WUNRN
COHRE - Centre on Housing Rights
& Evictions
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Women's Housing Rights
Under International Human Rights Law
Looking at key housing
rights standards and principles
Human rights apply to
everyone, everywhere, regardless of gender. The right to adequate housing is
established in many international human rights instruments and yet it remains
far from being realised for most of the world’s poor. Women, due to ongoing gender
disparity, have suffered disproportionately from violations of the right to
adequate housing.
It has indeed
been very positive that recent years have seen even more major advancements in
the protection of women’s housing rights at national, regional and
international levels. At the international level, the landscape for women’s
housing rights has expanded, ushering in a new era of progress for women’s
rights advocates and deepening our understandings of the indivisibility of all
women’s human rights.
All aspects of
women’s housing rights touch upon the themes of a woman’s rights to
non-discrimination and equality. Indeed, the very ideas of non-discrimination
and equality are cornerstone human right principles which themselves have
enjoyed rich development. International human rights law has repeatedly set
forth the overarching right to non-discrimination, a principle which applies to
all aspects of housing, land and property. Nevertheless, there is a stark gap
between the law and the reality for women. Gender discrimination in relation to
housing security continues to characterise the daily reality of women in all
corners of the world.
In 1996, the
international community acknowledged gender equality in housing rights during
the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II). At the
Habitat II conference States pledged, inter alia, to remedy gender
discrimination related to housing; to provide “legal security of tenure and
equal access to land to all people, including women and those living in
poverty,” and to “undertak[e] legislative and administrative reforms to give
women full and equal access to economic resources, including the right to
inheritance and to ownership of land and other property,” and to eliminate
gender bias in access to housing.
Various
international legal resources exist which protect women’s housing rights. Links
are provided below.
International Resources on Women's Housing Rights
Women’s
Housing
Rights
under International Law
UN Commission on Human Rights
UN
Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2005/25 ‘Women's equal ownership, access
to and control over land and the equal rights to own property and to adequate
housing’
UN
Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2004/21 ‘Adequate housing as a component
of the right to an adequate standard of living’
UN
Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2003/23 ‘Women's equal ownership, access
to and control over land and the equal rights to own property and to adequate
housing’
UN
Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2001/34 ‘Women's equal ownership, access
to and control over land and the equal rights to own property and to adequate
housing’
UN
Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2000/13 ‘Women's equal ownership, access
to and control over land and the equal rights to own property and to adequate
housing’
UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human
Rights
UN
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Resolution
1999/15 ‘Women and the right to development’
UN
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Resolution
1998/15 ‘Women and the right to land, property and adequate housing’
UN
Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights Resolution
1997/19 ‘Women and the right to adequate housing and to land and property’
General Recommendations and Comments from UN Treaty Bodies
United Nations Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women
CEDAW
General Recommendation No.21 on Equality in Marriage Life and Family Relations
CEDAW
General Recommendation No.24 on Women and Health
United Nations Human Rights Committee
HRC
General Comment No. 28 on Equality of Rights between Men and Women
United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
CESCR
General Comment No. 16 on the Equal Right of Women and Men to the Enjoyment of
all Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Other Resources
United Nations
Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
(CEDAW)
United Nations Office of the
Special Advisor on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women
United Nations
Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing
United Nations
Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women
Bringing
Equality Home: Implementing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination Against Women
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