WUNRN
UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate
Housing website reference:
Women & Housing - http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/women.htm
Attached is the Report of the United
Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Mr. Miloon Kothari, for the UN
2006 - Women & Adequate Housing.
_________________________________________________________________________
OFFICE OF THE UN HIGH COMMISSIONER
FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Human Rights Resolution 2005/25
The Commission on Human Rights,
Guided by the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Racial Discrimination,
Reaffirming the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women,[i][i] and the outcome document of the special session of the General Assembly entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”,[ii][ii]
Recalling
the United
Nations Millennium Declaration and the declarations and programmes of actions
of and follow-up processes to the United Nations world conferences summits
held in Vienna,[iii][iii] Cairo,[iv][iv] Copenhagen,[v][v] Istanbul,[vi][vi] Durban[vii][vii] and Johannesburg,[viii][viii]
Reaffirming
the Declaration adopted by
the Commission on the Status of Women at its forty-ninth session as a
follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and to the twenty‑third
special session of the General Assembly, which emphasizes that the full and
effective implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action is
essential to achieving the internationally agreed development goals,
including those contained in the Millennium Declaration, and stresses the
need to ensure the integration of a gender perspective in the High-level
Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the review of the Millennium Declaration,
Recalling its resolution 2004/21 of 16 April 2004 on
adequate housing as a component on the right to an adequate standard of living,
and resolution 2003/22 of 22 April 2003 on women’s equal
ownership, access to and control over land and the equal rights to own property
and to adequate housing,
Reaffirming that all human rights are universal, indivisible,
interdependent and interrelated and that women’s equal ownership, access to and
control over land and the equal right to own property and to adequate housing
contribute to the full realization of human rights,
Recognizing that women, particularly women living in extreme poverty and victims of domestic violence, continue to suffer multiple or aggravated forms of discrimination, inter alia on the grounds of property, as well as from discriminatory treatment in all areas decisive to the attainment of adequate housing,
Reaffirming the human right to be free from all forms of
discrimination and the equal right of women and men to the enjoyment of all civil,
cultural, economic, political and social rights,
Mindful of the fact that elimination of discrimination against
women and the achievement of substantive equality of women and girls require consideration of women’s specific socio‑economic
context,
Welcoming the findings of the former Special Rapporteur on violence
against women, its causes and consequences (see E/CN.4/2000/68/Add.5), in
particular, the recognition that women’s poverty, together with a lack of
alternative housing options, make it difficult for women to leave violent
family situations, and reaffirming that forced relocation and forced eviction
from home and land have a disproportionately severe impact on women, including
when these are committed by spouses or in-laws, and encouraging the new Special
Rapporteur to continue to take these findings into consideration in her
future work,
Recognizing that poverty is a major obstacle to women’s full realization of housing, land and property rights,
Convinced that the lack of adequate housing can make women more vulnerable to various forms of violence, including domestic violence, and in particular that the lack of housing alternatives may limit many women’s ability to leave violent situations,
Stressing that the impact of gender-based discrimination and violence against women on women’s equal ownership of, access to and control over land and the equal rights to own property and to adequate housing is acute, particularly during complex emergency situations, reconstruction and rehabilitation,
Recognizing that the Secretary-General has linked the
growing prevalence of HIV/AIDS in women with laws that inhibit the full
enjoyment of women’s rights to land ownership and inheritance, and that he has
called for positive change and attention to women’s empowerment and protection
of women’s housing and land rights to make women less vulnerable to HIV/AIDS,
Reaffirming the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS,
agreed to at the twenty‑sixth special session of the General Assembly
convened in 2001, which calls for all Governments to strengthen or enforce
legislation, regulations and other measures to eliminate all forms of
discrimination and to ensure the full enjoyment of all human rights and
fundamental freedoms by people living with HIV/AIDS and members of vulnerable
groups, in particular, to ensure their access to inheritance and legal
protections,
Recognizing that laws, policies, customs, traditions and practices
that act to restrict women’s equal access to credit and loans also prevent
women from owning and inheriting land, property and housing and exclude women
from participating fully in development processes, are discriminatory and
contribute to increasing the poverty of women and girls,
Convinced that international, regional and local trade, finance and
investment policies should be designed in such a way that they promote
gender equality in terms of ownership of, access to
and control over land and the rights to own property and to adequate housing
and other productive resources and do not undermine women’s capacity to acquire
and retain these resources,
Convinced also of the need to address specifically the impact of natural disasters on women’s and children’s adequate housing needs and to ensure that a human rights approach, including a gender perspective, is taken when addressing this impact,
1. Takes
note with interest of the findings of the progress report on the study on
women and adequate housing (E/CN.4/2005/43) submitted
by the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an
adequate standard of living and on the right to non-discrimination in
accordance with Commission on Human Rights resolution 2003/22;
2. Reaffirms women’s right to an adequate standard of
living, including adequate housing, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, and urges Governments to comply fully with their international and
regional obligations and commitments concerning land tenure and the equality of
women to own, have access and to control property,
land and housing, irrespective of their marital status,
and to an adequate standard of living, including adequate housing;
3. Affirms
that discrimination in law and practice against
women with respect to having access to, acquiring and securing land, property
and housing, as well as financing for land, property and housing, constitutes a
violation of women’s human right to protection against discrimination and may
affect the realization of other human rights;
4. Reaffirms Commission on the Status of
Women resolution 42/1, which, inter alia, urges States to design and revise laws to ensure that women are
accorded full and equal rights to own land and other property, and the right to
adequate housing, including through the right to inheritance, and to undertake
administrative reforms and other necessary measures to give women the same
right as men to credit, capital, appropriate technologies, access to markets
and information;
5. Encourages
Governments to support the transformation of customs and traditions that
discriminate against women and deny women security of tenure and equal
ownership of, access to and control over land and equal rights to own property
and to adequate housing, to ensure the right of women to equal treatment in
land and agrarian reform as well as in land resettlement schemes and in
ownership of property and in adequate housing, and to take other measures to
increase access to land and housing for women living in poverty, particularly
female heads of household, including through access to housing subsidies;
6. Calls upon States to urgently address discrimination, inequality and historical injustices experienced by women in vulnerable situations, inter alia, indigenous women, in particular to secure their equal ownership, access to and control over land, and equal rights to own property and to adequate housing;
7. Reaffirms
the obligation of States to take all appropriate measures, including
special measures, inter alia those derived from their obligations under the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and
the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination, to eliminate discrimination against
women by any person, organization or enterprise, and recommends that
Governments encourage financial and lending institutions to ensure that their
policies and practices do not discriminate against women;
8. Urges Governments to address the issue
of forced relocation and forced evictions from home and land and to eliminate
its disproportionate impact on women;
9. Recommends
that international financial institutions, regional, national and local
housing financing institutions and other credit facilities facilitate the participation of women and take into account their
views in order to remove discriminatory policies and practices, giving special
consideration to single women and households headed by women, and that these
institutions evaluate and measure progress to this end;
10. Invites Governments to take further appropriate measures to address the increasing rate of homelessness or inadequate housing for women, including its underlying factors, such as gender inequality, HIV/AIDS, poverty and violence;
11. Encourages
Governments, specialized agencies, funds, programmes and other organizations of
the United Nations system, as well as other international organizations and non‑governmental
organizations, to provide judges, lawyers, political and other public
officials, community leaders and other concerned persons, as appropriate, with
information and human rights education concerning women’s equal ownership
of, access to and control over land and the equal rights to own property
and to adequate housing;
12. Invites
the Secretary-General to encourage all organizations and bodies of the
United Nations system, individually and collectively, in particular the
United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Human Settlements
Programme (UN-Habitat), the United Nations Development Fund for Women and
the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), to undertake further initiatives that promote women’s equal
ownership of, access to and control over land and the equal rights to own
property and to adequate housing, and allocate further resources for studying,
documenting and addressing the impact of
complex emergency situations and the HIV/AIDS pandemic, particularly with respect to women’s equal rights to own
land, property and adequate housing;
13. Invites
the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and other relevant
international organizations, within their respective mandates, to address
discrimination against women with respect to land, property and adequate
housing in their cooperation programmes and field activities;
14. Encourages
all the human rights treaty bodies, in particular the Committee on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women, special procedures and other human rights
mechanisms of the Commission and the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and
Protection of Human Rights as well as all United Nations bodies regularly and systematically to take a gender perspective
into account in the implementation of their mandates and to integrate the
content of the present resolution into their work, as appropriate;
15. Encourages
the United Nations Housing Rights Programme to take into account the content of
the present resolution and to continue its regional consultations, with the
participation of representatives of Governments, United Nations agencies,
intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental organizations;
16. Requests
the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an
adequate standard of living and on the right to non-discrimination, within his
mandate, to submit a final report to the Commission at its sixty-second
session containing the study on women and adequate housing;
17. Also requests the Special Rapporteur to specifically consider the impact of natural disasters on women’s adequate housing;
18. Further requests the Special Rapporteur to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, in the elaboration of model provisions to protect women’s rights in housing and domestic violence legislation, to ensure women’s full and equal access to national legal aid schemes to protect their housing, land and property rights in cases of divorce, inheritance and domestic violence;
19. Invites
all States that have not done so to respond to the questionnaire prepared by
the Special Rapporteur;
20. Decides
to continue its consideration of this question at its sixty-third session under
the agenda item entitled “Economic, social and cultural rights”.
51st meeting
[Adopted without a vote. See chap. X,
E/CN.4/2005/L.10/Add.10]
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[i][i] Report of the Fourth World
Conference on Women,
[ii][ii] Resolution S-23/3, annex.
[iii][iii] Vienna
Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference on
Human Rights on
[iv][iv] Programme of Action adopted by
the International Conference on Population and Development on
Twenty-first special session, Supplement No. 3 (S-21/5/Rev.1).
[v][v] Copenhagen Declaration on Social
Development, adopted by the World Summit for Social Development on 12
March 1995, Report of the World Summit for Social Development, Copenhagen,
6-12 March 1995 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.96.IV.8),
chap. I,
resolution 1, annex; Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Whole of the
twenty-fourth special session of the General Assembly, Official Records of the
General Assembly, Twenty-fourth special session, Supplement No. 3 (A/S-24/8/Rev.1).
[vi][vi] Istanbul Declaration on Human
Settlements and Habitat Agenda, adopted by the second United Nations
Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) on
[vii][vii] Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, adopted by the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance on 8 September 2001 (A/CONF.189/12 and Corr.1), chap. I.
[viii][viii] Johannesburg Declaration on Sustainable Development and Plan of Implementation, adopted by the World Summit on Sustainable Development on 4 September 2002, Report of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, Johannesburg, South Africa, 26 August-4 September 2002 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.03.II.A.1 and corrigendum), chap. I, resolution 1, annex and resolution 2, annex.
________________________________________________________________
OFFICE OF THE UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
http://ap.ohchr.org/Documents/E/SUBCOM/resolutions/E-CN_4-SUB_2-RES-1998-15.doc
Women and the right to land, property and adequate housing
Sub-Commission resolution 1998/15
The
Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities,
Recalling
Commission on Human Rights resolution 1998/51 of 17 April 1998 calling for the
integration of the human rights of women throughout the United Nations system,
Recalling
also Sub-Commission resolutions 1997/19 of 27 August 1997, entitled “Women
and the right to adequate housing and to land and property”, and 1997/9 of 22
August 1997, entitled “Implementation of the human rights of women and the girl
child”,
Recalling
further the recognition and legal foundations of the right to adequate
housing contained in, inter alia, articles 7, 12, 17 and 25, paragraph
1, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; article 2, paragraph 2, and
article 11, paragraph 1, of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights; article 2, paragraph 1, and articles 17 and 26 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the Optional Protocol to
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; article 5 (e) (iii)
of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial
Discrimination; articles 4 and 27 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
and article 14, paragraph 2 (g) and (h) and article 16 (h) of the Convention on
the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,
Reaffirming
the right to be free from discrimination based on sex and the equal right of
men and women to the enjoyment of all civil, cultural, economic, political and
social rights as stipulated in, inter alia, the International Bill of
Human Rights,
Bearing
in mind the Habitat Agenda (A/CONF.165/14), adopted by the United Nations
Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), and the Platform for Action
(A/CONF.177/20) adopted by the Fourth World Conference on Women,
Concerned
that as a result of the discrimination faced by women with respect to acquiring
and securing land, property and housing, the number of women living in poverty
is increasing disproportionately to the number of men and that women's
experiences of poverty are particularly severe and prohibit women from escaping
the poverty trap,
Recognizing
that the existence and perpetuation of gender-biased laws, policies and
traditions which deny women credit and loans and keep women from owning and
inheriting land, property and housing and which exclude women from fully
participating in development processes discriminate against women and create
insecure and inadequate housing and living conditions,
Deeply
concerned that inadequate and insecure housing and living conditions give
rise to serious mental and physical health problems for women and contribute
to, cause and are often the result of violence against women,
Stressing
that the impact of discrimination and violence against women on women's ability
to access and secure land, property and housing is particularly acute for women
who are internally displaced as a result of armed conflict situations and
development projects,
Concerned
that international and regional trade, finance and investment policies often
increase gender inequality in terms of access to land, property, housing and
other productive resources and undermine women's capacity to gain and retain
these resources,
Mindful
that women's inequality will not always be remedied by the identical treatment
of men and women and that adequate remedies may require that women be treated
differently from men based on a consideration of women's specific
socio-economic context,
1. Affirms that the
discrimination faced by women with respect to acquiring and securing land,
property and housing, as well as financing for land, property and housing,
constitutes a violation of women's human rights to equality, protection against
discrimination and to the equal enjoyment of the right to an adequate standard
of living, including adequate housing;
2. Strongly urges Governments
to comply fully with all of their international and regional obligations and
commitments concerning women's rights to land, property, inheritance, adequate
housing, including security of tenure, and an adequate standard of living;
3. Urges Governments to take
all necessary measures in order to amend and/or repeal laws and policies
pertaining to land, property and housing which deny women security of tenure
and equal access and rights to land, property and housing, to encourage the
transformation of customs and traditions which deny women security of tenure
and equal access and rights to land, property and housing, and to adopt and
enforce legislation which protects and promotes women's rights to own, inherit,
lease or rent land, property and housing;
4. Encourages Governments,
international agencies and non-governmental organizations to provide judges,
lawyers, political and other public officials, community leaders and other
concerned persons with information and human rights education concerning
women's rights to land, property and housing;
5. Recommends that Governments,
international financial institutions, local lending agents, housing finance
institutions and other credit facilities review their policies and eliminate
those which discriminate against women and keep women from securing financial
resources necessary to access and secure land, property and housing and, in
this regard, that special consideration be given to single women and households
headed by women;
6. Calls upon that the
international trade, investment and financial institutions, in particular the
World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organization and
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, take fully into
account the human rights implications for women of their policies;
7. Invites Governments, the
United Nations Development Programme, the Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights, the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees,
the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements and the United Nations
Development Fund for Women to allocate resources for further documentation of
the impact of internal displacement as a result of armed conflict situations
and development projects on women, particularly with respect to women's access
to land, property and housing;
8. Invites the United Nations
High Commissioner for Human Rights, in pursuance of her mandate and in
coordination with the appropriate United Nations bodies to undertake initiatives
that promote women's rights to land, property and to an adequate standard of
living, including adequate housing;
9. Invites the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women to pay special attention to women's
rights to land, property and an adequate standard of living, including adequate
housing, when examining States parties' reports and to explore the possibility
of adopting a general recommendation on this theme as it relates, inter alia,
to the provisions of article 14 of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women, with a view to clarifying the
obligations of States parties to the Convention in this respect;
10. Invites to the Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights to undertake a thorough discussion of the
critical issue of the relationship between women's rights to land and property
and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and to
include the results of this discussion in its general comment on women.
29th meeting
21 August 1998
[Adopted
without a vote. See chap. VII.]