Housing as a Human Right

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The UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights and many other international human rights treaties state that the right to housing under international human rights law is the right to live in peace, security and dignity.        

The violation of the right to housing is often experienced by marginalized and disadvantaged groups including indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, ethnic and religious minority communities, people of color, migrants and refugees, women, single mothers, and LGBTQ+ persons.

I spoke with Leilani Farha, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing and Global Director of The Shift. Her organization works with parliaments, and civil society actors on the principle that housing is a social good.  We also spoke of her work with the Norwegian Refugee Council, and the aggravated housing situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and even more so now, in the Gaza Strip.