TWO UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES TO MEET TO DISCUSS JOINT APPROACHES TO THE REALIZATION OF THE RIGHT TO HOUSING

HR/99/19
8 March 1999





The United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) will bring together experts to Geneva from 9 to 11 March 1999 to discuss how the two agencies can work together and collaborate on a joint programme to assist Member States to implement their commitments towards the realization of the right to adequate housing.

Currently, an estimated one billion people around the world are inadequately housed; of these, more than 100 million are absolutely homeless. The need for adequate housing is described in various international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1979) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989).

The Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), reaffirmed the existence and legal status of the human right to housing. The Habitat Agenda -- adopted by the Conference in Istanbul, Turkey in June 1996 -- places strong emphasis on the full and progressive realization of the right to adequate housing.

As a follow-up to the Conference, the Commission on Human Settlements, at its sixteenth session in 1997, recommended that a joint programme be developed between Habitat and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights "in order to assist States with the implementation of their commitments to ensure the full and progressive realization of the right to adequate housing, as provided for in international instruments and in accordance with paragraphs 26 and 39 of the Habitat Agenda..."

Habitat has prepared a report on the practical aspects of the realization of the human right to housing with a view to formulating a joint approach with OHCHR. This report will be finalized with the guidance of the Expert Group Meeting being held in Geneva this month.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Lars Ludvigsen
UNCHS (Habitat)
Palais des Nations
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 907 4683/4
Fax: + 41 22 907 0033
E-mail: lludvigsen@unog.ch; or

Mr. Carlos Villan Duran
OHCHR
Palais des Nations
1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 907 9300
Fax: +41 22 907 9010
E-mail: cvillan-duran.hchr@unog.ch