Skip to content
LPBN-Icon-v1
Human Rights at Home Blog
A Member of the Law Professor Blogs Network

Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing: Call for Inputs on the right to adequate housing for people on the move

By humanrightsathome

The Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, has also decided to dedicate his next thematic report to the Human Rights Council to the topic: right to adequate housing in the context of human mobility. This includes a focus on the rights and situations of all individuals who have crossed an international border, including migrant workers, refugees, asylum seekers, environmental migrants, smuggled migrants, victims of human trafficking, and international students; as well as their overall impact on the housing system including on affordability and accessibility.

In this regard, the Special Rapporteur has called for written contributions to one or more of the following questions:

  • Please flag important or emblematic regional and national standards and policies for the housing of migrants, including those related to accommodation, reception, shelter, etc. (1 page max)
  • Are there any emblematic challenges to the enjoyment of adequate housing by one or more of the above-mentioned groups of migrants and refugees or other vulnerable groups among them (e.g., women, children, older persons, persons with disabilities, minorities, LGBTQIA+, etc.) that you would like to highlight? These challenges include security of tenure, affordability, availability, accessibility, habitability, location and cultural adequacy. Do migrants and refugees experience discrimination or live in segregated areas? Please kindly explain the issue and provide any relevant background information, including related legal, policy or administrative barriers experienced. (1 page max)
  • Are there any successful practices or models that have been implemented to improve housing access and/or conditions for these groups of migrants and refugees? Please provide detailed information, including any relevant legislative, policy, administrative or financial support solutions that made them possible. (1 page max)
  • In what ways does human mobility influence the access/availability of housing, access to services, community safety perception, and overall quality of life for local residents? Are migrants and refugees being scapegoated for existing housing crises, despite these crises being rooted in other dynamics? Has human mobility posed challenges to the right to adequate housing and associated services for local residents, or alternatively brought unexpected benefits? Kindly explain and provide relevant factual, policy or other relevant information. (1 page max)

This report will be presented to the Human Rights Council in March 2025. If you wish to send any inputs, please do so by November 8, 2024, by sending an email to mariya.stoyanova@un.org and chiara.menghetti@un.org copying Bardia.jebeli@un.org.