OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS The right to adequate housing (Art.11 (1)) : . 13/12/91. CESCR General comment 4. (General Comments) Convention 3. Although a wide variety of international instruments address the different dimensions of the right to adequate housing? article 11 (1) of the Covenant is the most comprehensive and perhaps Abbreviation: CESCR GENERAL COMMENT 4 the most important of the relevant provisions. The_right to adequate housing 4. (Art, 11 (1) of the Covenant) {Sixth session, 1991)" living, is of central importance for the enjoyment of 2. The Committee has been able to accumulate a large amount of information pertaining to this right. Since 1979, the Committee and its predecessors have examined 75 reports dealing with the right to adequate housing. The Committee has also devoted sessions (E/1990/23, paras. 281-285). In addition, the Committee has taken careful note of information generated by the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (1987) including the Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000 adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 42/191 of 11 December also reviewed developing relevant reports and other documentation of the Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.? international there are over j third Session, Supplement No. 8, on Seay 2 Commission on Human Rights resolutions 1986/36 and 1987/22; reports by Mr. Danilo Turk, Specia| Rapporteur of the Sub-Commission (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1990/19, paras. 108120; E/CN,4/Sub.2/1991/17, paras. 137-139); see also SubCommission resolution 1991/26, CHRP ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS HANDBOOK 100 million persons homeless worldwide and over 1 billion inadequately housed.‘ There is no indication that this number is decreasing. It seems clear that no State party is free of significant problems of one kind or another in relation to the right to housing. In some instances, the reports of States parties examined by the Committee have acknowledged and described difficulties in ensuring the right to adequate housing. For the most part, however, the information provided has been Insufficient to enable the Committee to obtain an adequate picture of the situation General prevailing in the State concerned. This Comment thus aims to identify some of the principal issues which the Committee considers to be important in relation to this right. 3 See, for example, article 25 (1) of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, article 5 (e) (iii) of the on the Elimination of All Forms article 14 (2) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, article 27 (3) of the Convention on the Rights of the * Contained in document E/1992/23 18 the countries which confront major resource International Convention of Racial Discrimination, 1 that and other constraints, the Committee observes that significant problems of homelessness and inadequate housing also exist in some of the most economically developed societies. The United Nations estimates 5. a day of general discussion to the issue at each of its third (see £/1989/22, para. 312) and fourth has fact standards set in article 11 (1) of the Covenant and the situation prevailing in many parts of the world. While the problems are often particularly acute in some that all economic, social and cultural rights. Committee the of full respect for the right to adequate housing, there remains a disturbingly large gap between the 1, Pursuant to article 11 (1) of the Covenant, States parties “recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the cantinuous improvement of living conditions”. The human right to adequate housing, which is thus derived from the right to an adequate standard of 1987.1 The Despite community has frequently reaffirmed the importance Child, article = 10 of the Declaration on Social Progress and Development, section Ill (8) of the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements, 1976 i itat; Uni publication, Sales No. E.76.1V.7 and Son (United Nations onean), chap. |), article 8 (1) of the Declaration on the Right to Development and the ILO Recommendation Conceming Workers’ Housing, 1961 (No. 115). 4 See footnote 1,