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Law students in Uruguay help secure a family a safer home
Law students in Uruguay help secure a family a safer home
Law students and their professor at the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay, help realize a vulnerable family’s right to adequate housing, through a landmark court case relying on international jurisprudence and human rights standards.
8 December 2020
"Housing is a human right, not just a commodity."
"Housing is a human right, not just a commodity."
"What we are trying to do is build a multi-stakeholder global movement of people who know that housing is a human right and who want to reclaim it," said Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing. Farha was talking about The Shift, an initiative to move away from treating housing as a commodity to housing as a place to live in peace, security and dignity.
22 March 2019
Homelessness: surviving at the peripheries
Homelessness: surviving at the peripheries
Homelessness is not a personal failure but the consequence of the systemic denial of the rights of homeless people, says UN expert on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha.
21 March 2016
Expert says key housing rights responsibility lie with local authorities
Expert says key housing rights responsibility lie with local authorities
The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Leilani Farha, is concerned about the billions of people worldwide living in inadequate housing. In her report at the 28th session of the Human Rights Council she called on States to guarantee access to justice and effective remedies for violations of this right.
19 March 2015
Everyone needs a place to call home
Everyone needs a place to call home
The UN human rights expert on adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik, presents new Guiding Principles on tenure security for the urban poor in her last report to the Human Rights Council.
17 March 2014
Between tradition and exclusion: struggling for the right to pitch a trailer
Between tradition and exclusion: struggling for the right to pitch a trailer
Candy Sheridan advocates for the rights of the Irish Travellers who were evicted from Dale Farm in Basildon, United Kingdom, over a year ago.
3 June 2013
The politics of exclusion continue in and around Rome
The politics of exclusion continue in and around Rome
Roma migrants and their defenders describe the living conditions in camps, and forced evictions by the local authorities in Rome, Italy.
10 May 2013
Secure housing for millions remains a global challenge
Secure housing for millions remains a global challenge
“Millions of people around the world still face the threat of eviction or displacement,” says the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik, in her latest report, which was presented during the 22nd Session of the UN Human Rights Council.
7 May 2013
Urbanization without human rights, a recipe for failure
Urbanization without human rights, a recipe for failure
The future of cities is compromised as long as human rights are not at the center of urban development, says UN Senior Official, on the occasion of UN World Habitat Day.
1 October 2012
Land, fisheries and forests – the first global agreement on tenure guidelines
Land, fisheries and forests – the first global agreement on tenure guidelines
A major advance in global efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty – global agreement reached on voluntary guidelines for the tenure of land, fisheries and forests.
25 June 2012
Natural disasters: an occasion to redress inequalities
Natural disasters: an occasion to redress inequalities
In the wake of a natural disaster, “vulnerable people do not always benefit from disaster assistance as others,” says Raquel Rolnik, UN expert on adequate housing.
18 November 2011
Women and girls and their right to sanitation
Women and girls and their right to sanitation
About 2.6 billion people live without proper sanitation. Over 1.1 billion people have no sanitation facilities at all. This adversely affects women and girls.
3 October 2011
Right to adequate housing in post-disaster construction
Right to adequate housing in post-disaster construction
UN Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik stresses the importance of the right to adequate housing in the post-earthquake and tsunami reconstruction efforts in Japan.
28 March 2011
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Spatial Segregation (2022)

Housing Discrimination (2021)

20 years Special Rapporteur (2021)

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Indigenous peoples

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Right to life and right to housing

Security of tenure

Women and housing

Contact details

Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal
UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Special Procedures Branch, Palais Wilson
CH – 1211 Geneve, Switzerland

Email: ohchr-srhousing@un.org
Special Rapporteur on Twitter: @adequatehousing

External links

UN-HABITAT

Habitat International Coalition

The Shift for right2housing

FEANTSA

International Union of Tenants