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Enhancing tenure security and ending forced evictions267closely related to one another and, to a certain degree,overlap. In general terms:• Housing rights are the rights of ‘everyone’ to haveaccess to a safe, secure, affordable and habitable home.• Land rights cover those rights related directly to theland itself as distinct from purely the structure built onthe land in question.• Property rights concern the exclusive user and ownershiprights over a particular dwelling or land parcel.Each of these terms is important; but none of them capturesin their entirety the full spectrum of rights associated withthe right to a place to live in peace and dignity, including theright to security of tenure. For the purposes of the securityof tenure process, therefore – and because historical, political,cultural and other distinctions between countries withrespect to what have also more broadly been called ‘residential’rights are so extensive – HLP rights seems a morecomprehensive term for describing the numerous residentialdimensions of these questions from the perspective ofhuman rights law. What people in one country label as ‘landrights’ may be precisely the same thing as what citizens ofanother country call ‘housing rights’. ‘Property rights’ in onearea may greatly assist in protecting the rights of tenants,while in another place property rights are used to justifymass forced evictions. Many more examples could be given;but the important point here is simply that the compositeterm HLP rights probably captures the notion of ‘home’ or‘place of habitual residence’ better than other possibleterms.A term such as HLP rights may confuse some andfrustrate others; but it is difficult to imagine how an integralapproach to security of tenure can emerge within humanrights law unless the impasse between housing rights,property rights and land rights is broken and allowed toproperly evolve. This new terminology embraces all of thedifferent approaches to this question, not necessarily favouringone or the other, but incorporating the best, mostpro-human rights elements of each into a new vision ofhuman rights as they relate to the places and conditions inwhich people live. The new terminology may assist greatly infinding new ways to integrate rights with security of tenure.In addition and, more specifically, linked to thequestion of eviction, it may also be time to consider lookingfor new ways to define people’s rights not to be evicted in amore positive and affirmative manner. Since all human rightsare to be treated equally, in an interdependent and indivisiblemanner (see Box 11.5), it may be useful to expanddiscussions on what could be called a right to security ofplace. This right exemplifies the convergence of civil, political,economic, social and cultural rights and places threeforms of security into an indispensable human rights framework:• It encapsulates the notion of physical security, protectionof physical integrity and safety from harm, andguarantees that basic rights will be respected.• It incorporates all dimensions of human security – orthe economic and social side of the security equation.• It recognizes the importance of tenure rights (fortenants, owners and those too poor to afford to rent orbuy a home) and the crucial right to be protectedagainst any arbitrary or forced eviction from one’shome.This manifestation of security intrinsically links to housingrights concerns during times of peace and to housing rightsissues arising in the midst of armed conflict and humanitariandisasters. It recognizes that everyone has an enforceableand defendable right to physical security and rights tohousing, property and land, including rights to security oftenure. As with ‘HLP rights’, a right to security of placemakes no presumption that one form of tenure is to benecessarily preferred over another, but the ‘right to securityof place’ would go beyond security of tenure alone. Thestability of the home would form the starting point fromwhich supplementary rights emerge. Such a right to securityof place would strengthen the rights of all dwellers withinthe informal sector by providing a conceptual means to plugthe gap in the attention and institutional protection given tothose forced from their homes due to forced evictions anddevelopment-induced displacement.An integral, comprehensive approach based on thenotion of HLP rights holds the best promise for marshallingresources and assets towards improving the lives of lowerincomegroups. Treating HLP rights simultaneously as humanrights concerns and development concerns is both practicaland has universal applicability. In fact, this approach canprovide one of the clearest examples of how a rights-basedapproach to development actually looks in practice and howsecurity of tenure can be treated increasingly as a corehuman rights issue. A human rights–human securityapproach to secure tenure has the potential to significantlyimprove the prospects of security of tenure being an attributeof everyone’s life. The essential issue, however, is thatthe approach has to be applied seriously and wisely bygovernments – both local and national – and must besupported solidly by the international community and civilsociety. To achieve this will be no small feat, as few rights, ifany, are as widely denied as the right to security of tenure.This view, though perhaps seemingly distant from ahuman rights perspective on the issue, in fact reflects thekey point. At the end of the day, what matters most is notnecessarily the formality associated with the tenure levelsenjoyed by dwellers, but the perception of security, both defacto and de jure, that comes with that tenure. By treatingsecurity of tenure as part of the broader human rightsequation, we automatically incorporate dimensions ofsecurity, rights, remedies and justice to the analysis.Box 11.5 The indivisibility of human rightsTreating HLP rightssimultaneously ashuman rightsconcerns and developmentconcerns isboth practical andhas universallyapplicabilityBy treating securityof tenure as part ofthe broader humanrights equation, weautomaticallyincorporate dimensionsof security,rights, remedies andjusticeAll human rights are universal, indivisible and interdependent and interrelated … it is the dutyof States, regardless of their political, economic and cultural systems, to promote and protectall human rights and fundamental freedoms.Source: Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, para 5