More than a house: a decent home 5. International law usually refers to the ‘right to adequate housing’. Sometimes the term the ‘right to shelter’ is used. However, the human rights literature is clear: the right to adequate housing is much more than shelter, bricks, mortar or a house. It is about having a decent home.3 including health protection, work and active participation in the community. 8. Recently published by the World Health Organization, Housing and Health Guidelines also take this view: “Healthy housing provides a feeling of home, including a sense of belonging”.5 6. The understanding that a home is more than a house resonates strongly with Te Ao Māori. Within this worldview, the idea of a home includes reciprocal relationships and responsibilities, as well as an abiding sense of love for Papatūānuku (the earth) to which tangata whenua belong. Kāinga is more than a home, it also means a village, relationships and responsibilities to place, people and the natural environment.4 9. In these circumstances, the Guidelines do not use the term the ‘right to adequate housing’ or the ‘right to shelter’. Instead they prefer the ‘right to a warm, dry, safe, secure, affordable, accessible, healthy, decent home’ - for short, the ‘right to a decent home’. 7. The understanding that a home is more than a physical structure (i.e. more than bricks and mortar) also chimes with the worldview of many Pacific, Asian and other communities in Aotearoa. This understanding was a recurring theme during the consultations that preceded the drafting of these Guidelines. Another recurring theme was the importance of housing to the enjoyment of other human rights, Guideline 2: Grounded on Te Tiriti, the international right to a decent home is more than a right to shelter, bricks, mortar or a house. It is the human right to a warm, dry, safe, secure, affordable, accessible, healthy, decent home, as understood by Te Ao Māori. By way of shorthand, these Guidelines refer to the ‘right to a decent home’. 10. The Guidelines outline what the right to a decent home, grounded on Te Tiriti, means in the unique context of Aotearoa. International human rights law 11. The International Bill of Rights, which New Zealand helped to draft, provides the foundation for all international human rights. Successive governments in Aotearoa have committed to implement the International Bill of Rights, which includes the right to a decent home.6 12. Building on the International Bill of Rights, additional human rights agreements have been adopted and several of them, such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, include the right to a decent home (see Appendix 2). The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples includes numerous provisions that highlight the critical importance of home (kāinga) and land (whenua) to tangata whenua. Successive New Zealand governments have helped to write these additional human rights agreements and have also promised to implement them. Section 1: Introduction 13