WUNRN
COHRE - Centre on Housing Rights
& Evictions
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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