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Forced evictions 1997, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- In cases where eviction is considered to be justified, it should be carried out in strict compliance with the relevant provisions of international human rights law and in accordance with general principles of reasonableness and proportionality. In this regard it is especially pertinent to recall general comment No. 16 of the Human Rights Committee, relating to article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states that interference with a person's home can only take place "in cases envisaged by the law". The Committee observed that the law "should be in accordance with the provisions, aims and objectives of the Covenant and should be, in any event, reasonable in the particular circumstances". The Committee also indicated that "relevant legislation must specify in detail the precise circumstances in which such interferences may be permitted".
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 1997
Paragraph
Forced evictions 1997, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- Many instances of forced eviction are associated with violence, such as evictions resulting from international armed conflicts, internal strife and communal or ethnic violence.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Year
- 1997
Paragraph
Forced evictions 1997, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- Other instances of forced eviction occur in the name of development. Evictions may be carried out in connection with conflict over land rights, development and infrastructure projects, such as the construction of dams or other large scale energy projects, with land acquisition measures associated with urban renewal, housing renovation, city beautification programmes, the clearing of land for agricultural purposes, unbridled speculation in land, or the holding of major sporting events like the Olympic Games.
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 1997
Paragraph
The right of everyone to benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he or she is the author (Art. 15, para. 1 (c)) 2005, para. 18b (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The right to the protection of the moral and material interests of authors contains the following essential and interrelated elements, the precise application of which will depend on the economic, social and cultural conditions prevailing in a particular State party:] [Accessibility. Administrative, judicial or other appropriate remedies for the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from scientific, literary or artistic productions must be accessible to all authors. Accessibility has four overlapping dimensions:] Physical accessibility: national courts and agencies responsible for the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from the scientific, literary or artistic productions of authors must be at the disposal of all segments of society, including authors with disabilities;
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2005
Paragraph
Forced evictions 1997, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- In accordance with the guidelines for reporting adopted by the Committee, State parties are requested to provide various types of information pertaining directly to the practice of forced evictions. This includes information relating to (a) the "number of persons evicted within the last five years and the number of persons currently lacking legal protection against arbitrary eviction or any other kind of eviction", (b) "legislation concerning the rights of tenants to security of tenure, to protection from eviction" and (c) "legislation prohibiting any form of eviction".
- Body
- Committee on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 1997
Paragraph
The meaning and scope of special measures in the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms Racial Discrimination 2009, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Article 2, paragraph 2, of the Convention stipulates that "States parties shall, when the circumstances so warrant, take, in the social, economic, cultural and other fields, special and concrete measures to ensure the adequate development and protection of certain racial groups or individuals belonging to them, for the purpose of guaranteeing them the full and equal enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. These measures shall in no case entail as a consequence the maintenance of unequal or separate rights for different racial groups after the objectives for which they were taken have been achieved".
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2009
Paragraph
Article 3 of the Convention 1995, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- The Committee observes that while conditions of complete or partial racial segregation may in some countries have been created by governmental policies, a condition of partial segregation may also arise as an unintended by-product of the actions of private persons. In many cities residential patterns are influenced by group differences in income, which are sometimes combined with differences of race, colour, descent and national or ethnic origin, so that inhabitants can be stigmatized and individuals suffer a form of discrimination in which racial grounds are mixed with other grounds.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 1995
Paragraph
Combatting racist hate speech 2013, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- In order to promote inter-ethnic understanding, balanced and objective representations of history are essential, and, where atrocities have been committed against groups of the population, days of remembrance and other public events should be held, where appropriate in context, to recall such human tragedies, as well as celebrations of successful resolution of conflicts. Truth and reconciliation commissions can also play a vital role in countering the persistence of racial hatred and facilitating the development of a climate of inter-ethnic tolerance.
- Body
- Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Article 19: Freedoms of opinion and expression 2011, para. 33
- Paragraph text
- Restrictions must be "necessary" for a legitimate purpose. Thus, for instance, a prohibition on commercial advertising in one language, with a view to protecting the language of a particular community, violates the test of necessity if the protection could be achieved in other ways that do not restrict freedom of expression. On the other hand, the Committee has considered that a State party complied with the test of necessity when it transferred a teacher who had published materials that expressed hostility toward a religious community to a non-teaching position in order to protect the right and freedom of children of that faith in a school district.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- There are rare cases where persons with albinism are deified or viewed as having godlike qualities. For example, the Guna people in Latin America give a special place to persons with albinism as protectors. Tales of persons with albinism being considered as water deities or as natural chiefs have also been reported. While deification and positive supernaturalization of persons with albinism may appear to be desirable, this is not an ideal state because the person with albinism is still the subject of myths unfounded on fact or science. Consequently, their dignity remains grounded in subjective narratives and not in their objective status as human beings.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, myths contribute to minimizing the social impact of attacks against persons with albinism and justify their disappearance. In this regard, the testimony of a digger is telling as he explains that myths are used to "deceive people because the waganga [witchdoctors/traditional healers] believe that the zeruzeru [a pejorative term for a person with albinism] aren't missed in the community. They believe that they are not useful people and if they die they are not lost".
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Violence
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Preliminary survey on the root causes of attacks and discrimination against persons with albinism 2016, para. 18
- Paragraph text
- Beliefs that attribute supernatural qualities to persons with albinism serve only to dehumanize them. Such beliefs deify or demonize persons with albinism, and present as natural the exclusion, stigma and discrimination they face. This is the case, for example, in the widespread myth that persons with albinism do not die, but simply disappear. This myth is particularly disturbing because it justifies any sudden and inexplicable disappearance of a person with albinism from his or her community. This belief poses a strong risk to persons with albinism by proactively providing an acceptable explanation to the community for the disappearance of a person with albinism after an attack. Further, the existence of such a myth supports the hypothesis that violations of the life and security of persons with albinism predate the contemporary attention given to the issue.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- Similarly, the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief stated in the report of his mission to Sierra Leone (A/HRC/25/58/Add.1) that freedom of religion or belief, while allowing for legally defined limitations to protect the rights and freedoms of others, must be broadly understood. Witchcraft-related beliefs, whether in their ancient or modern form, are protected under the freedom of belief, as are actions related to such beliefs, as long as they do not violate the rights of others. However, he also stressed that "the serious harm inflicted on persons accused of witchcraft can never be justified", and that "if someone were to invoke the right to freedom of religion or belief in order to support harmful practices, such as the persecution and punishment of alleged witches, this would be a clear case for limiting the application of freedom of religion or belief". The same reasoning applies to other harmful practices, including attacks against persons with albinism: harmful practices can never be justified.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 27
- Paragraph text
- Muti is a Zulu word used in southern Africa that refers to types of traditional medicine, magical charms, potions or amulets. It has also been defined as a substance fabricated from plants, animals or minerals by a person possessing expert knowledge and skill. In West Africa, the term "juju" is used to refer to a similar practice. It is sometimes believed that the muti or juju will be more effective if it contains human body parts, in particular those of persons with albinism, as these are believed to be intrinsically magical or powerful, with the ability to produce wealth and confer good luck. "Muti murder", "medicine murder" and "juju" are therefore the terms most commonly associated with ritual attacks to produce charms, potions or amulets that involve the use of human body parts. In this context, muti and juju seem to be related to witchcraft and are therefore subsumed by the term "witchcraft" in the present report. In particular, witchcraft-related beliefs, rituals and practices seem to give energy and meaning to muti and juju. Even if in some cases witchcraft-related beliefs are described as superstitions unaffiliated with any religious systems, they can be harnessed by witchcraft practitioners to the detriment of various victims, including persons with albinism.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- In 2013, the Parliament of Papua New Guinea repealed the Sorcery Act (1971) in total. The Act, whose objective was "to prevent and punish evil practices of sorcery and other similar evil practices", acknowledged the existence of sorcery and criminalized its practice, including attacks against people accused of sorcery. In 2014, new legislation criminalizing killings related to sorcery was enacted.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Harmful Practices
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Witchcraft and the human rights of persons with albinism 2017, para. 90
- Paragraph text
- Finally, campaigns should engage faith-based organizations, traditional leaders, persons with albinism and their families. They should address witchcraft and related beliefs, as well as fundamental topics involving albinism, including biological and scientific information on the genetic origins of the condition and other objective facts to debunk myths and misbeliefs surrounding the condition.
- Body
- Independent Expert on the enjoyment of human rights by persons with albinism
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Harmful Practices
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Viewed through a human rights lens, from the perspective of those whose right to housing is at stake, those common challenges facing local governments or housing providers can be seen as barriers to the realization of rights. Those who are disproportionately affected by the challenges identified tend to be the most marginalized groups - those whose right to housing is most at risk. It is those groups who suffer most when local governments lack capacity or resources, when there is an absence of local human rights accountability, when local government becomes protectionist and exclusionary, and it is those groups who often confront the most complex web of governmental decision-making and authority, with the least information available to them.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- The situation of residents of informal settlements in many cities around the world illustrates how allocation of responsibilities among different levels of government plays out in peoples' lives. For example, a recent study considers the situation of residents of the Mukuru settlement in Nairobi. They live in windowless shacks on privately held land without sewage or water infrastructure. They have been unable to determine title through local governments and therefore lack security of tenure, rendering them ineligible to apply for basic water, sewers or electricity. With the Kenyan Constitution now recognizing "the right to accessible and adequate housing and to reasonable standards of sanitation", the challenge for local residents is to claim their rights within a complex web of regulatory schemes and decisions applied by an array of governmental actors.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- Financialized housing markets create and thrive on gentrification and the appropriation of public value for private wealth. Improved services, schools or parks in an impoverished neighbourhood attract investment, which then drives residents out. The transformation of an old railway line in West Chelsea in Manhattan into a public walkway and park has attracted wealthy investors to a mixed income neighbourhood, radically transforming it with luxury housing units costing in the multimillions, and displacing longer term residents. In Vancouver, the opening of new public transport facilities in Burnaby, one of the few remaining areas of affordable rental housing, has quickly led to the development of expensive condominium towers, displacing residents who have not only lived there for decades, but also invested in developing their community.
- 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
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Mapping and framing security of tenure 2013, para. 85
- Paragraph text
- Some innovative planning regulations exist to secure tenure for the most marginalized. A significant example is the Brazilian "Special Zones of Social Interest" (ZEIS). ZEIS is a planning instrument, based on the constitutional recognition of the social function of property, regulating the use and occupation, for social housing purposes, of public or private properties. It is used to recognize existing informal settlements as well as to define unoccupied areas of the city as areas for social housing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- The Principles must also be read against the particular context in which they were developed. While drawing on a number of sources, they were shaped by the experience of formal restitution mechanisms operating at the time, in particular in Bosnia and Herzegovina - a context of largely formal registration of private property and of what Yugoslav law called "socially-owned" apartments. The restitution mechanism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, like others, has been criticized for doing little for those who did not own property or did not have recognized formal titles to them, and for being unable to deal with complex, informal systems of tenure with a plurality of customary, state or religious laws.
- 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
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- The informal rental sector is a crucial component of the housing sector in developing countries and is also increasing today in many European cities, filling a gap created by the current housing policies that do not adequately address the housing needs of low-income households. Unfortunately, slum upgrading programmes have largely ignored the impact on tenants and have sometimes even failed to notice that most target settlements even contain tenants. In some cases, the upgrading programmes even prohibit owners from letting upgraded properties. Such situations are incompatible with the obligation of States to promote the right to adequate housing, inter alia, by facilitating the "self-help" efforts of disadvantaged groups. However, there are a few reliable programmes that include direct subsidies and cheap loans to owners who need to repair their properties and to owners who wish to extend their property to accommodate additional tenants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Centrality of the right to adequate housing for the development and implementation of the New Urban Agenda to be adopted at Habitat III in October 2016 2015, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- When visiting residents of informal settlements, one is invariably struck by the human capacity to create vibrant communities with dignity and beauty despite the gross lack of almost everything. This capacity can be better harnessed; residents of informal settlements usually can identify the structural causes of their conditions, and they know well their needs and the barriers to meeting their needs. Frequently, they have a vision for their future and the future of their communities and can develop effective and targeted solutions. Engaging residents to participate in realizing their right to adequate housing is consistent with a human rights framework. For this to happen, local and national governments must be willing to recognize these communities as legitimate participants in urban democracy and as drivers of their own well-being.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 63
- Paragraph text
- Madison County in Wisconsin, United States of America, adopted a city resolution in 2011 recognizing housing as a human right. The resolution requires Madison to promote fair housing and refers to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and to the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, to which the United States is party. The city is therefore required to eliminate policies with a racially discriminatory impact. The resolution calls for an assessment of affordable and accessible housing needs and an adequately funded, responsive housing strategy. Those types of initiatives are particularly important in a country that has not ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and raise the possibility of subnational governments affirming direct accountability to international human rights norms even where the State has not ratified them.
- 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
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 81
- Paragraph text
- There are diverse models for ensuring participation of stakeholders in strategies to address homelessness. Brazil, for example, has created a participatory model for social policy that relies on policy councils of stakeholders. In Munich, Germany, special units for the prevention of homelessness have provided support in preventing evictions or repossessions. In Europe, FEANTSA has organized and advanced rights claims on behalf of homeless people in a wide range of legal and political forums.
- 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
- Year
- 2016
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- In many countries in the global South, where the majority of households are unlikely to have access to formal credit, the impact of financialization is experienced differently, but with a common theme - the subversion of housing and land as social goods in favour of their value as commodities for the accumulation of wealth, resulting in widespread evictions and displacement. Informal settlements are frequently replaced by luxury residential and high-end commercial real estate.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Movement
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- The post-Hurricane Mitch period also saw development in the legal framework related to land and housing issues, though the judicial system remained weak and so the potential benefits of the new legislation remained inaccessible to the poor. Missing from the current strategy in Honduras is a comprehensive programme to increase the supply of urbanized land and improve tenure security for the poor and the marginalized.
- 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- In "hedge cities", prime destinations for global capital seeking safe havens for investments, housing prices have increased to levels that most residents cannot afford, creating huge increases in wealth for property owners in prime locations while excluding moderate- and low-income households from access to homeownership or rentals due to unaffordability. Those households are pushed to peri-urban areas with scant employment and services.
- 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
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005, African Americans and poor people (with the two categories to a large extent blurred) bore the brunt of the devastation because, for the most part, they lived most often in the lower-lying, more flood-prone sections of the city. In addition large numbers of the metropolitan area's population (being generally poor) lacked the means to escape the flood. The particular impacts and costs of the hurricane were therefore intimately linked to pre existing social, economic and land use patterns, directly related to housing and urban planning policies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 17
- Paragraph text
- The earthquake in Haiti exacerbated and made visible a hitherto relatively invisible problem, namely, the dire conditions characterizing informal settlements in which the majority of the Port-au-Prince population lived. The settlements, as many others elsewhere, had been created spontaneously and had never been recognized formally by the authorities. They had no or little access to basic infrastructure and services. With the earthquake, many of the residents moved to camps, either because their homes or neighbourhoods had been destroyed or damaged, or in order to be able to receive food or medical assistance, to take part in cash-for-work programmes, to save on rent (in the case of renters) or in the hope of receiving a house.
- 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
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph