HRBA Portal

• United Nations Human Settlements Programme UN-HABITAT promotes socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

• UN HABITAT: Documentation Centre on Housing Rights
• This UN HABITAT webpage provides links to publications and other materials on land and housing. The documents are grouped by thematic area.
• United Nations Housing Rights Programme Launched in 2001 as a joint initiative by UN-Habitat and the OHCHR, the UNHRP works to help states to follow through on the commitments made in the Habitat Agenda to guarantee the realization of the right to adequate housing. The UNHRP has five focus areas: 1) advocacy, outreach, and learning from partners; 2) support for United Nations human rights mechanisms on housing rights; 3) monitoring and evaluation of the progress of the realization of housing rights; 4) research and analysis on housing rights; and 5) capacity-building and technical cooperation.
• Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing  The position of the UN is mandated to report on the status of the realization of housing rights, promote cooperation among and assistance to governments, UN agencies, and international and national NGOs, apply a gender perspective, identify possible types and sources of funding for housing activities, and facilitate the inclusion of housing issues in relevant UN missions and national offices.
• The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE)  COHRE is an independent, international, non-governmental, not-for-profit human rights organisation whose mission is to ensure the full enjoyment of the human right to adequate housing for everyone, everywhere. They are an excellent resource for advocacy, research, and current events regarding housing rights.

Relevant International Standards

The Right to Housing can be understood within the human rights-based framework: respect, protect, and fulfil.

It is incorrect, however, to assume that the Right to Housing implies that Governments must provide each of its citizens with land and a house. Rather, Governments are obligated to respect the Right to Housing by abstaining from carrying out or advocating the forced or arbitrary eviction of persons and groups. States must respect people’s rights to build their own dwellings and order their environments in a manner which most effectively suits their culture, skills, needs and wishes.

Government obligations to protect the housing rights of a population means that it must ensure that any possible violations of these rights by “third parties” such as landlords or property developers are prevented. Where such infringements do occur, the relevant public authorities should act to prevent any further deprivations and guarantee to affected persons access to legal remedies of redress for any infringement caused.

Lastly, the obligation to fulfil the Right to Housing is both positive and interventionary. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has asserted that identifiable governmental strategies aimed at securing the right of all persons to live in peace and dignity should be developed.

The Right to Housing is included in several international legally-binding documents. Among the most significant of these is the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (article 11.1), and General Comment 4 issued by the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR). UN HABITAT is the primary UN organisation addressing housing rights throughout the UN system.

Specific Instruments

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)   Article 25.1 of the UDHR stipulates that “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.”

The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural (ICESCR)  Article 11.1 of the ICESCR calls for States Parties to “recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions.”

General Comment 4: The Right to Adequate Housing  The Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (CESCR) clarified the meaning and scope of the Right to Housing as expressed within the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) in General Comment 4 (Article 11.1 of the Covenant). It provides specific criteria by which the Right to Housing can be measured: Legal security of tenure, Availability of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure, Affordability, Habitability, Accessibility, Location, and Cultural adequacy.

Other Relevant Instruments

General Comment 5 – paragraphs 15, 22 and 33 address the rights of persons with disabilities and the effects of disability-based discrimination on housing (paragraph 15).

General Comment 6 – paragraph 33 recalls the International Plan on Ageing’s emphasis on the psychological and social importance of housing for the elderly in addition to its physical significance as shelter.

General Comment 7 defines and addresses the topic of forced evictions and determines the circumstances under which forced evictions are permissible. It also describes the means of protection required to ensure respect for these provisions under the Covenant.

General Comment 14 – emphasizes the interdependence of the right to health and other human rights. It concludes that state obligations associated with the right to health include ensuring access to basic shelter, housing and sanitation and an adequate supply of drinking water.

Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951) Article 21 of this convention requires ratifying states to provide refugees with favorable treatment not less than that accorded to aliens generally in the same circumstances, with regard to housing.

International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families (1990)  Article 43 notes the right of migrant workers to access to housing, including social housing systems, and to protection against exploitation with respect to rents.

See also the following:

• United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (1994)
• Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements (1976)
• Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995)
• Copenhagen Declaration on Social Development and Programme of Action (1995)
• Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements (1996)
• Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the New Millennium (2001)

The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing

The mandate of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living was originally established by the Commission on Human Rights in April 2000 by resolution 2000/9, and subsequently endorsed and extended by the Human Rights Council resolution 6/27 of 14 December 2007.

In the fulfilment of his or her mandate, the Special Rapporteur:

•  Undertakes Country Visits (view reports of country visits here);
• Responds to information received on allegations concerning the situation of housing rights in particular countries (view individual complaints here;
• Develops constructive dialogue with Governments, civil society and other relevant actors with a view to identify solutions for the implementation of the right to adequate housing;
• Submits annual reports to the Human Rights Council and to the General Assembly covering the activities relating to the mandate (view annual reports here).

View webpage for the UN special rapporteur on adequate housing here.

Developing Capacities of Women to Access Adequate Housing and Land, Fiji

Housing and property restitution in Europe: Situation in France

Housing and property restitution in Europe in practice: Situation in Croatia and Serbia

Using rights-based strategies to secure land rights for poor & vulnerable groups: The Nijera Kori Experience in Bangladesh

Rights and Reality: Are women’s equal rights to land, housing and property implemented in East Africa?