where constitutional provisions exist.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 69
- Paragraph text
- In the context of housing, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has established that national level housing strategies based on human rights are a critical component of ensuring the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing. The Special Rapporteur notes that subnational and local strategies based on human rights with measureable goals, timelines and complaints procedures, properly coordinated with national strategies, are equally critical to the realization of the right to adequate housing.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 75
- Paragraph text
- It remains imperative to promote and continue to develop international norms that are appropriate to subnational levels of government. The reasonableness standard and the innovative approaches to structural remedies that have emerged from domestic courts offer other jurisdictions a useful framework for engaging the obligations of local and other subnational governments to progressively realize the right to adequate housing without discrimination.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- However, existing guidance with respect to disaster situations has given little attention to the right to adequate housing. When reference to the right is made it is limited, with the right narrowed down to the need to provide shelter, housing or to aspects related to protection. The few attempts to discuss the right in a more comprehensive manner have remained at the level of an individual organization's guidance and not in the form of authoritative policies of broad application. Equally, United Nations human rights mechanisms have, with notable exceptions, not addressed the specificities of disaster situations and their impacts on the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing or other human rights, remaining at the level of generalities.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 54
- Paragraph text
- There is no doubt that forced eviction constitutes a gross violation of a wide range of internationally recognized human rights. Providing protection against such practices is thus a core function of security of tenure. Forced evictions have been addressed by human rights mechanisms and courts at all levels in considerable detail. Extensive guidance is available as to the prohibition of forced eviction and the strict procedural safeguards that must be followed in situations in which evictions are carried out, including meaningful consultation with affected communities.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- The right to adequate housing has been the focus of extensive commentary. It was the subject of two general comments (Nos. 4 and 7) by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights before any other Covenant rights were similarly interpreted, and it is now one of the most considered economic, social and cultural rights. At the same time, as we move into the fifteenth year of the mandate and despite considerable efforts by civil society to ensure its realization, the well-elaborated norms and commentary on this right have not necessarily been translated into substantive progress.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- The global extent of the phenomenon of homelessness is neither well known nor well documented. Global figures are scarce, and country-specific data are often incomplete and usually not comparable with those of other countries owing to differences in definitions and methodologies. The Special Rapporteur is concerned that at the domestic level, this statistical invisibility of a population can mean its neglect in the design of public policy and an absence of adequate responses. At the global level, it may conceal an acute global human rights crisis being faced by millions.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Humanitarian
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- Freehold ownership. Individual ownership confers full control over housing and land, subject to law and local regulations, as well as adverse possession rights and the State's expropriation powers. This quality makes it a desirable form of tenure for many households. Since ownership rights are generally expensive to acquire, housing finance is often necessary. Tenure security is jeopardized when owner-occupiers are unable to cope with loan repayments and default on their mortgages. Foreclosures by banks and other credit institutions pose a serious threat to the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing, with the poorest disproportionately affected. States should take all measures to protect security of tenure of owner-occupiers and prevent the loss of homes and homelessness as a result of foreclosures.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- Settlement land information systems should be simple, affordable, accessible and transparent. People should have opportunities to contest, clarify or query recorded tenure arrangements through an appropriate process including public display of maps. Unlike conventional cadastres, settlement land information systems should reflect varied and overlapping tenure rights - not only freehold - and the spatial realities that exist in urban settlements. For example, the Social Tenure Domain Model, developed by the Global Land Tenure Network (GLTN), enables the recording of multiple forms of individual and collective tenure, overlapping rights, and irregular spatial units in urban settlements.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- Local authorities should conduct a citywide assessment of existing tenure categories and the degree of security of tenure that each provides. The assessment should ascertain the underlying causes of tenure insecurity, such as inadequate urban planning, exclusionary zoning and building regulations; market forces; the political economy; or cultural and social factors, including discrimination. Authorities should identify settlements and groups throughout the urban and peri-urban area that lack tenure security and other aspects of the right to adequate housing, including homeless populations. They should also identify areas subject to gentrification and sudden raises in rents and housing prices that could produce future tenure insecurity.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 78
- Paragraph text
- While some of these principles focus on immediate obligations, the implementation of many measures is, by nature, a progressive process. States must demonstrate that they are taking deliberate, concrete and targeted steps as expeditiously and effectively as possible, including through the design and implementation of a plan of action for strengthening security of tenure. States should conduct baseline surveys of tenure security, develop quantitative and qualitative indicators and set benchmarks against which to monitor progress, evaluate outcomes and inform decision-making. Indicators and benchmarks should be designed to measure progress in, inter alia: (a) promoting a variety of tenure forms; (b) the degree of security they confer; (c) securing the tenure arrangements of marginalized groups; (d) reducing discrimination; and (e) achieving more equitable access to urban housing, including reductions in the number of vacant plots and buildings and the proportion used to house low-income households.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
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. 12
- Paragraph text
- The right to adequate housing and other related rights must sit at the centre of an agenda for cities. Housing is a cornerstone right, indivisible from all other rights and fundamental to an approach that begins with the dignity, equality and security of the human person. Narrow interpretations that focus on housing as a commodity or housing that provides a roof over one's head have been rejected under international human rights law. Rather, the right to housing has long been understood as the right to live somewhere in peace, security and dignity. The right to adequate housing and to non-discrimination are themselves transformational, creating not only goals for which to strive but also a framework of action and accountability through which the goals can be realized.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- The international human rights obligations of a State extend to all levels of government and to any exercise of governmental authority. "All branches of government (executive, legislative and judicial), and other public or governmental authorities, at whatever level - national, regional or local - are in a position to engage the responsibility of the State Party". That finds expression, in the context of federal States, in article 28 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and article 50 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which affirm: "The provisions of the present Covenant shall extend to all parts of federal States without any limitations or exceptions".
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- In November 2012, the Province of Buenos Aires adopted a law on fair access to habitat (Ley de acceso justo al habitat) which guarantees the right to housing and to a dignified and sustainable habitat, along the lines of the provincial and national constitutions and several international human rights treaties. The law establishes a link between the public policy on housing and the way in which different public and private stakeholders are involved, including real estate companies. It requires steps to be taken to address the lack of adequate housing for people living in poverty or with special needs, and creates mechanisms to regulate speculation around land prices. It articulates both the right to adequate housing and the "right to the city" as core principles alongside the social function of land and property, democratic decision-making in the city and the importance of equitable distribution of benefits and costs of city growth, including in relation to infrastructure.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 64
- Paragraph text
- Human rights city initiatives are complementary to, but distinguishable from, the "right to the city" as laid down in the 2005 World Charter on the Right to the City. Rather than being based on existing international human rights law, that movement was born of the idea that the freedom to make and remake our cities and ourselves is one of the most precious yet most neglected of our human rights. The Right to the City project is therefore more extensive than human rights city initiatives and includes values such as the social production of housing/habitat and the rights to "sustainable and equitable urban development", the right to transport and public mobility, and the right to the environment. At the same time, the World Charter on the Right to the City includes an explicit provision on the right to adequate housing which is generally in keeping with the right as articulated in international human rights law.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 21b
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur has identified a number of common challenges experienced at the local level with respect to the implementation of the right to adequate housing:] Insufficient knowledge and capacity regarding the right to adequate housing and related human rights: Local and other subnational government officials are often unaware of their obligations under international human rights law with respect to adequate housing and may at times lack any institutional or legislative framework of accountability for their decision-making. They may also lack institutional or technical capacity to administer programmes efficiently, to contend with corruption, to regulate land speculation, to ensure sustainable practices or to maintain and repair infrastructure.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- 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. 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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- 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.
- Legal status
- Non-negotiated soft law
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph