(Geneva) – The UN Human Rights Council adopted, in its 25th session, a resolution on the right to adequate housing, which welcomed the Guiding Principles on Security of Tenure for the Urban Poor. The guiding Principles were presented to the Council by the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing Raquel Rolnik in her final thematic report on March 10-11.
In her first report on the subject, the Special Rapporteur called attention to the global tenure insecurity crisis, manifesting itself in many forms and contexts — forced evictions, displacement resulting from development, natural disasters and conflicts and land grabbing — and evident in the millions of urban dwellers living under insecure tenure arrangements. In the second report, the Special Rapporteur presents the guiding principles, which provide guidance on existing human rights standards as they pertain to housing and land tenure, and commentary on each principle, including examples of their practical implementation from around the world.
The guiding principles build on previous international instruments on the topic, including the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, adopted by the Committee for World Food Security in 2012. Importantly, the guiding principles clarify that the concept of “legitimate tenure rights” extends beyond mainstream notions of private ownership and are predicated upon “a presumption that individuals and communities occupying land or property to fulfill their right to adequate housing, and who have no other adequate option, have legitimate tenure rights that should be secured and protected.”
In its resolution, the Human Rights Council recognized “the need to promote, protect, and strengthen a variety of tenure forms, as a part of mainstreaming human rights, in particular in urban development, including in housing and slum upgrading, land management and land administration policies, to ensure social integration, with the full participation of all relevant stakeholders.”
IDI’s Legal Director, Natalie Bugalski, assisted the Special Rapporteur to draft the Guiding Principles and commentary, drawing from responses from 31 States to questionnaires, as well as thematic and regional consultations with various stakeholders, and comments and input from civil society organizations.
The report of the Special Rapporteur, including the Guiding Principles, is available here.
The Council resolution is available here.