Statement of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, Mr. Miloon Kothari

Special Session of the General Assembly on Children
New York, 8 –10 May 2002


The increase in the number of homeless children around the world and the plight of children living in contemporary forms of distressed housing clearly illustrates that the quality of life and living standards of those living in poverty are being further eroded and falling sharply. This is reflected in the conditions and circumstances of children living in slum and squatter settlements, pavements, streets, railway platforms, in shipping containers, cellars and under staircases, in cardboard boxes, cages, rooftops and in shelters made out of plastic, tin and other dangerous and unsuitable material. The situation of those categories of children living in especially difficult circumstances requires special and urgent attention. The categories include the physically handicapped, mentally handicapped, victims of natural and manmade disasters, refugee children, street children, slum and migrant children, orphans and destitute; children suffering from AIDS, children of parents with AIDS and AIDS orphans, children of sex workers and child prostitutes, juvenile delinquents and child labourers.

This Special Session of the General Assembly on Children must acknowledge and address the deteriorating global state of housing and homelessness of children around the world and make it a priority concern requiring urgent action. Cognisant of this, the Commission on Human Rights in Geneva recently adopted resolution 2002/21, which encouraged me to “bring the issues of adequate housing to the attention of the special session of the General Assembly on children”. Appointed as Special Rapporteur on adequate housing in September 2000, my mandate is essentially to report on the status of the realization of rights relevant to adequate housing, and to promote cooperation among Governments, the United Nations bodies and the civil society in securing these rights.

The right to housing has been reaffirmed as a fundamental human right of children in a number of international human rights instruments. Beginning with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), article 25 of which states that “everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including ... housing”, the right to housing is contained in various international human rights instruments, most notably in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 11), as well as the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (art. 5) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (art. 14).

In the light of the pervasiveness of the phenomenon of homelessness and inadequate housing, which occurs in all parts of the world and affects developing as well as developed countries, it is important to emphasize the universal character of the right to housing. It applies to every child, without restriction or distinction of any kind, including on the basis of sex, religion, race, national, ethnic or social origin or property.

In my first report submitted to the Commission in 2001 (E/CN.4/2001/51), I drew attention to the integral link between children’s housing rights and living conditions, which are essential to their cognitive, physical, cultural, emotional and social development, particularly as children are disproportionately vulnerable to the negative effects of inadequate and insecure living conditions.

My second report to the Commission (E/CN.4/2002/59) placed a particular focus on the non-discriminatory access to housing, including for children, which is an essential element of State obligation. In accordance with the provisions of article 20 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, I recommended that States should ensure that “no child will be subjected to discrimination with regard to his or her right to adequate housing on the grounds of his or her parents’ race, colour, national or ethnic origin, sex, property or other status, and that special protection and assistance be provided to children living in the streets and those temporarily or permanently deprived of a family environment”.

In its essence, housing as a living impulse creates roots entailing security. The house is to be seen as a home, the one stable point in the child’s life where she/he can return to. It is a place where the child can eat, laugh, play where she/he will find love and peace. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, which achieved near-universal ratification, reaffirmed the right to housing as an essential component of the right to a standard of living adequate for the child’s overall development, along the same lines as in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international instruments. Children’s right to an adequate standard of living was already recognized by the League of Nations, as early as in 1924. Thirty years later, the Declaration on the Rights of the Child adopted by the General Assembly in 1959 proclaimed that the child “shall have the right to adequate nutrition, housing, recreation and medical services”.

I call on the Special Session to explicitly reaffirm the children’s right to housing as contained in relevant international human rights instruments, and set out firm commitments for their progressive realization. Such recognition is all the more urgent in today’s global context where millions of children of the poor and vulnerable groups in rural and urban areas around the world continue to be inadequately housed. Processes of deregulation, liberalization and privatization associated with the macroeconomic reform programmes strongly influenced by the market forces have accelerated the process of marginalization of the urban and rural poor, the brunt of which is borne by women and children.

In many countries, the quality of housing in the urban poor areas is dismal. Settlements are overcrowded, with low and poor standards of environment sanitation. Sanitation services are inadequate and most often not child-friendly, having an adverse impact on the health of children. Furthermore, land speculation and commercial developments have made poor families in informal settlements more vulnerable to forced evictions. The negative effects of insecure living conditions and forced evictions are having a damaging impact on children’s physical and emotional health.

From the perspectives of my mandate as Special Rapporteur, I will continue to work closely with UNICEF and the Committee on the Rights of the Child in addressing these issues and developing rights-based approaches, which could contribute to the efforts of the Governments and the civil society for the enjoyment of these rights for children throughout the world. In this context, it is critically important for all to put into practice the principles and provisions of the Convention and other international human rights instruments including policies that are in the best interest of the child, respect the indivisibility of human rights, ensure the utilization of the maximum available resources and that, most importantly, take into account the views of children in all matters impacting upon their lives. The unmistakably clear, intuitive and persistent voices of children struggling for their rights should be a reminder for all of us to spare no efforts in designing a world where children can enjoy a secure place to live, learn and grow into healthy and happy individuals.


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