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The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Institutionalization is a clear example of how violations of the right to housing occur when disability is misconstrued as a medical condition. Removing persons with disabilities from the general population and subjecting them to isolation and extreme social control is rationalized on the basis that they are being provided with “treatment” or “care”. Institutionalization often combines the worst living conditions with severe deprivation of liberty and cruel and inhuman treatment, including physical and sexual abuse. Conditions are invariably overcrowded, with limited or no access to sanitation and hygiene facilities, as has been documented in countries including Guatemala, Indonesia and Mexico. Residents in institutions and institution-like settings are often precluded from having outside social or family relations and deprived of choices about activities, social relationships, sexuality and identity. Persons with psychosocial or intellectual disabilities are at highest risk of being institutionalized forcefully and, outside formal institutions, are often subjected to extreme levels of institution-like control in privately operated rooming houses or “halfway” houses.
- 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
- Health
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 77
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- A number of jurisdictions have adopted a “housing first” model to address homelessness. The model provides chronically homeless persons, in particular those with psychosocial impairments and/or drug or alcohol addictions, with long-term housing and the necessary forms of support.
- 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
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 19
- Paragraph text
- Deinstitutionalization without adequate housing and community support can have devastating consequences. In Gauteng Province, South Africa, more than 1,300 persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities were transferred owing to government budget cuts from a private hospital to the care of an array of non-governmental organizations, most of which lacked the capacity, oversight and resources necessary to address the needs of those transferred. This led to widespread ill-treatment and the death of more than 70 persons.
- 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)
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 66
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- In a decision adopted in 2008, the Supreme Court of Nepal ordered the release of all persons who were imprisoned because of psychosocial disabilities, in keeping with the right to equality, health and a dignified life. The Court directed the Government to enact a law to protect the rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities and to arrange health services and other necessary measures. Local and international organizations have continued to exert pressure on the Government to implement the Court’s order in line with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In a decision adopted in 2012, the Court ordered the Government to provide a monthly stipend, build shelters and appoint a social welfare worker in each district.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 63
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- In Purohit and Moore v. the Gambia, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights considered a case of forcible institutionalization without due process in the Gambia. The Commission not only found that the legislation itself violated provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, but also took note of the obligation to progressively realize the right to health by addressing violations of socioeconomic rights. The Commission stated that, throughout Africa, poverty rendered persons “incapable to provide the necessary amenities, infrastructure and resources that facilitate the full enjoyment of [the right to health]” and read into the right to health the obligation of States parties to the African Charter “to take concrete and targeted steps, while taking full advantage of its available resources, to ensure that the right to health is fully realized in all its aspects without discrimination of any kind”.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 60
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- In only one communication considered under the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has a violation of article 28 been alleged. In the case of H.M. v. Sweden, a municipality refused to grant an exception to a development plan to allow the claimant to build a hydrotherapy pool required for the treatment of her health condition. Having found that the refusal of reasonable accommodation violated the claimant’s right to non-discrimination, as well as her rights under article 19, the Committee declined to decide whether that denial also violated article 28. It is noteworthy, however, that the Committee extended the remedy beyond the author’s individual circumstances, recommending that the State party ensure that “its legislation and the manner in which it is applied by domestic courts is consistent with the State party’s obligations under the Convention”. This is an example of the manner in which reasonable accommodation claims can give rise to individual as well as systemic and/or legislative remedies.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The Washington Group on Disability Statistics has developed two standard sets of questions for surveying populations. The short set covers six core areas of activity and has been adopted by 70 countries. It provides the best opportunity for States to obtain disaggregated data that will allow international comparisons and benchmarks. The extended set of questions covers a greater range of domains of functioning, a number of which are associated with psychosocial impairments. Neither set addresses housing. The best way to obtain reliable data on housing and disability is to conduct surveys based on the extended set of questions of the Washington Group, supplemented by questions on housing and homelessness.
- 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
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 76
- Paragraph text
- Housing First has recently emerged as a dominant model for responses to homelessness in countries such as Belgium, Denmark, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The model is straightforward, providing chronically homeless people, for example, those with psychosocial disabilities, with housing and support as needed. There are obvious benefits of keeping people in their communities as opposed to providing treatment services without housing, and this model offers easily measured outcomes. At the same time, concerns have been raised that Housing First may not serve as a generalized model as it tends to focus on visible forms of homelessness and does not address systemic causes of homelessness or ensure rehabilitation and production of affordable housing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Persons with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to homelessness. In all parts of the world, psychosocial disability can make it impossible for people to secure employment and earn a living to pay for housing. At the same time, many States do not ensure access to the community-based support that people with disabilities need. In States where people with perceived psychosocial disabilities are institutionalized, the support or housing available upon their release are often inadequate. Where deinstitutionalization has been implemented, States have failed to provide the necessary social support for housing in the 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 28
- Paragraph text
- Homelessness is caused by the interplay between individual circumstances and broader systemic factors. A human rights response to homelessness addresses both. It understands that homelessness may be linked to individual dynamics such as psychosocial disabilities, unexpected job loss, addictions or complex choices to become street-connected, and that a major cause of homelessness is the failure of governments to respond to unique individual circumstances with compassion and respect for individual dignity. A human rights approach must also, however, address the overarching structural and institutional causes of homelessness - the cumulative effect of domestic policies, programmes and legislation, as well as international financial and development agreements that contribute to and create homelessness. In her consultations, the Special Rapporteur found that inequality and the conditions that breed it are the most consistently identified causes of homelessness.
- 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
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to life and the right to adequate housing: the indivisibility and interdependence between these rights 2016, para. 26
- Paragraph text
- Many people with disabilities live in institutions because community supports to ensure independent living are unavailable. Many are institutionalized without their consent. Conditions in such institutions are invariably overcrowded. Residents are often prevented from having outside social or family relations and, in some cases, are forced to remain in isolation cells for long periods (see A/HRC/28/37). In some countries, such as the Republic of Moldova (see A/HRC/31/62/Add.2, paras. 48-52 and 61-72), residents are "controlled" through the use of physical restraints and the administration of large doses of psychiatric medications and tranquilizers. Some residents are forced to sleep in locked "cage beds" (hospital beds turned into small cages). Violence is commonplace. Together, these conditions heighten the risk of death.
- 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
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- Persons with disabilities
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
11 shown of 11 entities