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Human right to adequate housing and land
The UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing
has defined the human right to adequate housing
as: “The right of every woman, man, youth and child
to gain and sustain a safe and secure home and
community in which to live in peace and dignity.” 7
The realization of this right is crucial to achieving
sustainable development including environmental
security and the right to a healthy environment.
Unless all citizens of the world are able to live in
safe and secure housing that is affordable, ecological
and enables them to live in dignity, and unless
they have legally recognized rights to own, control
and manage the natural resources on which they
depend for their lives and livelihoods, the principles
of sustainable development cannot be realized. It
is therefore essential not just to realize the important
link between the rights to adequate housing
and land and environmental sustainability but also
to ensure that laws and policies protecting these
rights are drafted and implemented using the indivisibility
of rights approach.
Linkages between human rights
The rights to adequate housing and land are integrally
linked to the human rights to health, food, water,
work/livelihood, development and the environment.
Access to adequate and nutritious food, clean and
potable water, a secure livelihood and the highest
attainable standard of health are critical to promoting
sustainable development and maintaining the health
and well-being of people and the planet.
General Comment 14 (2000) of the UN Committee
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CE-
SCR) provides a holistic interpretation of the right to
health. 8 It has been recognized that housing conditions
have direct consequences for enjoyment of this
right. 9 In environmental terms the right to health implies
the absence of pollution and protection against
natural hazards.
The right to a healthy environment is an expansion
of the legal interpretation of the right to life and
is therefore binding on all States. The environment
must be understood as the broad physical environment
on which human well-being depends. The right
to a healthy environment implicitly emphasizes adequate
access to “vital needs,” which are those that
provide the necessary conditions for reaching and
maintaining a decent standard of living. 10 This right
also includes the right to chemical- and toxic-free
food, soil, air and water. The link between the environment
and development is also evident in article
24 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’
7 M. Kothari, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate
housing,” E/CN.4/2006/41, (21 March 2006).
8 General Comment 14, ‘The right to the highest attainable
standard of health,’ UN Committee on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, (2000). See, in particular, paragraph 11.
9 World Health Organization, Health Principles of Housing,
WHO, (Geneva: 1989). See also the work of WHO on the Social
Determinants of Health.
10 “One Species, One Planet: Environmental Justice and
Sustainable Development,” Center for International
Environmental Law, (Washington, DC: 2002), .
Rights, which states: “All people shall have the right
to a general satisfactory environment favourable to
their development.” Over the years, the right to development
has been established as meaning the right
to environmentally sound, sustainable development.
Under the concept of sustainable development, both
the right to development and the right to a healthy
environment must be viewed as interdependent.
Integral to human survival and the right to life
with dignity is the right to work. Violations of human
rights to housing, land and natural resources often
violate the right to work and result in loss of livelihoods
and development opportunities.
Meaningful participation in decisions that affect
one’s life is a human right as well as a means to ensure
enjoyment of other human rights including the
right to adequate housing. Denial of the right to participation
has adverse effects on the right to adequate
housing. Where participation in housing design,
plans and policies is ensured, the housing provided
is more likely to meet the criteria of adequacy 11 and
sustainability. Most violations of human rights occur
because people are not consulted in decisions that
directly affect their lives and livelihoods. Meaningful
participation mandates that the process of consultation
be ongoing. It must also guarantee the right to
adequate information. 12
Environmental and human rights principles
need to be integrated and implemented with a gender
perspective to ensure that women are equal beneficiaries
and enjoy equal protection of their rights.
While there are many social, economic and political
situations that render people insecure, homeless and
without a sustainable source of livelihood, women
are particularly vulnerable given the low socio-economic
status accorded to them in most societies.
Rising poverty resulting from unjust and unbalanced
“development” policies and projects has had a devastating
impact on women and their right to adequate
housing. Poverty and environmental degradation
particularly affect women as they face greater risks
of homelessness, landlessness, loss of livelihoods,
violence and adverse health impacts.
Human right to adequate housing:
using the lens of sustainability
When the elements of adequate housing are provided
in consonance with environmental principles,
the simultaneous realization of the human rights to
adequate housing, land, a healthy environment, and
sustainable development is warranted. This includes
ensuring access to natural resources necessary for
communities’ survival and livelihoods; the use of
‘green’ technologies and adherence to ecological
building codes; construction of disaster-resistant
11 As expounded in CESCR, “General Comment 4, ‘The right to
adequate housing’ (Art. 11.1 of the Covenant),” (1991); see
also section below on “Human right to adequate housing.”
12 See also the Convention on Access to Information, Public
Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice
in Environmental Matters (Aarhus Convention) of 1998,
which guarantees rights of access to information and
to participation in decision-making and includes strong
provisions for access to justice in environmental matters,
including the enforceability of rights conferred by the
Convention.
The right to a future
39
housing; location of housing on environmentally safe
sites in proximity to places of work, education and
healthcare; use of culturally appropriate and indigenous
materials and designs for housing; provision
of tenure security and protection against violence
and eviction; and guaranteeing the prior informed
consent of affected populations.
It is also important to link the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) with the ongoing effort to
realise sustainable development and human rights.
For instance, target 11 of MDG 7 calls for a significant
improvement in the lives of 100 million slum
dwellers by 2020. A global initiative has sought to
achieve this by creating “slum-free cities.” However
the ironic result has been an increase in the number
of slum dwellers evicted in cities across the world.
Efforts to improve the living conditions of some must
not encroach on human rights of others, such as
through forced evictions or the rampant phenomenon
of land-grabbing.
Guaranteeing access to drinking water is another
key focus of the MDGs and cannot be isolated from
other goals. A human rights approach must inform
the normative discussion and also guide the MDG
process in order to prevent the collateral erosion of
other human rights. Such a strategy, coupled with
existing international human rights and environmental
treaties, declarations and guidelines, provides a
framework by which the rights to adequate housing
and land – as key components of sustainable development
– can be realized.
Obstacles to the realization of the human
rights to adequate housing and land
Given the mutual inextricability of all human rights,
the current failure to secure the rights to adequate
housing and land has resulted in a cycle of deprivation
that has impeded the enjoyment of several
related human rights, including the rights to food,
water and health, which are fundamentally linked. A
number of structural and related global phenomena
continue to serve as obstacles to the full realization
of the rights to adequate housing and land in the
context of sustainable development. It is difficult
to conceive of implementation of these rights for
the majority of the world’s people without tackling
these issues.
Economic globalization
While rapid global economic integration continues
to create new and unprecedented sources of
wealth, offering the promise of reducing poverty
and alleviating want, the fact remains that deepening
inequalities of income and opportunity between and
within nations have led to an increase in the number
of people living in inadequate and insecure conditions
without access to potable water and sanitation.
Policies of economic globalization tend to impair
the ability of States to provide adequate resources,
services and other provisions critical to the fulfilment
of economic, social and cultural rights. There
is thus a crucial need to ensure the consistency of
trade and investment agreements with human rights
obligations, keeping in mind the primacy of States’
responsibilities to protect and promote human rights