Housing (Right to adequate)

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The South African government decided to establish a transit camp on the grounds of the Leeuwkop Prison (state-owned land) for Alexandra Township flood victims. It was intended that the occupants would then move to permanent housing when it became available. The plan was apparently made without consultation with the residents in the area and a residents' association, Kyalami Ridge Environmental Association (KREA), requested that the relevant minister suspend operations.

A large number of residents of basties (informal settlements) of Dhaka City were evicted without notice and their homes were demolished with bulldozers. A case, challenging the ongoing evictions, was brought by two residents and three citizens in the public interest. The Supreme Court held that inhabitants had some rights to shelter and a fair hearing and made recommendations for resettlement.

Country: 
Egypt, India, Kenya, Mexico
Working Group(s) / Area(s) of Work: 
Women & ESCR
Strategic Litigation
Monitoring
Country: 
Ivory Coast
Working Group(s) / Area(s) of Work: 
Women & ESCR
OP-ICESCR

The Bhe judgment concerned three related cases (Bhe, SAHRC and Shibi), which were decided together. In the first action, the father of applicants, Nonkuleleko and Anelisa Bhe (aged 9 and 2), had died, and the mother (the third applicant) brought an action to secure the deceased's property for her daughters. Under the African customary law rule of primogeniture as well as section 23 of the Black Administration Act, the house became the property of the eldest male relative of the father, in this case the grandfather.

Callahan was a class-action suit on behalf of homeless men in the Bowery area of Manhattan seeking a temporary mandatory injunction requiring the City of New York to provide shelter to homeless men.