WUNRN
COHRE - http://www.cohre.org/statements
Centre on Housing Rights &
Evictions
|
COHRE Statement on
International Women's Day
Women Around the World Bear the Brunt of the Global Economic and Housing Crisis
Salih Booker, Executive
Director of the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE),
said “On this International Women’s Day, we would do well to remember that
women today are bearing the brunt of the world’s current economic crisis, which
is having a dire impact on the achievement of the human right to adequate
housing all over the world. While the global media offers images of
Western bankers and businessmen as the face of this crisis, we in the human
rights community know that the real face of the crisis is not to be found on
Wall Street. In reality, the global economic crisis is disproportionately
impacting those who already have the least, and it is women who today are the
overwhelming majority of the world’s poor.”
COHRE’s research has shown
that without independent rights to adequate housing and land, women remain
precariously dependent on males and susceptible to lives of insecurity, abuse
and exploitation. The result of this situation equals a precarious state
of limbo for millions of individual women. On the one hand, a woman can easily
be forcibly evicted from her home or land at any time, often without any
recourse whatsoever. On the other, she can become easily trapped in situations
of violence and abuse because she simply has no where else to go.
Mayra Gómez,
Coordinator of the COHRE Women and Housing Rights Programme, said “Women’s
housing rights are not peripheral issues – they are central to improving the
lives of women and girls throughout the world. Housing rights violations are not gender neutral and
they impact women in gender specific ways. Beyond basic shelter, for many women
housing is a place of employment and social interaction, and a place to care
for children. For women in particular,
housing rights are intimately connected to their security, health, and
wellbeing.”
In
First-hand
testimony collected by COHRE in September 2008 demonstrates the devastating
effects of forced eviction on women. One 21-year old woman forcibly
evicted from her home in
Gómez noted that
COHRE’s research in
In
In
In Sri Lanka, women are
disadvantaged by the application of the ‘head of the household’ standard, which
-- in the aftermath of the tsunami – resulted in women being disentitled to
their homes and property as a consequence of the notion that the male ‘head of
the household’ ought to be authorised to sign official documentation.
Booker said “Under
international human rights standards, governments around the world are
obligated to ensure that women’s housing rights are respected, protected and
fulfilled. In order to do this, governments must strengthen national
legal protections for women’s housing rights, and do so on the basis of
non-discrimination and equality, allowing women to participate meaningfully in
the process. Recognising the links that exist between women’s housing
rights and women’s security is key to improving the lives of women all around
the world.”
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