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Statement of Mr. Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing to the fifty-eighth session of the Commission on Human Rights Geneva, 9 April 2002
09 April 2002
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Mr. Chairman,
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen:
In my first report to the Commission last year (E/CN.4/2001/51), I called for a broad interpretation of the right to adequate housing as contained in international legal instruments, keeping in view the indivisibility and interrelatedness of all human rights. Based on this perspective, I set out a framework for my mandate to examine a range of issues related to adequate housing, including gender discrimination, land, access to potable water, poverty, forced eviction, impact of national and global economic policies and international cooperation.
I am reporting to the Commission this year on various activities undertaken pursuant to resolution 2001/28 and other mandates given by the Commission. First of all, I made considerable efforts to contribute to a number of global conference reviews and new initiatives during 2001 to draw the attention of the international community to the issue of adequate housing. I contributed actively to the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-III), the special session of the General Assembly for an overall review and appraisal of the Habitat Agenda (Istanbul +5), the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), and the preparatory process for the International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD).
From the analysis of the outcomes of these conferences, and keeping in mind the situation of the poor and the vulnerable in regard to their increasingly inadequate and insecure housing and living conditions around the world, there is a need to move beyond reaffirmation of principles and commitments, and towards adopting more concrete steps for the progressive realization and operationalization of housing rights. In my report I outline the nature of governmental obligations, both in terms of progressive realization and those obligations of immediate effect, such as non-discriminatory access to housing including essential civic services. In this respect, a particularly important development is the recent initiative of OHCHR and UN-Habitat to establish a joint UN Housing Rights Programme as requested by the Commission last year. This should augur well for further operationalization of housing rights, and I encourage Governments and the civil society to support this initiative.
My report this year (E/CN.4/2002/59) has two thematic focuses: one is on discrimination and segregation in the context of follow-up to Durban and the other is the impact of national and international economic policies. The realization of housing rights in an environment free from racial discrimination will have a direct bearing on other congruent human rights. In my report I present a framework for my work and guidelines that may assist States in solving manifold problems of discrimination in housing in many parts of the world.
With regard to today’s context of globalization and the free market economy, there is a trend towards greater competition and market efficiency, which often results in increased marginalization of the poor. The report examines in particular, the effects of privatization of water services in cases where it has negatively affected the poor. The report concludes that unfettered globalization cannot bring about the fulfilment of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to adequate housing. Governments have an important role to play in reconciling macroeconomic policies with social objectives and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable first, keeping in mind the primacy of human rights obligations. For next year’s report, I propose to focus on two related issues: women’s right to housing and land, property and inheritance; and forced evictions and other forms of displacement.
The approach I am developing for the mandate has been enthusiastically accepted by Governments, relevant UN treaty bodies, numerous UN agencies, human rights institutions and the civil society. I have extensively applied these thematic focuses and analytical framework in my country missions – first to Romania in January and secondly to Mexico in March this year. While the reports of these missions will be submitted to the Commission next year, I should like to share some preliminary observations and recommendations here. In both of these missions, I focused my attention on the need to protect the rights of the poor and the vulnerable, to access adequate housing and related services. In general, there is a need for much more rigorous human rights education, particularly to create awareness on economic, social and cultural rights such as housing. Positively, both Governments have adopted national strategies for housing, but such policies and measures should be linked to the human rights framework. The Governments also need to reconcile their macroeconomic objectives with the human rights obligations to which they committed under international instruments. The human rights principles and rights-based approach to housing should help the Governments, UN and the civil society, in addressing the needs of the poor and the vulnerable, including by adoption of legal framework and allocation of adequate resources.
Romania, which is a country undergoing transition to a market-oriented economy, has been focusing its attention to create a functioning market for the housing sector. Almost all of the residential units have been privatized but many of them are in poor conditions and residents have been grappling with the high cost of utilities, especially heating. Romania is also in need of disaster preparedness and emergency provisions for earthquakes and floods. With the rising level of poverty since 1990, the situation is precarious for increasing number of citizens and vulnerable groups especially Roma. In a very positive step, the Government has adopted a national strategy for Roma, after establishing elaborate structures to ensure wide consultation involving Roma groups in the process. Roma councilors have been appointed at different level of Government, and now the Government is in the process of further elaborating strategies at the sectoral level, including housing. It is essential that the Government adopt a human rights framework in further elaborating the strategies and allocate adequate resources for their implementation. Unless more protection and adequate social housing – including affordable access to civic services such as heating – are provided, there will be many people facing evictions and inadequate housing conditions, not only for Roma but for the population in general.
Keeping in mind the obligation to non-discrimination, from my visits to communities in Bucharest, it is apparent that the poor have become more marginalized into less desirable areas of the city, with inadequate civic services both in terms of quality and availability. Effects of these are particularly severe for women and children. In one Roma community, many children are obliged to abandon school and facing high health risk, because of poor living conditions and lack of clothing and identity documents. The testimonies received validate the indivisibility of human rights – and the centrality of the right to housing has for the overall living conditions. I very much welcome the openness of the Government in sharing with me the challenges they face and efforts to seek solutions.
In Mexico, I was able to visit not only Mexico City but also Chiapas (including remote villages of indigenous people) and Baja California (Mexicali and Tijuana), where I met with Federal and State authorities for housing, parliamentarians, judges, human rights commissions and numerous civil society groups. Again, my main focus was on how the most vulnerable population is coping with the housing crisis in Mexico. I examined the situation of the poor in general but also specific communities and groups such as indigenous people, women and children. Also I was interested in how forces of globalization and regional trade and economic investment such as NAFTA have impacted on housing.
My first finding is that the Government of Mexico is very committed to international human rights instruments, including the right to adequate housing. It is particularly important that such commitments and progressive stance Mexico has taken internationally, are translated into policies at the national level. It is welcome that the present Government has placed housing as a national priority, and appointed a national commissioner on housing in 2001 whose task is to coordinate efforts at the national and local levels. Institutes of housing have been set up throughout the country to contribute to the realization of the right to housing. The National Commissioner has set up a National Council on Housing to discuss policies and strategies, which includes members of different ministries, NGOs and the private sector. Also, under the leadership of the Foreign Ministry, an inter-ministerial task force has been set up, with strong representation of the civil society, to debate different elements of human rights and also to follow up on concluding observations adopted by the treaty bodies on Mexico.
Mexico faces a severe housing crisis. The country is in need of 750,000 new housing units per year and 3.5 million houses need to be upgraded, in order to cope with population growth and ageing housing stock. Mexico have had several Government-administered housing mortgage schemes, but these have been mostly targeted at middle-income and employees of the formal sector, typically in urban areas, thereby practically excluding the poor who are employed in the informal economy or living in rural areas. Due to this situation and the situation of poverty in general, people and groups particularly affected such as indigenous people are forced to invade land. In this context, I found particularly positive that the Government, in attempting to tackle poverty in general, also followed the policy to regularize land invasions and to provide civic services to respond to the needs of the poor.
Still, it is clear that Mexico needs to devote much more attention to the needs of the poor in its national housing strategy. The National Commissioner on Housing is aware of this problem and he is trying to consolidate and restructure several national programmes on housing so that they also address these gaps. It is clear that the current Government approach through housing finance (provisions of State-backed mortgages and subsidies) is not enough. More coordinated approach – taking into account indivisibility of human rights – that aims to improve the law, policies and services with particular focus on the vulnerable groups would be necessary for solving the current housing crisis in Mexico. Housing rights framework can offer valuable insight towards this end, and I recommend the National Commissioner to embrace this approach.
Another issue of concern is the need for more protection from forced eviction – of which I received many testimonies. Throughout the country, communities are facing displacement and most poor families receive no legal protection or have no capacities to pursue legal recourse. Some of these evictions are taking place because of bank repossession of properties – people were not able to pay the mortgage because of inordinate rise in interest payment after the 1995 financial crisis. There is also a need for much more focus on legal framework for protection of tenants. Effects of forced eviction and insecure living conditions are particularly grave for women and children, which are evident from the testimonies I received.
I found these missions extremely effective and constructive ways to assess the situations on the ground and engaging in meaningful dialogues with the Governments and the civil society. Most gratifying were the openness of both Governments to cooperate with the Special Procedures in seeking solutions to the housing crisis in their countries, and their acceptance of the right to adequate housing as a departure point for formulation of policies, programmes and legislation. Soon after the mission, we have received a request from the Government of Romania for technical assistance to improve the housing conditions, which I will take into account in developing recommendations in my report. I am also engaged in continuing dialogues with the Government, human rights institutions and the civil society in Mexico to follow up on the mission. I strongly recommend OHCHR and UN-Habitat to follow up on such requests from human rights perspectives, for possible assistance under the UN Housing Rights Programme.
I would also like to take this opportunity to report to the Commission on its request made to me at the Special Session in October 2000, along with a number of Special Rapporteurs to visit the occupied Palestinian territories. I requested permission from Israeli authorities in December 2000, which was turned down. Following the joint Special Rapporteurs’ meeting in June 2001, relevant Rapporteurs including myself issued requests to Israeli authorities once again. To date, I have not received a reply to this second request. Conscious of the deteriorating situation on the ground, I availed of the opportunity presented by an academic invitation to also comply with the Commission request. I informed the Israeli Government of this intention prior to commencing the visit in January this year. I have submitted my report, which is before the Bureau of this Commission. Several Governments have referred to this report in their statements under item 8. I have followed the same procedure to visit the occupied territories, as has been the practice with other Special Rapporteurs on the occupied Palestinian territories who also have not received official Israeli permission. As also stated by these Rapporteurs, I regret that the Israeli authorities have decided not to cooperate. I would have welcomed the opportunity to meet with relevant Israeli government authorities. I am therefore perplexed that the Commission has chosen, to date, not to take any decision on the status of my report under item 8, given the rapidly declining human rights situation as stressed by the High Commissioner in her statement on 2 April 2002. I strongly feel that the Commission should have before it all available information. I hope for all these reasons that the Commission will accept the report and allow me to present the findings.
During the reporting period, I have also been engaged in dialogues with Governments and the civil society through responses to my general questionnaires and information received on many cases addressing specific situations. There is a need to improve such a mechanism for monitoring the situation of housing rights and collecting best practices.
I have also continued to work closely with the treaty bodies, particularly the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Both committees adopted statements to Istanbul +5 in support of the right to adequate housing and endorsing the approach I have adopted for my mandate. This year, I hope to initiate dialogues with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. I would also like to thank a number of UN agencies, particularly UN-Habitat and UNICEF, and civil society groups, that have supported my mandate and activities.
Based on my activities outlined above and further elaborated in my report, I present following recommendations for the consideration of, and guidance from the Commission:
(a) First, I should like to continue contributing to the global conferences – particularly for the forthcoming GA special session on Children and the World Summit on Sustainable Development – given their importance of these issues to my mandate;
(b) Secondly, the Commission may wish to request the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to adopt a general recommendation on housing and discrimination;
(c) Thirdly, responding to the urgent need to further understand and to formulate policy recommendations on the thematic issues highlighted in my report particularly on non-discriminatory access to housing, I propose to undertake further research and an expert seminar could be organized on this issue;
(d) Fourth, given the important link with the issue of women’s equal rights to own property, land and housing and to inherit (resolution 2001/34), I wish to contribute to this process, including by giving my next report to the Commission a thematic focus on this subject;
(e) Fifth, considering the need for more substantive dialogues with Governments and civil society at the regional and subregional levels, regional dialogues could be organized in cooperation with regional commissions and NGOs;
(f) Sixth, the Commission may wish to welcome the establishment of the joint UN–Habitat/OHCHR housing rights programme and give further encouragement to its implementation, including by inviting States which are in the position to do so to provide financial support; and
(g) Lastly, given the consistent interest that the General Assembly has shown in the subject of housing rights, the Commission may make it possible for me to report annually both to the Commission and to the General Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Distinguished delegates,
Ladies and gentlemen:
In my first report to the Commission last year (E/CN.4/2001/51), I called for a broad interpretation of the right to adequate housing as contained in international legal instruments, keeping in view the indivisibility and interrelatedness of all human rights. Based on this perspective, I set out a framework for my mandate to examine a range of issues related to adequate housing, including gender discrimination, land, access to potable water, poverty, forced eviction, impact of national and global economic policies and international cooperation.
I am reporting to the Commission this year on various activities undertaken pursuant to resolution 2001/28 and other mandates given by the Commission. First of all, I made considerable efforts to contribute to a number of global conference reviews and new initiatives during 2001 to draw the attention of the international community to the issue of adequate housing. I contributed actively to the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries (LDC-III), the special session of the General Assembly for an overall review and appraisal of the Habitat Agenda (Istanbul +5), the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), and the preparatory process for the International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD).
From the analysis of the outcomes of these conferences, and keeping in mind the situation of the poor and the vulnerable in regard to their increasingly inadequate and insecure housing and living conditions around the world, there is a need to move beyond reaffirmation of principles and commitments, and towards adopting more concrete steps for the progressive realization and operationalization of housing rights. In my report I outline the nature of governmental obligations, both in terms of progressive realization and those obligations of immediate effect, such as non-discriminatory access to housing including essential civic services. In this respect, a particularly important development is the recent initiative of OHCHR and UN-Habitat to establish a joint UN Housing Rights Programme as requested by the Commission last year. This should augur well for further operationalization of housing rights, and I encourage Governments and the civil society to support this initiative.
My report this year (E/CN.4/2002/59) has two thematic focuses: one is on discrimination and segregation in the context of follow-up to Durban and the other is the impact of national and international economic policies. The realization of housing rights in an environment free from racial discrimination will have a direct bearing on other congruent human rights. In my report I present a framework for my work and guidelines that may assist States in solving manifold problems of discrimination in housing in many parts of the world.
With regard to today’s context of globalization and the free market economy, there is a trend towards greater competition and market efficiency, which often results in increased marginalization of the poor. The report examines in particular, the effects of privatization of water services in cases where it has negatively affected the poor. The report concludes that unfettered globalization cannot bring about the fulfilment of economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to adequate housing. Governments have an important role to play in reconciling macroeconomic policies with social objectives and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable first, keeping in mind the primacy of human rights obligations. For next year’s report, I propose to focus on two related issues: women’s right to housing and land, property and inheritance; and forced evictions and other forms of displacement.
The approach I am developing for the mandate has been enthusiastically accepted by Governments, relevant UN treaty bodies, numerous UN agencies, human rights institutions and the civil society. I have extensively applied these thematic focuses and analytical framework in my country missions – first to Romania in January and secondly to Mexico in March this year. While the reports of these missions will be submitted to the Commission next year, I should like to share some preliminary observations and recommendations here. In both of these missions, I focused my attention on the need to protect the rights of the poor and the vulnerable, to access adequate housing and related services. In general, there is a need for much more rigorous human rights education, particularly to create awareness on economic, social and cultural rights such as housing. Positively, both Governments have adopted national strategies for housing, but such policies and measures should be linked to the human rights framework. The Governments also need to reconcile their macroeconomic objectives with the human rights obligations to which they committed under international instruments. The human rights principles and rights-based approach to housing should help the Governments, UN and the civil society, in addressing the needs of the poor and the vulnerable, including by adoption of legal framework and allocation of adequate resources.
Romania, which is a country undergoing transition to a market-oriented economy, has been focusing its attention to create a functioning market for the housing sector. Almost all of the residential units have been privatized but many of them are in poor conditions and residents have been grappling with the high cost of utilities, especially heating. Romania is also in need of disaster preparedness and emergency provisions for earthquakes and floods. With the rising level of poverty since 1990, the situation is precarious for increasing number of citizens and vulnerable groups especially Roma. In a very positive step, the Government has adopted a national strategy for Roma, after establishing elaborate structures to ensure wide consultation involving Roma groups in the process. Roma councilors have been appointed at different level of Government, and now the Government is in the process of further elaborating strategies at the sectoral level, including housing. It is essential that the Government adopt a human rights framework in further elaborating the strategies and allocate adequate resources for their implementation. Unless more protection and adequate social housing – including affordable access to civic services such as heating – are provided, there will be many people facing evictions and inadequate housing conditions, not only for Roma but for the population in general.
Keeping in mind the obligation to non-discrimination, from my visits to communities in Bucharest, it is apparent that the poor have become more marginalized into less desirable areas of the city, with inadequate civic services both in terms of quality and availability. Effects of these are particularly severe for women and children. In one Roma community, many children are obliged to abandon school and facing high health risk, because of poor living conditions and lack of clothing and identity documents. The testimonies received validate the indivisibility of human rights – and the centrality of the right to housing has for the overall living conditions. I very much welcome the openness of the Government in sharing with me the challenges they face and efforts to seek solutions.
In Mexico, I was able to visit not only Mexico City but also Chiapas (including remote villages of indigenous people) and Baja California (Mexicali and Tijuana), where I met with Federal and State authorities for housing, parliamentarians, judges, human rights commissions and numerous civil society groups. Again, my main focus was on how the most vulnerable population is coping with the housing crisis in Mexico. I examined the situation of the poor in general but also specific communities and groups such as indigenous people, women and children. Also I was interested in how forces of globalization and regional trade and economic investment such as NAFTA have impacted on housing.
My first finding is that the Government of Mexico is very committed to international human rights instruments, including the right to adequate housing. It is particularly important that such commitments and progressive stance Mexico has taken internationally, are translated into policies at the national level. It is welcome that the present Government has placed housing as a national priority, and appointed a national commissioner on housing in 2001 whose task is to coordinate efforts at the national and local levels. Institutes of housing have been set up throughout the country to contribute to the realization of the right to housing. The National Commissioner has set up a National Council on Housing to discuss policies and strategies, which includes members of different ministries, NGOs and the private sector. Also, under the leadership of the Foreign Ministry, an inter-ministerial task force has been set up, with strong representation of the civil society, to debate different elements of human rights and also to follow up on concluding observations adopted by the treaty bodies on Mexico.
Mexico faces a severe housing crisis. The country is in need of 750,000 new housing units per year and 3.5 million houses need to be upgraded, in order to cope with population growth and ageing housing stock. Mexico have had several Government-administered housing mortgage schemes, but these have been mostly targeted at middle-income and employees of the formal sector, typically in urban areas, thereby practically excluding the poor who are employed in the informal economy or living in rural areas. Due to this situation and the situation of poverty in general, people and groups particularly affected such as indigenous people are forced to invade land. In this context, I found particularly positive that the Government, in attempting to tackle poverty in general, also followed the policy to regularize land invasions and to provide civic services to respond to the needs of the poor.
Still, it is clear that Mexico needs to devote much more attention to the needs of the poor in its national housing strategy. The National Commissioner on Housing is aware of this problem and he is trying to consolidate and restructure several national programmes on housing so that they also address these gaps. It is clear that the current Government approach through housing finance (provisions of State-backed mortgages and subsidies) is not enough. More coordinated approach – taking into account indivisibility of human rights – that aims to improve the law, policies and services with particular focus on the vulnerable groups would be necessary for solving the current housing crisis in Mexico. Housing rights framework can offer valuable insight towards this end, and I recommend the National Commissioner to embrace this approach.
Another issue of concern is the need for more protection from forced eviction – of which I received many testimonies. Throughout the country, communities are facing displacement and most poor families receive no legal protection or have no capacities to pursue legal recourse. Some of these evictions are taking place because of bank repossession of properties – people were not able to pay the mortgage because of inordinate rise in interest payment after the 1995 financial crisis. There is also a need for much more focus on legal framework for protection of tenants. Effects of forced eviction and insecure living conditions are particularly grave for women and children, which are evident from the testimonies I received.
I found these missions extremely effective and constructive ways to assess the situations on the ground and engaging in meaningful dialogues with the Governments and the civil society. Most gratifying were the openness of both Governments to cooperate with the Special Procedures in seeking solutions to the housing crisis in their countries, and their acceptance of the right to adequate housing as a departure point for formulation of policies, programmes and legislation. Soon after the mission, we have received a request from the Government of Romania for technical assistance to improve the housing conditions, which I will take into account in developing recommendations in my report. I am also engaged in continuing dialogues with the Government, human rights institutions and the civil society in Mexico to follow up on the mission. I strongly recommend OHCHR and UN-Habitat to follow up on such requests from human rights perspectives, for possible assistance under the UN Housing Rights Programme.
I would also like to take this opportunity to report to the Commission on its request made to me at the Special Session in October 2000, along with a number of Special Rapporteurs to visit the occupied Palestinian territories. I requested permission from Israeli authorities in December 2000, which was turned down. Following the joint Special Rapporteurs’ meeting in June 2001, relevant Rapporteurs including myself issued requests to Israeli authorities once again. To date, I have not received a reply to this second request. Conscious of the deteriorating situation on the ground, I availed of the opportunity presented by an academic invitation to also comply with the Commission request. I informed the Israeli Government of this intention prior to commencing the visit in January this year. I have submitted my report, which is before the Bureau of this Commission. Several Governments have referred to this report in their statements under item 8. I have followed the same procedure to visit the occupied territories, as has been the practice with other Special Rapporteurs on the occupied Palestinian territories who also have not received official Israeli permission. As also stated by these Rapporteurs, I regret that the Israeli authorities have decided not to cooperate. I would have welcomed the opportunity to meet with relevant Israeli government authorities. I am therefore perplexed that the Commission has chosen, to date, not to take any decision on the status of my report under item 8, given the rapidly declining human rights situation as stressed by the High Commissioner in her statement on 2 April 2002. I strongly feel that the Commission should have before it all available information. I hope for all these reasons that the Commission will accept the report and allow me to present the findings.
During the reporting period, I have also been engaged in dialogues with Governments and the civil society through responses to my general questionnaires and information received on many cases addressing specific situations. There is a need to improve such a mechanism for monitoring the situation of housing rights and collecting best practices.
I have also continued to work closely with the treaty bodies, particularly the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Committee on the Rights of the Child. Both committees adopted statements to Istanbul +5 in support of the right to adequate housing and endorsing the approach I have adopted for my mandate. This year, I hope to initiate dialogues with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. I would also like to thank a number of UN agencies, particularly UN-Habitat and UNICEF, and civil society groups, that have supported my mandate and activities.
Based on my activities outlined above and further elaborated in my report, I present following recommendations for the consideration of, and guidance from the Commission:
(a) First, I should like to continue contributing to the global conferences – particularly for the forthcoming GA special session on Children and the World Summit on Sustainable Development – given their importance of these issues to my mandate;
(b) Secondly, the Commission may wish to request the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to adopt a general recommendation on housing and discrimination;
(c) Thirdly, responding to the urgent need to further understand and to formulate policy recommendations on the thematic issues highlighted in my report particularly on non-discriminatory access to housing, I propose to undertake further research and an expert seminar could be organized on this issue;
(d) Fourth, given the important link with the issue of women’s equal rights to own property, land and housing and to inherit (resolution 2001/34), I wish to contribute to this process, including by giving my next report to the Commission a thematic focus on this subject;
(e) Fifth, considering the need for more substantive dialogues with Governments and civil society at the regional and subregional levels, regional dialogues could be organized in cooperation with regional commissions and NGOs;
(f) Sixth, the Commission may wish to welcome the establishment of the joint UN–Habitat/OHCHR housing rights programme and give further encouragement to its implementation, including by inviting States which are in the position to do so to provide financial support; and
(g) Lastly, given the consistent interest that the General Assembly has shown in the subject of housing rights, the Commission may make it possible for me to report annually both to the Commission and to the General Assembly.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.