RES/31/9 Adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and the right to non-discrimination in this context

Human Rights Council Thirty-first session

Agenda item 3

Resolution adopted by the Human Rights Council on 23 March 2016

31/9. Adequate housing as a component of the right to an

adequate standard of living, and the right to non-

discrimination in this context

The Human Rights Council,

Reaffirming that international human rights law instruments, including the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and

Cultural Rights, entail obligations and commitments of States parties, including all levels of

government, in relation to access to adequate housing,

Recalling all previous resolutions of the Human Rights Council and those adopted

by the Commission on Human Rights on the issue of the right to adequate housing as a

component of the right to an adequate standard of living, including Council resolution

25/17 of 28 March 2014,

Recalling also all previous resolutions adopted by the Commission on Human

Rights on the issue of women’s equal rights to ownership of, access to and control over

land and the equal rights to own and inherit property and to adequate housing, including

resolution 2005/25 of 15 April 2005 on women’s equal ownership, access to and control

over land and the equal rights to own property and to adequate housing, and resolution

1997/44 of 11 April 1997, and the report on economic and social policy and its impact on

violence against women submitted by the Special Rapporteur on violence against women,

its causes and consequences pursuant to that resolution,1

Reaffirming the principles and commitments with regard to adequate housing

enshrined in the relevant provisions of declarations and programmes adopted by major

United Nations conferences and summits and at special sessions of the General Assembly

and at their follow-up meetings, inter alia, the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements

and the Habitat Agenda,2 and the Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the

New Millennium, adopted at the twenty-fifth special session of the Assembly and annexed

to its resolution S-25/2 of 9 June 2001,

1 E/CN.4/2000/68/Add.5.

2 A/CONF.165/14.

United Nations A/HRC/RES/31/9

Recalling that States have the primary responsibility to ensure the full realization of

all human rights and to endeavour to take steps, individually and through international

assistance and cooperation, especially economic and technical, to the maximum of their

available resources, with a view to progressively achieving the full realization of the right

to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living by all

appropriate means, including the adoption of legislative measures,

Welcoming the adoption by the General Assembly of the 2030 Agenda for

Sustainable Development,3 in which the Assembly acknowledged, inter alia, the importance

of making cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable,

Welcoming also the decision by the General Assembly, in its resolution 66/203 of 22

December 2011, to convene a United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable

Urban Development (Habitat III), to be held in Quito in October 2016, to reinvigorate the

global commitment to and support for housing and sustainable urban development and the

implementation of the New Urban Agenda,

Emphasizing that the adverse effects of climate change have a range of implications,

both direct and indirect, for the effective enjoyment of human rights, inter alia, the right to

adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and

welcoming the adoption of the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework

Convention on Climate Change,

Expressing deep concern at the number and scale of natural disasters, and in this

regard welcoming the adoption of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-

2030,4

Noting with interest the work of the United Nations treaty bodies, in particular the

Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in the promotion of the rights related

to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, including

all its relevant general comments and, for States parties to the Optional Protocol to the

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the examination of

individual communications,

Recalling the Global Housing Strategy of the United Nations Human Settlements

Programme, the principles on housing and property restitution for refugees and displaced

persons,5 the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land,

Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, and the guiding principles

on security of tenure for the urban poor, as laid out in the report of the Special Rapporteur

on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on

the right to non-discrimination in this context,6

Concerned that the right to adequate housing is not realized for many throughout the

world, and that millions continue to live in substandard housing and millions more are

homeless or at immediate risk of homelessness, and recognizing that this situation should

be addressed by urgent and immediate measures by States and the international community,

in accordance with existing international human rights standards,

Deeply concerned that homelessness disproportionately affects women and persons

with disabilities, and other persons who are marginalized and most vulnerable, each in

different ways but with common structural causes, and that homelessness and tenure

3 General Assembly resolution 70/1.

4 General Assembly resolution 69/283, annexes I and II.

5 E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/17, annex.

6 A/HRC/25/54.

insecurity per se might result in discrimination, criminalization and further exclusion,

particularly social and economic exclusion,

Reaffirming that everyone is entitled to the right to adequate housing as a component

of the right to an adequate standard of living without discrimination of any kind as to race,

colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property,

birth or other status,

Recognizing that homelessness is caused by the interplay of individual

circumstances and broader systemic factors, and that fulfilling the right to adequate housing

as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living requires developing and

implementing long-term and human rights-based multisectoral policies and strategies that

are gender-responsive and simultaneously address discrimination, marginalization, social

exclusion and housing deprivation,

Recognizing also that security of tenure enhances the enjoyment of the right to

adequate housing and is significant to the enjoyment of many other economic, social,

cultural, civil and political rights, and that all persons should possess a degree of security of

tenure that guarantees legal protection against forced eviction, harassment and other threats,

Recognizing further the need to promote, protect and strengthen a variety of tenure

forms, in particular by mainstreaming human rights into national urbanization policies and

rural development and planning, including in housing and slum upgrading, land

management and land administration policies, and to ensure social integration, with the full

participation of all relevant stakeholders,

1. Welcomes the work of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a

component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-

discrimination in this context, including the undertaking of country missions;

2. Acknowledges with appreciation in particular the report on homelessness of

the Special Rapporteur;7

3. Calls upon States to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable

Development, including target 11.1, which outlines the objective of ensuring access for all

to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrading slums, and in

this context urges States to adopt, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, inclusive and

cross-sectoral strategies that respect, protect and fulfil the human rights of all, and to ensure

that these strategies outline clear responsibilities at all levels of government, contain

measurable goals, targets and timelines, and include appropriate mechanisms for

monitoring and review, with particular emphasis on the needs of persons who are

marginalized and most vulnerable;

4. Also calls upon States to give due consideration to integrating the human

right to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living in

the negotiation process and the implementation of the outcome document of the United

Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III) and the

New Urban Agenda;

5. Further calls upon States to take all measures necessary to eliminate

legislation that criminalizes homelessness and to ensure an effective remedy and the right to

access to justice for all for violations in the context of the realization of the right to

adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, including

measures necessary to ensure that women and persons at risk have equal access to justice;

7 A/HRC/31/54.

6. Calls upon States to take positive measures with a view to prevent and

eliminate homelessness by adopting and implementing cross-sectoral strategies that are

gender-responsive and based on international human rights law;

7. Requests the Secretary-General and the United Nations High Commissioner

for Human Rights to provide all assistance necessary to the Special Rapporteur for the

effective fulfilment of his or her mandate;

8. Notes with appreciation the cooperation extended to date to the Special

Rapporteur by different actors, and calls upon States:

(a) To continue to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur in the discharge of his

or her mandate and to respond favourably to his or her requests for information and visits;

(b) To enter into a constructive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur with

respect to the follow-up to and implementation of his or her recommendations;

9. Decides to continue its consideration of this matter under the same agenda

item.

62nd meeting

23 March 2016

[Adopted without a vote.]