(e) Accessibility Adequate housing must be accessible to those entitled to it. Disadvantaged groups must be accorded full and sustainable access to adequate housing resources. Thus, such disadvantaged groups as the elderly, children, the physically disabled, the terminally ill, HIV-positive individuals, persons with persistent medical problems, the mentally ill, victims of natural disasters, people living in disaster-prone areas and other groups should be ensured some degree of priority consideration in the housing sphere. Both housing law and policy should take fully into account the special housing needs of these groups. Within many States parties increasing by landless or impoverished should constitute a central access to land seqments of the society policy goal. Discemible governmental obligations need to be developed aiming to substantiate the right of all to a secure place to live in peace and dignity, including access to land as an entitlement; (f) Location. Adequate housing must be in a location home or correspondence constitutes a very important dimension in defining the right to adequate housing, 10. Regardless of the state of development of any country, there are certain steps which must be taken immediately, As recognized in the Global Strategy for Shelter and in other international analyses, many of the measures required to promote the right to housing would only require the abstention by the Government from certain practices and a commitment to facilitating “self-help” by affected groups. To the extent that any such steps are considered to be beyond the maximum resources available to a State party, it is appropriate that a request be made as soon as possible for intemational cooperation in accordance with articles 11 (1), 22 and 23 of the Covenant, and that the Committee be informed thereof. 11. States parties must give due priority to those social groups living in unfavourable conditions by giving them particular consideration. Policies and legislation should which allows access to employment options, health-care correspondingly services, advantaged social groups at the expense of others. The Committee Is aware that external factors can affect the right to a continuous improvement of living conditions, and that in many States parties overall schools, child-care centres and other social facilities. This is true both in large cities and in rural areas where the temporal and financial costs of getting to and from the place of work can place excessive demands upon the budgets of poor households. not be designed to benefit already Similarly, housing should not be built on polluted sites living conditions declined during the 1980s. However, as noted by the Committee in its General Comment 2 nor in immediate (1990) (E/1990/23, annex Ill), despite externally caused proximity to pollution sources that problems, the obligations under the Covenant continue threaten the right to health of the inhabitants; to apply and are perhaps even (g) Cultural adequacy. The way housing is constructed, the building materials used and the policies supporting these must appropriately enable the expression of cultural identity and diversity of housing. Activities geared towards development or modernization in the housing sphere should ensure that the cultural dimensions of housing are not sacrificed, and that, inter alia, modern technological facilities, as appropriate are also ensured. 9. As noted above, the right to adequate housing cannot be viewed in isolation from other human rights more pertinent during times of economic contraction. It would thus appear to the Committee that a general decline in living and housing conditions, directly attributable to policy and legislative decisions by States parties, and in the absence of accompanying compensatory measures, would be inconsistent with the obligations under the Covenant. 12, While the most appropriate means of achieving the full realization of the right to adequate housing will inevitably vary significantly from one State party contained in the two International Covenants and other applicable international instruments. Reference has to another, the Covenant clearly requires that each State party take whatever steps are necessary for that purpose. This will almost invariably require the already been adoption ofa national housing strategy which, as stated made in this regard to the concept of human dignity and the principle of non-discrimination. In addition, the full enjoyment of other rights - such as the right to freedom of expression, the right to freedom of association (such as for tenants and other communitybased groups), the right to freedom of residence and the right to participate in public decision-making - is indispensable if the right to adequate be realized Similarly, or and maintained housing by all groups the right not to be subjected unlawful interference with one's is to in society. to arbitrary privacy, 20 — chrP ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS HANDBOOK family, in paragraph 32 of the Global Strategy for Shelter, "defines the objectives for the development of shelter conditions, identifies the resources available to meet these goals and the most cost-effective way of using them and sets out the responsibilities and time-frame for the implementation of the necessary measures”. Both for reasons of relevance and effectiveness, as well as In order to ensure respect for other human rights, such a strategy should reflect extensive genuine consultation with, and participation by, all of those