The Special Rapporteur of the
Human Rights Council on adequate housing as a component of the right to an
adequate standard of living, Mr. Miloon Kothari, issued the following
statement today on the occasion of World Habitat Day:
Geneva, 1 October 2007: The
international community commemorates World Habitat Day on the first Monday of
every October, reminding us of our commitment to the protection and
realisation of the human right to adequate housing and to an adequate
standard of living for all people across the world. It is also an occasion to
recognise and support ongoing human rights struggles, honour human rights
defenders, remind Governments of their legal obligations and bring to light
the multiple violations that millions continue to face of their housing and
related rights.
The theme selected by the United Nations Human Settlements
Programme (UN HABITAT) for this year's World Habitat Day is "A Safe
City is a Just City." A human rights perspective is critical if
justice is to be achieved in housing and human settlements. The human right
to adequate housing is defined as "the right of every woman, man, youth
and child to gain and sustain a safe and secure home and community in which
to live in peace and dignity." While the focus of this year's theme is
primarily urban, it must also concern the over three billion people who still
live in rural areas. Large numbers of city-dwellers were forced to move to
cities in search of employment and live in highly inadequate and unsafe
settlements, deprived of the most basic services such as clean water,
sufficient space, electricity and healthcare. Safety, properly understood,
requires prioritising public housing, provision of basic services to all
residents and in situ upgrade of slums and other settlements so as to improve
living conditions.
The disturbing growth in forced evictions poses a direct
threat to the safety of both urban and rural inhabitants. The right to
adequate housing requires States to ensure security of tenure and emphasizes
the differential impact of evictions on marginalised groups and communities,
including women (1) (often directly exposed
to sexual abuse and violence particularly as a result of homelessness),
children and older persons, minorities and indigenous peoples, or persons
with disabilities. Participation of affected communities in all planning
processes is vital. The international community must focus on the broader
structural cause of evictions such as the lack of agrarian reform,
displacement induced by large development projects, "city beautification"
drives, large sporting events, or real estate speculation. Recent figures
disturbingly show that more people across the world are being evicted due to
development and market forces than due to armed and ethnic conflict.
In my 2007 annual report, I presented Basic principles
and guidelines on development-based evictions and displacement to the
United Nations Human Rights Council (2).
Incorporated in national law and policy, the guidelines would help minimise
displacement and, where it is inevitable, to ensure that international human
rights standards are upheld and resettlement is completed in a just and
adequate manner. They emphasize that evictions - which can take place only in
"exceptional circumstances", with "full justification"
and procedural guarantees – must ensure protection of human rights prior to,
during, and after displacement.
On this World Habitat Day, I call upon governments and the
international community to note that as long as human rights are violated,
there can be neither justice nor safety anywhere. Human rights are
indivisible, and respect for the right to adequate housing requires attention
to gender equality, non-discrimination, participation in public affairs, the
right to security of the person and the home, the right to be free from inhuman
and degrading treatment and the right to privacy and freedom from violence.
Let this World Habitat Day help us move closer to our goal of realising the
human right to adequate housing for all.
For more information on the work of the Special Rapporteur
on adequate housing see: http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/index.htm.
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