Report - Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights

In 2003, <strong>the</strong> SRAH submitted his first report on women and adequate housing (E/CN.4/2003/55). The
report found that <strong>the</strong>re was a significant gap between <strong>the</strong> legal recognition <strong>of</strong> women’s right to adequate
housing and <strong>the</strong> actual fulfilment <strong>of</strong> those rights. Some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> reasons identified for this gap included:
Gender-neutral laws, which failed to recognize <strong>the</strong> special circumstances <strong>of</strong> women;
Predominance <strong>of</strong> discriminatory customs and traditions;
Bias in <strong>the</strong> judiciary and public administration;
Lack <strong>of</strong> access to affordable legal remedies, credit, and information on laws and rights among
women;
Male-dependent legal security <strong>of</strong> tenure systems; and
Impacts <strong>of</strong> globalisation.
The report also identified <strong>the</strong> needs <strong>of</strong> specific vulnerable groups <strong>of</strong> women in obtaining adequate
housing. Such vulnerable groups included: women-headed households, widows, women from
indigenous, minority or descent-based communities, women living under occupation, women who have
been forcibly evicted, women who have faced domestic violence, women who have faced ethnic and/
or armed conflict, girl children, elderly women, women living in extreme poverty, women with
disabilities, and women with HIV/AIDS.
The Commission on Human Rights in resolution 2003/22 ‘Women’s equal ownership <strong>of</strong>, access to
and control over land and <strong>the</strong> equal rights to own property and to adequate housing’, affirmed that
discrimination against women in land, property and housing was a violation <strong>of</strong> human rights and
encouraged governments to support <strong>the</strong> transformation <strong>of</strong> customs and traditions. The Commission
also encouraged more human rights education concerning women’s rights to land, property and
housing, and requested <strong>the</strong> Special Rapporteur to submit a second report in 2005.
In preparation for his report, <strong>the</strong> SRAH developed a questionnaire (see Annex E), which he has
disseminated to States, international organisations and civil society groups for response. The
questionnaire seeks information on <strong>the</strong> status <strong>of</strong> women’s rights to adequate housing, particularly for
vulnerable groups <strong>of</strong> women (e.g. disabled women, racial/ ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, refugee
women etc.).
The questionnaire was developed as both a training tool for <strong>the</strong> human right to adequate housing,
as well as a tool for collecting relevant information. The questionnaire is divided into sections. The
first section examines <strong>the</strong> legal and policy framework (i.e. general questions on <strong>the</strong> status <strong>of</strong> laws and
policies). The second section focuses on specific elements <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> human right to adequate housing, based
on <strong>the</strong> elements identified in <strong>the</strong> HIC-HLRN tool kit. 6 The questions have been crafted to highlight
women’s experiences <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> human right to adequate housing.
The Special Rapporteur has been participating in a series <strong>of</strong> regional consultations with civil society
groups in preparation for <strong>the</strong> 2005 report. The consultations are being conducted with women’s groups
in different regions to collate information on, and advance <strong>the</strong> analysis <strong>of</strong>, women’s housing rights.
6
The thirteen elements identified in <strong>the</strong> HIC-HLRN Tool Kit include <strong>the</strong> seven elements outlined in <strong>the</strong>
Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ General Comment 4, as well as elements identified
through subsequent work with civil society groups.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7