AFTERNOON
HR/ESC/99/9
29 April 1999



One Billion People Inadequately Housed, Habitat Says


A representative of the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements (Habitat) told the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights this afternoon that an estimated 1 billion people in the world were inadequately housed and 100 million of them were actually homeless.

His remarks came as the Committee held a debate on the follow-up to an Expert Group Meeting on Practical Aspects of the Human Rights to Adequate Housing held last month in Geneva. Lars Ludvigsen, representative of Habitat’s Geneva Office, said that in many cities in developing countries, up to half the population lived in squatter settlements.

The Committee also heard a brief report on the meeting of the Expert Group from one of its members, Eibe Riedel, who said the gathering had recognized a range of serious obstacles to attaining adequate housing for all.

Also this afternoon, the Committee continued its debate on a proposal to establish indicators on the right to education.

When the Committee reconvenes at 10 a.m. on Friday, 30 April, it will discuss the situation in the Solomon Islands. In the absence of a report from that country, it will base its review on available information.

Discussion

LARS LUDVIGSEN, of the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements (Habitat), speaking on a human-rights approach to housing, said an estimated 1 billion people around the world were inadequately housed and of those, an estimated 100 million were actually homeless. In addition, he said, in many cities of the developing world, up to half the population lived in informal or “squatter” settlements which were neither legally recognized nor serviced by city authorities.

These informal parts of cities did not enjoy many of the benefits of urban life, including access to basic services and secure tenure, Mr. Ludvigsen said. Residents lived in constant fear of forced evictions, and most did not have access to formal finance and loan schemes which could enable them to improve their housing situation and conditions.

Turning to the Habitat II world conference and follow-up activities, Mr. Ludvigsen said that the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements held in Istanbul, Turkey, in June 1996, had reaffirmed the existence and legal status of the human right to adequate housing and had clarified governmental responsibilities and actions necessary for the full and progressive realization of that right. The Habitat Agenda, he said, placed strong emphasis not only on the topic of the human right to adequate housing, but also considered human rights in general as an indivisible and fundamental component of the economic and social development process, placing human beings at the centre of development policies and strategies.

Mr. Ludvigsen told the Committee that Habitat's new work programme and also the scope and content of its global campaigns would be discussed during a forthcoming session of the Habitat Commission in Nairobi. During the session on Friday, 7 May, a round-table on housing rights and secure tenure would be organized by Habitat in collaboration with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and organizations of civil society active in the field of housing rights, he added.

Committee expert Eibe Riedel, who along with Committee expert Abdessatar Grissa participated in the Expert Group Meeting on Practical Aspects of the Human Rights to Adequate Housing held from 9 to 11 March at the Palais des Nations at Geneva, briefed the members on the outcome of the session. He said that in its conclusion and recommendations, the panel recognized a range of serious obstacles hindering progress with respect to the enjoyment of the right to adequate housing. Among those mentioned were the lack of attention paid to the right to adequate housing by both the human-settlement and human-rights communities; and insufficient attention paid to the social function of housing and to the rights of women.

Mr. Riedel reported that the meeting had formulated four primary practical aspects related to the realization of the right to adequate housing: promoting the right to equal and affordable access to housing resources; provision of the right of security of tenure and prevention of and adequate responses to forced evictions; combatting homelessness and protecting the rights of homeless persons; and promoting the right of access of legal and other remedies.

During the discussion, an expert underlined the right of the elderly to all aspects of right to adequate housing. The expert said that for instance in Spain an elderly person often could not leave his or her house because of the lack of an elevator. In addition, many elderly persons in developing countries lived in “unliveable” houses.

Also this afternoon, the Committee continued its discussion on a proposal for a workshop to develop indicators on the right to education. A number of experts said that indicators should be fixed in terms of literacy rate and the budget allocation for education, for instance. They said that such indicators would be based on policy choices and value judgements of the State. They had no legal value. With regard to establishing a benchmark, the experts said that it should reflect a target value and standards on internal and international levels. During the periodic monitoring process, the examination of the situation should focus on the achievements obtained after indicators and benchmarks were fixed in advance.