The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Mr. Miloon Kothari, will visit Abahlali baseMjondolo on Friday 20 April from 8:30 a.m. till noon.
After careful discussion four members of Abahlali have been elected to make a presentation on the conditions in shack settlements in Durban and Pinetown and there will also be a presentation from shack dwellers in Pietermaritzburg and landless rural people. The Durban and Pinetown presentation is likely to focus on the systematically criminal (illegal and unconstitutional) behaviour of the eTekwini Municipality and to cover the following issues:
* Regular illegal and unconstitutional and often violent evictions (People are routinely evicted from their shacks without a court order which is illegal)
* Regular forced removals outside of the city that are conducted in an illegal manner (People are routinely subject to often violent forced removals without opportunities to discuss where they will be relocated or even if they would like to be relocated)
* Regular instances of people being illegally left homeless after forced evictions (People are routinely rendered homeless during forced evictions and forced removals when the law requires that people be offered alternative accommodation if they have to be evicted)
* The refusal to install basic services such as electricity, toilets and decent amounts of water to settlements on the basis that they are ‘temporary.
* The illegal repression of shack dwellers’ attempts to organise and protest (The banning of marches and systematic use of severe police violence and wrongful arrest to illegally deny basic forms of democratic expression)
The presentation will be made at the Kennedy Road settlement and will be followed by a site visit to the nearby Foreman Road settlement.
The Human Rights officer facilitating the visit has indicated that media will be welcome. For more information and comment on this visit please contact:
Ms. Louisa Motha, Motala Heights (Pinetwon), 0781760088
Mr. Mbongeni Madlala, Mpola (Pinetown), 0738162837
Ms. Zodwa Nsibande, Kennedy Road (Durban), 0828302707.
Mr. Mnikelo Ndabankulu, Kennedy Road (Durban), 0735656241
Information regarding the visit of the
United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Mr. Miloon Kothari, has been officially invited to visit South Africa from 12 April to 24 April 2007.
Here is some information on this visit.
1. Issues of interest to the Special Rapporteur:
The Special Rapporteur is interested in a wide range of topics related to his mandate, including:
1. The realization of the human right to adequate housing in all part of the country and regarding all sections of the population in particular vulnerable and marginalized groups;
2. Access to adequate housing and basic services, affordability, impact of speculation on housing and property, privatization, location and habitability, land, ownership and inheritance, eviction and displacement, in both urban and rural areas;
3. Discrimination faced to access adequate housing for groups such as Indigenous Peoples, minorities, refugees, migrants, people with disabilities, people living with HIV/AIDS, people with mental health issues, children and youth, LGBT, tenants, boarders and lodgers, prisoners, and homeless persons;
4. Issues relating to women, including discrimination, women affected by domestic violence, women in rural areas, pregnant women, women with new-born children and single women with elderly children, etc.;
5. Example of good practices and community-based solutions.
The Special Rapporteur would appreciate:
1. Receiving information and testimonies regarding to the implementation of the right to adequate housing in South Africa;
2. Receiving documents and material on issues related to his mandate in South Africa; and
3. Suggestions of questions or issues related to his mandate that the Special Rapporteur should discuss with the authorities.
2. Background to the mandate of the Special Rapporteur
The Special Rapporteur was appointed in September 2000 by the Commission on Human Rights resolution 2000/9, whose mandate would focus on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living. Since then he has been submitting annual reports to the Commission in which he called for a broad interpretation of the right to adequate housing.
The Special Rapporteur submitted a report to the Commission in 2003 on women and adequate housing. The study particularly highlights that, despite the recognition of gender equality and non-discrimination in various legislation at the international and national levels, in practice women are facing de facto discrimination in access to housing, land and civic services.
Since the beginning of his term, the Special Rapporteur has undertaken nine missions for which he has submitted a report to the Commission on Human Rights: Romania (January 2002), Mexico (March 2002), Peru (March 2003), Afghanistan (September 2003), Kenya (February 2004), Brazil (June 2004), Iran (July 2005) Cambodia (August 2005), Australia (August 2006), Spain (November 2006) as well as a visit to the occupied Palestinian territories (January 2002).
The Special Rapporteur has also been working in issues related to evictions and security of tenure, including in the context of tenancy.
Additional information on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, including his reports (also available in Spanish), can be found at: http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/index.htm
For further information and advice on the visit of the Special Rapporteur, you may also contact:
Ms. Graciela Dede
Human Rights Officer
Special Procedures Branch
Human Rights Procedures Division
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Mailing Address: UNOG – OHCHR CH-1211 Geneva 10
Tel. (+41-22) 917 96 15
Fax (+41-22) 917 90 06
E-mail: gdede@ohchr.org
Additional information on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, including his reports (also available in Spanish), can be found at: http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/index.htm
The web site also contains a special section on women and housing:
http://www.ohchr.org/english/issues/housing/women.htm