Mr. Miloon Kothari, former Special Rapporteur (2000-2008)

An architect by training, Mr. Miloon Kothari has extensive experience in the area of housing and land rights and has been actively working, through his various functions, to promote the realization of the whole range of economic, social and cultural rights.

Graduated from the Pratt Institute and Columbia University (New York) and the Maharaja Sayajirao University (Baroda, India), Mr. Kothari has been a Guest Professor to numerous Universities and Institutions.

Mr. Kothari is regularly invited to address audiences on various topics. He was for instance guest speaker to the Nobel Symposium on Human Rights and Development, Oslo, Norway or the Harold Wolpe Memorial Lecture, University of Natal, Durban, South Africa. He has also initiated and/or participated in numerous standard-setting exercises including the principles and guidelines on development based evictions, the Masstricht Guidelines and General Comments from United Nations treaty bodies

He has published over 50 publications on areas such as housing and land rights, women and housing, land, property and inheritance, forced evictions, globalisation and impact on human rights and environment, health and human rights, rural housing and natural resources, indicators and housing and land rights, civil society and human rights, trade, investment and human rights, urbanisation and housing rights and civil society and housing and land rights and housing. In addition, Mr. Kothari has played a major role in writing, compiling and editing institutional publications, such as training manuals and policy papers, and has written for a leading international human rights journal.

Since 1987, Mr. Kothari has attended over 40 national and international Conferences, workshops, and meetings on various aspects regarding housing rights and more generally human rights.

Mr. Kothari is a contact person for a large number of local, national and international non-governmental organizations and UN agencies.

In 2000, Mr. Kothari was appointed the first 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 this context. His mandate ended in 2008.

Last updated May 2008