Housing (Right to adequate)

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This case resolves an auto action to protect the rights of the displaced Afro-Colombian population in conformance with the court’s prior declaration in the T-025 decision of 2004 of an “unconstitutional state of affairs” around the situation of the forcibly displaced population.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the European Council for Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) alleged that migrant children in Greece and on the Greek islands have been deprived of their rights that are guaranteed within the Revised European Social Charter (hereinafter “the Charter”). These include the rights to housing compatible with human dignity; social, legal, and economic protections; health; social and medical assistance; and education.

Ten petitioners, on behalf of 326 other residents of City Cotton and Upendo villages alleged that the respondents (1st Moi Education Centre Co. LTD, 2nd the Inspector General of police, 3rd the Cabinet Secretary for Lands, Housing, and Urban Development, and 4th the Attorney General) violated the petitioners’ right to housing guaranteed under Article 43 of the Kenyan Constitution.

On 20 April 2021, ESCR-Net members from around the world convened for an exchange with the UN Special Rapporteur on Housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal on the question of resisting evictions amid COVID-19. Upholding housing rights during the pandemic has been a focus of work for many members from...

In September 2011, 3,000 families were given only 7 days prior notice before they were evicted from the land next to the Wilson Airport. Their shelters were destroyed. The Kenya Airports Authority owned the plot of land next to the airport, but the resident families of the Mitumba Village had occupied the property for some time.

The complainant, Un Techo para mi País México (Techo), claimed that the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) failed to collect census data for informal settlements. According to Techo, this failure resulted in the State’s non-realization of the right to adequate housing because State policies and policymaking depend on statistical information gathered in the census. The Court affirmed that the INEGI’s failure to collect and disseminate statistical information on informal settlements created a presumption of unconstitutionality that put the burden of proof on INEGI.

On 10 September, 2013, the High Court granted an eviction order “by agreement” of 184 unauthorized occupiers from a block of flats where they had been living for periods of up to 26 years. Only four of the 184 occupiers were present at the initial Court proceeding, accompanied by their unofficial ward committee representative, Mr. Skhulu Ngubane. The High Court both ordered the eviction of the occupiers, and, in parallel proceedings, refused to grant a rescission of this judgment. The case before the Constitutional Court was the rescission application.

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Call for case studies on intersectionality and centrality of social movements in strategic litigation on land, housing and natural resources. 

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The claimant filed a tutela action against the Public Works of Cartagena alleging that they put into operation an uncompleted sewer system, producing overflowing black waters and unsanitary conditions in two neighborhoods. The complaint alleged a violation of Article 88 of the Colombian constitution protecting the right to public health and asked for injunctive relief to prevent irreparable harm, as established under Article 5 of the Decree 2591.

The European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC) brought this case against Italy for violating Article 31 and Article E of the Revised European Social Charter in failing to protect the Roma population’s right to housing, as well as systematically discriminating against the Roma community. In 2005, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) reported its decision in the case to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to enforce Italy’s compliance with the judgment.