A/69/274
General comments Nos. 4 and 7 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, for example, have been referred to by courts in several domestic cases. 9
25. At the same time, advances made by domestic courts and national human
rights institutions have informed positive developments in international human
rights. For example, the experience of national courts and the content of nationallevel housing rights jurisprudence significantly informed the content and structure
of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, which provides, for the first time, for the adjudication of the right
to adequate housing under the Covenant. 10
26. Ensuring access to justice for claimants of the right to adequate housing has
emerged as a central and shared challenge for States and treaty bodies. Meeting that
challenge will continue to require ongoing dialogue and interaction between States,
including domestic courts, and international human rights bodies and procedures.
27. The Special Rapporteur will solicit input from States, treaty bodies, national
human rights institutions, civil society organizations, judges and human rights
practitioners in considering how the mandate can support the critical dialogue
between domestic and international human rights norms and practice. She also
hopes to lend visibility to the work being undertaken to elaborate the content of the
right to adequate housing at all levels and encourage advances in ensuring access to
justice in relation to that right. She is committed to fostering and enhancing the
interdependence of national and international law and practice in all aspects of her
work, including communications, country visits and thematic reports.
B.
Clarifying the obligation of progressive realization
28. Having considered emerging socioeconomic patterns affecting the right to
adequate housing, the important work of many stakeholders and developments in the
field of economic, social and cultural rights more generally, the Special Rapporteur
commences her mandate with an understanding of several key challenges in the
implementation of the right to adequate housing, and a recognition of emerging
opportunities, that she hopes to address and engage as she undertakes further
consultations.
29. Central to State obligations with respect to the right to adequate housing is the
obligation to take positive measures to realize that right. According to article 2.1 of
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8/20
See, for example, European Committee of Social Rights, Complaint No. 39/2006, European
Federation of National Organizations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) v. France ,
decision on the merits of 5 December 2007; High Court at Embu, Constitutional Petition No. 2
of 2011, Ibrahim Sangor Osman and Others v. the Hon. Minister of State for Provincial
Administration and Internal Security and Others; and European Committee of Social Rights,
Complaint No. 15/2003, decision on the merits of 8 December 2004, European Roma Rights
Center v. Greece. See also A/63/275, chap. IV.
Aspects of the High Court of South Africa case Government of the Republic of South Africa and
Others v. Grootboom and Others significantly informed the development of article 8.4 of the
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which
enunciates the “reasonableness standard”. See: “Reasonableness and Article 8(4)”, in The
Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights:
A Commentary (forthcoming) at http://www.jus.uio.no/smr/english/about/programmes/serp/
research/optional-protocol-.html.
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