Other Housing Rights Instruments

Information on Housing Rights

1. UN-Habitat (2009) The Right to Adequate Housing, UN Factsheet 21/Rev 1 This Fact Sheet starts by explaining what the right to adequate housing is, illustrates what it means for specific individuals and groups, and then elaborates upon States’ related obligations. It concludes with an overview of national, regional and international accountability and monitoring mechanisms.
2. UN Habitat UNHRP Report Series, No. 1 on Housing rights legislation, a Review of international and national legal instruments
3. International Instruments on Housing Rights This compilation contains excerpts of relevant international instruments on housing rights.
4. UNHRP Working Paper No. 1: Monitoring housing rights: Developing a set of indicators to monitor the full and progressive realisation of the human right to adequate housing
5. Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, Sources No. 4, on Legal Resources for Housing Rights, bothe International and National Standards.

The Limburg Principles further clarified the meaning of some of the terms in the Covenant and emphasised that States Parties shall provide for effective remedies, including, where appropriate, judicial remedies.

The Maastricht Guidelines on Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rightsprovided definitions of violations of socio-economic rights, such as the failure to ensure the minimum core obligations of housing rights.

Other UN Housing Rights Instruments

The Convention on the Rights of the Child at Art 27(1) points out that States Parties recognise the right of every child to a standard of living adequate for the child’s physical, mental, spiritual, moral, and social development. Drafted by children's rights advocate Eglantyne Jebb, it was adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989 and entered into force 2 September 1990. It was signed by Ireland on 30 September 1990 and ratified by Ireland on 28 September 1992.

The growth of asylum-seekers and refugees worldwide is having a majorimpact on housing and homelessness issues. European and other States have accepted obligations under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol to take a share of the world’s refugees, who are fleeing from persecution and violence. This Convention, known as the Geneva Convention, has been signed and ratified by all European States.

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers was adopted by UN General Assembly resolution 45/158 of 18 December 1990, and entered into force in July 2003.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and its Optional Protocol was adopted on 13 December 2006, and entered into force on 3 May 2008.

Many international instruments setting out rights to housing have been ratified by States around the world. These include:

• The Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements (1976) adopted by the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements in 1976;
• The UN Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000 adopted by the UN General Assembly in resolution 43/181 on 20 December 1988;
• The UN World Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) of Rio de Janeiro in 1992, which adopted Agenda 21;
• ILO Recommendation No. 115 on Worker’s Housing 1961.

Other relevent documents and links are:

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights As the principal United Nations office mandated to promote and protect human rights for all, OHCHR leads global human rights efforts speaks out objectively in the face of human rights violations worldwide. They provide a forum for identifying, highlighting and developing responses to today's human rights challenges, and act as the principal focal point of human rights research, education, public information, and advocacy activities in the United Nations system.

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-HABITAT, is the United Nations agency for human settlements. It is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing adequate shelter for all.

The United Nations Housing Rights Programme (UNHRP) was launched in April 2002, as a joint initiative by UN-HABITAT and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The substantive focus of the programme is grounded in the Habitat Agenda which states that "Within the overall context of an enabling approach, Governments should take appropriate action in order to promote, protect and ensure the full and progressive realization of the right to adequate housing" (paragraph 61).