Statement by Mr. Miloon Kothari, Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, appointed by the UN Commission on Human Rights
8 March 2004, International Women’s Day

Today I welcome the opportunity to join with States, the United Nations and with civil society groups in drawing attention to the International Women’s Day.

“The right to an adequate standard of living, including adequate food, clothing and housing”, has been widely recognised as an important human right in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights. The Covenant, as well as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, also recognises that women and men have equal rights to an adequate standard of living, which includes the right to adequate housing.

Notwithstanding this inadequate and insecure housing and living conditions such as overcrowding, indoor pollution, precarious housing, lack of water, sanitation and electricity and inadequate building materials affect women to a larger extent than men. Women living in extreme poverty face much greater risk of becoming homeless or living in inadequate housing and health conditions. Women bear the brunt of forced evictions, especially when evictions are accompanied by violence. Certain groups of women, such as widows of men having died from HIV/AIDS, are at particular risk of being evicted from their homes.

I wish to particularly draw the attention to the frequent and widespread nature of violence, commonly experienced by women in situations where their right to adequate housing is also violated. Women are experiencing different forms of violence which are often a result of living in inadequate housing. Or the violation of their right to adequate housing contributes to their vulnerability to gender violence. Violence that relates to women’s right to adequate housing occurs at all levels, in the family, the community, by the State and globally.
Within the home this can take the form of domestic violence, or rape and harassment before during and after forced evictions, or in situations of armed or ethnic conflict. Domestic workers, for example, may be forced to live in closed spaces or sleep on kitchen floors, sometimes at risk of being raped by their employers. Degrading housing and living conditions such as lack of access to water, sanitation, electricity, health care and lack of space and privacy can make women more vulnerable to gender violence, abuses and related exposure to HIV/AIDS.

Marginalised women who have less secure rights to adequate housing are particularly vulnerable to violence against women, including single women, 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, armed conflict, women migrant workers and domestic workers, girl children, elderly women, women living in extreme poverty, women with disabilities and women with HIV/AIDS.

In my report on women and housing to the Commission on Human Rights in 2003, I found that the lack of implementation of laws and policies sustains the ongoing gender based discrimination that underlies such violations of women’s human rights. This gap between the law and reality arises from the existence of gender-neutral laws, which do not always recognize the special circumstances of women. Gender biased customs and traditions as well as bias in the judiciary and public administration, results in the perpetration of male dependent security of tenure. Even where legal remedies may be provided, many women cannot afford legal remedies. Further, there is increasing concern about the violence used by State and non-State actors against women who attempt to secure their rights to adequate housing, particularly in situations of forced evictions.

Through regional consultations held during 2002 and 2003 in Nairobi, New Delhi and in Mexico City, interlinkages between violence against women and the right to adequate housing have been identified and addressed with the aim to contribute to stronger standard setting and to the more strategic use of international treaties to ensure accountability. I commend the work of women’s networks in working towards the elimination of violence against women and urge them to continue the valuable work of identifying and addressing such linkages. A call from all human rights groups, in particular women’s groups, for stronger standard setting to secure women’s right to adequate housing will be an important step towards decreasing women’s vulnerability to gender-based violence. Interested groups and individuals are invited to contribute to my study on women and housing for the Commission on Human Rights in 2005 (www.unhchr.ch/housing).

I also call on States to take concrete steps to secure women’s right to adequate housing by making serious attempts at implementation of existing laws and their international human rights commitments in order to prevent violence against women. States are urged to include anti-violence provisions in housing legislation and policies and include provisions that protect women’s right to housing in domestic violence, sex discrimination, and other related laws and policies.