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Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 48
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- While the design of housing can be gender-sensitive, most often it is not. Scholars interested in feminist architecture have argued that: Despite this relationship of women to the home, they have little control over the nature of their housing. Architects and planners are usually men and, in the case of local authority housing estates, not of the class of those who actually spend most of their time in the flats and houses they design. It is women who bear the brunt of high-rise flats, estates with no open play spaces, inadequate laundry facilities, noise, vandalism and bad access to shops and transport. Cramped kitchens, damp, thin walls, broken lifts, dark and dangerous stairways and the numerous other consequences of low cost building, make taking care of the home and rearing young children doubly difficult and time-consuming.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
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. 52
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Under international human rights law, policies and programmes must be designed in ways that take into account the experiences and realities of marginalized groups so that their disadvantage is addressed in real terms. This is because equality is understood "substantively" and not just "formally". Even where laws and policies appear to be "fair" by treating everyone the same, the experience or effect of laws and policies can be discriminatory owing, for example, to a person's socioeconomic status, housing status or gender. States and subnational governments are obliged to address the needs of those in the most desperate housing situations as a matter of priority and urgency. Positive measures must be taken to reduce stigmatization and address the needs of homeless women and men, residents of informal settlements, low-income households and other groups lacking access to adequate housing.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 37
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Housing law, policy and programmes should also ensure that women have the legal literacy and legal resources needed to effectively claim and enforce their rights within the context of eviction. Women must "have the right to relevant information, full consultation and participation throughout the entire [evictions] process, and to propose alternatives that authorities should duly consider" and in the event of eviction "[w]omen and men must be co-beneficiaries of all compensation packages. Single women and widows should be entitled to their own compensation."
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 49
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- On the positive side, the design of housing itself can certainly encourage greater equality vis-à-vis enjoyment and use of domestic space. An example of new ways of thinking about domestic space from a gender perspective can be seen through the development of housing projects which seek to promote non-hierarchical and more flexible uses of the home. For example, creating personal workspaces inside the home can support women who are more likely to engage in home-based income-generating activities. Another interesting development which can be found in certain policies relates to the design of kitchens, a traditionally female space which is often cramped and separated. The design of housing from a gender-sensitive perspective can better promote family integration, as well as a more equitable sharing of household responsibilities between women and men through openness and shared use of spaces.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 39
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- The issue of water demonstrates clearly the relevance of taking a gender-sensitive approach. It is now well-documented that it is women, more than men, who spend precious hours of each day on water collection for themselves and their families when water is not provided at home. Cumulatively, women in South Africa alone must walk the equivalent of a trip to the moon and back 16 times each day just to supply their households with water. However, when States adopt a gender-sensitive approach to water delivery and management, the situation for women can change dramatically, and for the better.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Gender
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 45
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- In order for housing to be adequate, it must be affordable. The definition of what is affordable, however, is not gender-neutral and cannot be thought of as being the same for women and men. Throughout the world, the reality is that women on average earn less than men, accumulate less pension/superannuation support over a lifetime, and have less access to financial resources in general. In a world where housing is often accessed through markets and capital, what may be affordable for the average man may not be affordable for the average woman. In Europe, for example, Eurostat found a persisting gender pay gap of 17.5 per cent on average in 27 European Union Member States.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 62
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- States should adopt measures to strengthen women's registration of tenure rights. The registration of tenure rights in joint or multiple names, including of women, should be promoted as standard procedure, in order to avoid de jure or de facto discrimination if registration is authorized solely in the name of the head of the household. For example, in Tajikistan, law reform in 2004 made it mandatory to list all family members on certificates when families receive plots of land from former collective farms. Practical measures include requiring men and women to be present at the registration process, during which all documentation should be read aloud and explained; and providing space on documentation for recording multiple names. Under the Ethiopian land certification programme, for example, certificates are issued jointly with photos of both husband and wife. Incentives can also be used to promote registration of tenure rights in the name of women. For example, in 2006, Nepal introduced a partial tax exemption for plots of land registered to women.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 61
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- States should guarantee the right of women to security of tenure, independent of their relationships with males or community members. States should adopt legislative and administrative measures to prohibit and eliminate discrimination against women in this respect by, inter alios, landlords, public housing providers and credit institutions. States should remove barriers to formal and substantive gender equality whether in laws, policies or programmes affecting tenure. The legal recognition and promotion of diverse tenure arrangements is crucial to removing barriers to tenure security for women, since, currently, they are much less likely than men to own land.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 36
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Many societal changes without adequate State responses contribute to homelessness. For example, the break-up of traditional family structures is a prevalent cause of homelessness. Men who move to cities for economic reasons often forgo shelter in order to save money to send back to their families in rural areas. In many States, long traditions of extended family support and kinship responsibility at the community level have been eroded. Illness, including the HIV/AIDS pandemic, is both a major cause and effect of homelessness.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 24
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- As awareness has grown, many countries have taken steps to amend their laws to ensure that women and girls are able to inherit housing, land and property on an equal basis with men and boys. In Sierra Leone, for example, equality in matters of inheritance is now provided for by a 2007 law, while the Registration of Customary Marriages and Divorce Act of 2007 (amended in 2009) recognizes the right of women to acquire and dispose of property in their own right, and to enter into contracts.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 64
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- States should also amend or repeal domestic legislation related to family and marriage which discriminates against women, so as to ensure that women and men have equal powers in all matters related to housing and land. Seemingly gender-neutral concepts or standards which discriminate against women in practice - such as the application of the "head of the household" concept - should similarly be rescinded.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 14
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- The foreclosure crisis also has specific gender implications. Again, in the United States alone, researchers estimate that there were 2.5 million foreclosures from 2007 to 2009. Due to gender-based discrimination in mortgage lending, women in the United States - and ethnic minority women, in particular - were 32 per cent more likely than men to be targets of sub-prime and predatory lenders, despite having on average higher credit scores.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Gender
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Women and their right to adequate housing 2012, para. 65
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- States should eliminate discrimination against women and girls in all matters related to inheritance, so they benefit from inheritance on an equal footing with men and boys. States should ensure that the application of customary law and practice does not interfere with the basic right of women and girls to gender equality, including in matters related to housing and land, such inheritance.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 50
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- It is important to note that the payment of a dowry or bride price does not mean that a woman ends up in a servile marriage. In this context, it is the non-consensual nature of the marriage that is the abuse, not the payment. In some countries, however, a bride price does in fact translate into men feeling that they own their wives.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Challenges and lessons in combating contemporary forms of slavery 2013, para. 22
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Malaysia is currently the world's second largest producer of palm oil. According to a recent report, in order for Malaysia to "meet the growing global demand for cheaply produced palm oil, some producers are relying on forced labor and other forms of modern slavery". Agricultural work is not an attractive form of employment for the majority of Malaysians. Therefore, men, women, and children - primarily from Indonesia and Philippines - migrate to Malaysia in order to work on these plantations. Many of these workers are undocumented, poor and isolated, making them extremely vulnerable to contemporary forms of slavery. The Secretary General of Indonesia's Commission for Child Protection reported that tens of thousands of Indonesian migrant workers and their children had been "systematically enslaved" on Malaysian plantations. The number of Indonesian children in forced labour in Sabah, Malaysia, is estimated to be as high as 72,000. Children born at the plantations are not issued birth certificates, preventing them from attending school and forcing them to stay at the plantations and work.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 29
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Under article 5 of Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, States parties are to take all appropriate measures to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 30
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Article 17 (2) of the American Convention on Human Rights guarantees the right of men and women of marriageable age to marry and to raise a family, and requires that no marriage is to be entered into without the free and full consent of the intending spouses. Under article 17 (3), the States parties are to take appropriate steps to ensure the equality of rights and the adequate balancing of responsibilities of the spouses as to marriage, during marriage, and in the event of its dissolution. Article 3 of the Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women safeguards a woman's right to be free from violence in both the public and private spheres.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 46
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Family status depends on honour. In patriarchal and patrilineal societies, maintaining the honour of the family is a woman's responsibility. The concept of women as commodities and not as human beings endowed with dignity and rights equal to those of men is deeply embedded in these societies. Women are seen as the property of men and must be obedient and passive, rather than assertive and active. Any assertive behaviour is considered to be an element that would result in an imbalance of power relations within the parameters of the family unit (E/CN.4/2002/83, para. 27). UNICEF reports that in some countries, early marriages are regarded by families as a means of protecting girls from premarital sex that would undermine their honour and that of their families.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 37
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- In its general recommendation No. 21, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women considers that the minimum age for marriage should be 18 years for both men and women. This age limit, which is in line with the definition of the child provided in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is also reflected in article 21 of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 57
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- In Sindh, a province of Pakistan, the custom of swara is practised, by which women are used as commodities to settle disputes between clans and tribes. They are either forced to marry the men from the receiving tribe or used by them as sex slaves. This form of servile marriage continues to occur even in the face of legislation prohibiting this practice and the upholding of that legislation by the Supreme Court of Pakistan (see EGM/GPLHP/2009/EP.14).
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Manifestations and causes of domestic servitude 2010, para. 31
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Bonded labour, which has been historically associated with agricultural production and the landless poor (see A/HRC/12/21), can touch entire families. In addition to the agricultural work performed by men, bondage arrangements sometimes extend to women who are forced to serve in the household of the creditor. In some cases, parents are forced to give away one or more of their children to the creditor who often subjects them to domestic servitude.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 15
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- The violations that occur within servile marriage cannot be viewed only as acts of violence against women and girls because, although the overwhelming majority of those in servile marriage are girls and women, boys and men are also victims. Owing to gender prejudices, it is often easier for boys and men to leave forced marriages, live as divorcees, remarry and regain control of their lives, in particular because they are usually more educated and can be financially independent. Girls and women are more vulnerable and more likely to be sexually and physically abused. The Special Rapporteur focuses herein on girls and women in servile marriage for those reasons and also because, whether by design, error or omission, there is scant information available about the impact of servile marriage on boys and men.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Violence
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 67
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- The sale of wives also manifests itself in the form of mail-order marriages and paper marriages. In the case of mail-order marriages, women from developing countries in East and South Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America advertise themselves in newspapers, magazines and on the Internet for marriage outside their countries of origin, usually to men in developed countries. In many instances, the women are economically vulnerable and advertise themselves in the hope of improving their economic situation.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 79
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- In countries with a high incidence of HIV/AIDS, some adult men prefer to marry girls as their virginity and HIV-negative status is assured. Early marriage to older, more sexually experienced men is, however, no guarantee that a girl will not be infected with HIV. Studies in Kenya and Zambia show that married girls are more likely to be HIV-positive than their sexually active unmarried counterparts.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Girls
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 26
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Article 23 (2) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides for the right of men and women of a marriageable age to marry and to found a family. Article 23 (3) provides that no marriage is to be entered into without the free and full consent of the intending spouses.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Servile marriage 2012, para. 34
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- In 2005, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted resolution 1468 on forced marriages and child marriage. The Assembly defined forced marriage as "the union of two persons at least one of whom has not given their full consent to the marriage". It defined child marriage as "the union of two persons at least one of whom is under 18 years of age". Among other things, it urged the national parliaments of the Council of Europe member States to fix at or raise to 18 years the minimum statutory age of marriage for women and men, to make it compulsory for every marriage to be declared and entered by the competent authority in an official register, and to consider the possibility of dealing with acts of forced marriage as an independent criminal offence.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 16
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- In traditional forms of debt bondage in South Asia, patronage assumes an important role in the employer-employee relationship, in that the labour and the life of the debtor become collateral for the debt accrued. In some cases, such patronage perpetuates the cycle of debt from one generation to the next. However, this generational debt bondage has decreased over the years and has been replaced by a more individualized temporary and/or seasonal form of bondage that is exclusively economic and lacks the dimension of patronage. This form of debt bondage, also known as "neo-bondage", is considered to involve the seasonal movement of migrant workers within and between countries. Such workers are recruited by intermediaries who usually demand the payment of an advance and the settlement of wages at the end of the contract in exchange for their intermediation. Neo-bondage is similar to traditional forms of bondage, in the sense that the men, women and children vulnerable to such practices mainly belong to marginalized communities.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Persons on the move
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Debt bondage as a key form of contemporary slavery 2016, para. 47
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Alongside such legislation, Governments should take all possible steps to prevent and address discrimination, as a key preventative strategy against debt bondage. Anti-discrimination legislation should be in place, and programmes that reduce vulnerability to exploitation should be targeted to populations commonly affected by debt bondage. Within such efforts, specific attention should be paid to removing barriers to access to education among children from vulnerable groups. In addition, addressing gender inequalities in society at large will help to reduce the number of women in debt bondage. Ensuring that women are given the same opportunities as men and that they enjoy equal rights at work is a key step in preventing them from becoming trapped in situations of debt bondage.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
The importance of social protection measures in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010, para. 50
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Economic shocks affect women and men differently. Owing to discrimination and gender inequality, women are disproportionately represented in the informal economy and thus have less access than men to many social insurance benefits, such as pensions and unemployment and sickness benefits. Even where women are employed in the formal labour market, discrimination often results in lower wages. Moreover, an interrupted work history as a result of care responsibilities, in particular child-rearing, and a longer life expectancy worldwide reduce the ability of women to contribute to social protection schemes and further disadvantage them in old age.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
The importance of social protection measures in achieving Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2010, para. 63
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Paragraph text
- Gender inequality and discrimination patterns greatly affect the equal opportunities of women and men to seek, share and receive information about social protection programmes, participate in decision-making processes and register complaints that can result in local authorities being held accountable. The designing and implementation of participatory channels without taking into account gender relations within the community may reinforce women's dependency on men. For example, women may be present at a community meeting, but gender roles may prevent them from expressing their concerns, especially if male members of the community are present.
- Body
- Special Procedures: Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Gender
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Men
- Women
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph