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Migration and the right to adequate housing 2010, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- States have an immediate obligation to ensure non-discrimination in the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to adequate housing, regardless of their level of development, in order to reduce existing inequalities (see E/1991/23, annex III, para. 1). The obligation of non-discrimination requires the equitable allocation of resources and services to ensure the realization of the right to adequate housing to all, and is not subject to progressive realization. It entails prioritizing the needs of marginalized and disadvantaged groups; eliminating laws, policies and practices that disproportionately affect the right to adequate housing of certain groups; incorporating equality and non-discrimination principles in all legislation and policies; and adopting special measures to counter embedded discrimination and inequalities against particular groups. States have no justification for not protecting vulnerable groups from housing-related discrimination, as the obligation to prohibit discrimination is binding on all States even in times of severe resource constraints (see E/1991/23, para. 12, and E/C.12/GC/20, para. 13).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2010
- 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. 73
- Paragraph text
- States must address issues of inadequate housing and homelessness and name them as core human rights issues linked to the right to life - in domestic law and policy and in international initiatives, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda. States must also conduct a thorough examination of legislation, court practice and public policies to ensure that the right to life is not restricted to a negative rights framework. States must formally recognize that the right to life includes the right to a place to live in dignity and security, free of violence, and ensure access to justice for all victims of violations of the right to life, including those linked to homelessness and inadequate housing. Governments must ensure the effective integration of housing policy and social protection with human rights frameworks, mechanisms and institutions, so that housing policy is properly framed around the implementation of core human rights obligations, and access to effective remedies is incorporated in programme design and implementation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Housing is an area of concurrent national and provincial competence in South Africa, but the Constitution requires the national and provincial governments to assign responsibilities to a municipality "if that matter would most effectively be administered locally and the municipality has the capacity to administer it". Within that context, the Constitutional Court established that measures taken to realize the right to adequate housing must be "reasonable" - that they must be comprehensive, coherent, flexible and effective; have due regard for those in poverty and deprivation; utilize available resources; be free of bureaucratic inefficiency or onerous regulations and ultimately be capable of realizing the right to adequate housing. The Court also emphasized the fact that responsibilities must be clearly allocated to the different spheres of government with appropriate financial and human resources, and that local governments have an obligation to ensure that services are provided in a sustainable manner. The Court held that the housing programme had failed to adequately prioritize those in the greatest need.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Poverty
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- The experiences of decentralization in relation to human rights and the right to adequate housing, however, have been mixed. As Paul Lundberg noted, "the issue of human rights has not figured prominently in the ongoing discussion on decentralization". Reference to human rights obligations or the right to adequate housing is conspicuously absent, even from the International Guidelines on Decentralisation and Access to Basic Services for all and the European Charter of Local Self-Government. Decentralization and local governance initiatives from international or regional financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and the Inter-American Development Bank, United Nations agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme, as well as from associations of local governments, have focused on economic and political dimensions and participatory rights linked to decentralization. However, they have largely ignored the question of how States' human rights obligations in relation to the right to adequate housing are to be applied to local governments that have taken on key responsibilities for programmes and 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)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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. 65
- Paragraph text
- Obligations of States to maintain the rule of law are too often considered primarily in relation to legal protections of existing title to property or contractual economic relationships. Under the rule of law, however, fundamental human rights must be guaranteed, including the right to adequate housing. An urban rights agenda will require a more inclusive approach to the rule of law in cities than has been applied in the past, focused on the need to effectively address the circumstances of those who have had no access to legal title to land, housing or property. The right to housing must be fully incorporated within urban law as a right not only to physical and environmental aspects of housing but also to the equal protection of the law, with full protection of security of tenure, health and safety and entitlement to basic services, livelihood and cultural life. Laws and policies must be subject to ongoing review so as to adjust to emerging patterns of exclusion or to address previously unrecognized circumstances.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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. 29
- Paragraph text
- Housing, however, was a clear outlier in the seven Millennium Development Goals. Housing or homelessness were nowhere specifically mentioned. The only housing-related target (Target 7.D: "By 2020, to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers") was placed under the goal of environmental sustainability in Goal 7. The target suffered from vagueness and damaging interpretations. It allowed national assessment reports to reference almost any improvement, even if only marginal; and a focus on data regarding the proportion of the urban population living in slums as a key indicator encouraged forced evictions that were in fact contrary to human rights law. The target of 100 million was a drop in the bucket compared to the more than one billion people living in inadequate or slum-like conditions and it was detached from key human rights concerns, such as ensuring access to adequate housing, including security of tenure for all.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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. 14
- Paragraph text
- Housing is a major component of any city. However, it seems to have largely fallen off the public policy agenda. At the international level, for example, the right to adequate housing has not been a focus of development goals. Also, the lending priorities within the World Bank have shifted dramatically away from low-income housing, even as the problems of inadequate housing and homelessness have become more widespread and severe. In the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s more than 90 per cent of total shelter lending was allocated to low-income housing, compared to about 10 per cent since the mid-1990s. Moreover, a much smaller share has gone to low-income countries (20 per cent, down from about 40 per cent from the mid 1970s to the mid-1980s). In short, there is little evidence of the commitment to the realization of the right to adequate housing that was articulated in the Habitat Agenda. What went wrong and how can we ensure that a similar commitment made in 2016 is more successfully implemented?
- 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
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Reflection on work undertaken in first 14 years of the mandate; outline of opportunities and priorities 2014, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur will also consider ways in which the mandate can support access to justice in relation to all aspects of the right to adequate housing. She recognizes that ensuring access to justice, particularly with respect to claims involving the obligation of States to take positive measures towards the realization of the right to adequate housing, presents new challenges. Courts and human rights bodies need to be provided with reliable evidence concerning resource constraints and competing needs. More participatory approaches to the adjudication of rights need to ensure that all stakeholders, including marginalized groups, are able to have their voices heard. Governments need to put accountability mechanisms in place, and to work in partnership with claimants and other stakeholders to improve policies and ensure effective remedies. Researchers and international monitoring groups need to further develop methodologies for providing statistics and reliable indicators of compliance with all aspects of the right to adequate housing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2014
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Analysis of two alternative housing policies: rental and collective housing 2013, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Evidence indicates that both demand- and supply-side subsidies for the private rental sector are more cost effective and less costly then subsidies for homeownership and are therefore more compatible with the obligation of States to make use of the maximum available resources in order to ensure the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing. A regulated and effective housing benefit system is necessary to ensure various aspects of the right to adequate housing, including affordability, non-discrimination and habitability, while also enhancing the opportunities for individuals to exercise a number of other human rights, including the right to work, the right to education and the right to health. In addition, the private (formal and informal) rental sector is better targeted to lower-income households (compared with housing finance schemes that mainly assist middle-income households) and therefore may assist States in complying with the obligation to give due priority to social groups living in unfavourable conditions. Policies and legislation should correspondingly not be designed to benefit already advantaged social groups at the expense of others.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2013
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Post conflict and post disaster reconstruction and the right to adequate housing 2011, para. 24
- Paragraph text
- According to the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG): "Post-disaster operations need to deal early and forcefully with land ownership issues. Where possible land titles should be regularized or a functional proxy for land title should be provided [...] Where such measures are not possible, alternative means need to be found to ensure that land is not seized outright or that fraudulent claims are not honoured. The local government must help prevent profiteering on land that is urgently needed for the reconstruction process." This assessment of urgency and need for forceful action is absolutely correct. However the emphasis on title regularization, with other forms of tenure covered by "functional proxy", is problematic. Care should be taken that this does not result in programmes of rushed or enforced commodification of land and housing; or a process of favouring formal title resulting in the weakening or pushing aside of legitimate alternative forms of tenure security, as has happened in the case of Cambodia, discussed later. Many other equally legitimate forms of tenure require recognition, protection and support in their own right.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing in disaster relief efforts 2011, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Against this backdrop it is important to differentiate between two tasks. In the long term, there might be a need to formally record and strengthen ownership or tenure through legal reforms and other mechanisms such as land titling, thereby definitively resolving the ambiguous and uncertain situation in which many find themselves. In the short term, however, these means may not be the most appropriate to address reconstruction and recovery needs and to do so without reinforcing inequalities. Experience also suggests the enormous challenge of attempting to deal with the full spectrum of ownership/tenure and land reform issues right after disaster or conflict. The Government of Pakistan noted that an appreciation of the social, political, technical and legal complexities of land tenure issues and the fact that those were not confined to the disaster-affected areas was essential. In the short term, it remains nonetheless essential and opportune to assess pre-disaster tenure rights, through swift methods, in order to move effectively towards reconstruction and recovery in a way that ensures a minimum of tenure security to everyone and addresses some of the worse forms of inequality and insecurity.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2011
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
The right to adequate housing of persons with disabilities 2017, para. 45a
- Original document
- Paragraph text
- [The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has identified some indicators of whether a State has satisfied a standard of reasonableness, including:] The extent to which the measures taken were deliberate, concrete and targeted towards the fulfilment of the right;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Financialization of housing and the right to adequate housing 2017, para. 11
- Paragraph text
- The right to adequate housing is, at its core, the right to a place to live in dignity and security. It is interdependent with other human rights, particularly the right to equality and non-discrimination and the right to life (see A/71/310). It is against those core human rights values that the actions of States in relation to financial actors and housing systems are to be assessed.
- 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
- 2017
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 91e
- Paragraph text
- [In line with the present conclusions, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations to States:] Any and all laws or measures that criminalize, impose fines on or restrict homeless people or behaviour associated with being homeless, such as sleeping or eating in public spaces, must be immediately repealed;
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Important advances have been made in domestic jurisdictions recognizing that homelessness violates a range of human rights. The Grundgesetz (Basic Law) of Germany has been interpreted to ensure that adequate and humane housing is a component of a minimum standard of living in line with human dignity.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 49g
- Paragraph text
- [State obligations in relation to homelessness have been clearly articulated and can be summarized as follows:] Access to effective remedies to homelessness must be ensured, including enforcement of obligations linked to the progressive realization of the right to housing and the elimination 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 49c
- Paragraph text
- [State obligations in relation to homelessness have been clearly articulated and can be summarized as follows:] Evictions should never render individuals homeless. The prohibition of evictions leading to homelessness is immediate, absolute and is not subject to available resources;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 49b
- Paragraph text
- [State obligations in relation to homelessness have been clearly articulated and can be summarized as follows:] States must combat discrimination, stigma and negative stereotyping of homeless people as a matter of urgency and provide legal protection from discrimination because of social and economic situation, which includes 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
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Homelessness as a global human rights crisis that demands an urgent global response 2016, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Rural homelessness has been the result of decreasing food security from household production, climate change, corporatization of agriculture, loss of land through subdivision at inheritance, declining civil security in rural areas, extreme poverty, unregulated resource exploitation and natural disasters. Rural homelessness usually leads people to migrate to urban areas in search of work and 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)
- Environment
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- 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. 65
- Paragraph text
- The new Constitution of Kenya (2010) includes both the right to life and the right to accessible and adequate housing as justiciable rights. Kenyan courts have affirmed an integrated understanding of the relationship between the two rights under the new Constitution. In the Garissa case, for example, a claim was filed on behalf of 1,122 people who were brutally evicted from land they had occupied since the 1940s. The High Court observed that the Constitution of Kenya recognizes all human rights as justiciable, noting that "people living without the basic necessities of life are deprived of human dignity, freedom and equality". The court found that the evictions violated the rights to life and to adequate housing and issued an injunction compelling the State to return the claimants to their land and to reconstruct their homes or provide alternative housing and other facilities. Similarly, in the Santrose Ayuma case, another large-scale eviction, the High Court found that evictions carried out without meaningful engagement with those affected and without provision of alternative shelter violated the rights to life and to adequate housing. The court insisted that resettlement plans be consistent with the right to a dignified life.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2016
- 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. 63
- Paragraph text
- Despite the fact that the Constitution of India separates the right to life as a justiciable right from the right to housing as a policy directive, the Supreme Court of India recognized the impossibility of separating the two rights as early as 1981, stating: The right to life includes the right to live with human dignity and all that goes along with it, namely, the bare necessaries of life such as adequate nutrition, clothing and shelter and facilities for reading, writing and expressing oneself in diverse forms, freely moving about and mixing and commingling with fellow human beings. This case was followed by a number of crucial decisions, including in the Olga Tellis case, in which it was explicitly recognized that the right to livelihood forms an integral part of the right to life; the Shantistar Builders Society case, in which it was held that the right to life "would take within its sweep … a reasonable accommodation to live in"; and Chameli Singh v. State of U.P., in which the state's obligations under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Political Rights were considered and it was noted that "[the] right to shelter when used as an essential requisite to the right to live should be deemed to have been guaranteed as a fundamental right".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- 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. 59
- Paragraph text
- Similar approaches have been adopted in the African system. In the Pretoria Declaration on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights States parties to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights agreed that socioeconomic rights, including the right to housing, must be read into the Charter in the light of references to the right to life, stating: The social, economic and cultural rights explicitly provided for under the African Charter, read together with other rights in the Charter, such as the right to life and respect for inherent human dignity, imply the recognition of other economic and social rights, including the right to shelter, the right to basic nutrition and the right to social security. The Pretoria Declaration drew on the decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights in the case of Social and Economic Rights Action Center and Center for Economic and Social Rights v. Nigeria. The Commission found that environmental degradation had "made living in Ogoniland a nightmare" and that destruction of land and farms "affected the life of the Ogoni society as a whole". The Commission concluded that "the most fundamental of all human rights, the right to life, has been violated".
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- 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. 33
- Paragraph text
- The Committee's recognition in its general comment No. 6 and in periodic reviews that the right to life requires positive measures to address homelessness and poverty stands in marked contrast with the absence of consideration of these obligations in the Committee's consideration of alleged violations under the Optional Protocol.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2016
- 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. 72
- Paragraph text
- The true reunification of the right to life and the right to adequate housing, however, can only be accomplished by a global response, led by States, including their legislatures and courts, by human rights institutions and by civil society.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2016
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 68
- Paragraph text
- Other emerging mechanisms, such as performance contracts which stipulate socioeconomic indicators and targets that municipal officials must meet, can similarly be used as an accountability mechanism at the local level for the right to adequate housing.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Responsibilities of local and other subnational governments in relation to the right to adequate housing 2015, para. 10
- Paragraph text
- The internal allocation of responsibilities for implementing the right to adequate housing is a matter for State parties to determine, but the allocation must be consistent with the obligation to ensure compliance with international human rights obligations. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has indicated that "all administrative authorities will take account of the requirements of the Covenant in their decision-making". Hence, the wide range of housing policy and programme decisions often made at the local level, including budgeting, planning, zoning, allocation of benefits and publically funded housing units, the provision or regulation of basic services, rent subsidies, and any other decisions related to access to adequate housing, must comply with relevant, applicable human rights norms. In most cases a national housing strategy is required among regional and local authorities in order to reconcile related policies with the obligations under the Covenant. The Committee on the Rights of the Child further clarifies that State parties must also ensure that local authorities "have the necessary financial, human and other resources to effectively discharge [their] responsibilities".
- 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
- Children
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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. 30
- Paragraph text
- Upon their adoption, the Millennium Development Goals appeared to sweep over processes already under way to implement the Habitat Agenda (see para. 13 above). The vague and inadequate target regarding slum dwellers appears to have been conflated with a commitment to the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing as articulated in the Habitat Agenda. Although originally intended as an international reference tool to highlight some issues, the Millennium Development Goals evolved into a blueprint for progress and prioritization at the national level, shaping financing for development agendas. They were widely used in national policymaking and in budget discussions, relegating issues not included in the Millennium Development Goals to the status of secondary priorities, with resources and political will divested accordingly. Statistical targets became confused with the realization of rights. As a result, it was not a surprise that the target of improving the lives of a tiny proportion of those living in slum-like conditions was soon reached when, in reality, substandard housing conditions and homelessness continued to increase around the world.
- 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
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Year
- 2015
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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. 17
- Paragraph text
- These historic developments have fundamentally changed the approach to realizing the right to adequate housing from an aspirational model focused exclusively on commitments by national-level Governments to a more dynamic understanding of the role rights claimants and social movements must play in combination with all levels of governments and non-governmental actors in the realization of the right to adequate housing. This is reflected in the fact that a growing number of countries have given constitutional recognition to the right to adequate housing, domestic courts have increasingly adjudicated claims to the right to adequate housing, and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (General Assembly resolution 63/117, annex) has entered in force, creating an individual complaints procedure. This shift in approach to the right to adequate housing, however, has not yet fully taken root at the local level, where key actors are less aware of international and constitutional norms and where access to justice is often lacking.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
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. 16
- Paragraph text
- A second factor is the evolving understanding of the meaning of the right to housing. Twenty years ago, the idea of the right to housing as a "lever of transformational change" was far less sophisticated than today. Up until the 1990s, both internationally and nationally, the fulfilment of the right to adequate housing was generally conceived of as an aspirational goal of Governments. By the end of the millennium, however, the "second generation" status of economic, social and cultural rights had eroded, and the right to housing was understood as having the capacity to empower rights holders to become active participants in decision-making, challenge stigmatization and exclusion and provide access to justice and effective remedies. It was also understood that States can be held accountable for measures taken to progressively realize the right to housing, including through the adoption of housing strategies and appropriate budgetary allocations. Such measures must be assessed for compliance with human rights and engage with international, national, subnational and local initiatives and strategies.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph
Guiding Principles on security of tenure for the urban poor 2014, para. 79
- Paragraph text
- All data on progress and outcomes should be made public, ensuring that the urban poor are able to access and understand the information. Progress reports should be presented to a range of national mechanisms, such as legislatures, national human rights institutions, and public forums, as well as to international mechanisms, including human rights treaty bodies and the Council through the universal periodic review.
- 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
- Date added
- Aug 19, 2019
Paragraph