A/HRC/28/62
bringing various levels of government and various stakeholders together.
Recommendations made in mission reports have frequently been directed toward local and
other subnational level governments within their areas of responsibility.
36.
The former Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, in her report
on the official visit to Mongolia (A/HRC/23/36/Add.2, para. 97 (aa)), recommended that
local authorities should be allocated adequate resources to enable them to provide basic
services to internal migrants from rural areas to informal settlements in cities. Similarly, the
former Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, in her
report on the official mission to Japan (A/HRC/18/33/Add.3, para. 69 (d)), recommended
the adoption of a comprehensive law on water and sanitation delineating the responsibilities
of the national and municipal levels, including provisions on quality standards, maximum
tariff limits and the establishment of regulatory and complaint mechanisms.
37.
Thematic reports and communications — two other mandated activities of special
rapporteurs — also engage subnational governments with respect to their housing
responsibilities. By way of illustration, the former Special Rapporteur on adequate housing,
Raquel Rolnik, in her Guiding Principles on Security of Tenure for the Urban Poor, paid
considerable attention to the role of local governments in ensuring security of tenure.
Guiding principle No. 2, for example, suggests that States, including relevant authorities,
should allocate sufficient funds to ministries, municipalities and local governments for the
implementation of measures to improve security of tenure (A/HRC/25/54, para. 5).
38.
The mandate on adequate housing regularly receives allegations that identify local,
municipal and other subnational authorities as pertinent to the claims made by individuals
and communities. Those submissions raise concerns of imminent threats, including alleged
forced evictions, forced displacement or development-basis eviction without application of
existing international standards; restrictions and other discriminatory practices on access to
housing by specific populations groups, including refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented
migrants, and ethnic, religious or other minorities; and changes in housing subsidies and
welfare programmes directly impacting on people living in poverty, the unemployed,
persons with disabilities or women. Complaints also refer to the lack of affordable housing,
substandard housing, fuel poverty, and denial of or inadequate services, including water,
sanitation and electricity.34
39.
In communications involving local authorities, however, official responses from
States rarely indicate whether the information was shared with relevant local or subnational
authorities, or describe the concrete steps and measures taken at those levels. For example,
in 2014 the Special Rapporteur issued a joint urgent appeal together with the Special
Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, and the Special
Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, to the Government of the United States.
The letter focused on the decision by the authorities in the city of Detroit to suspend water
services to thousands of households. In its response to the letter, the Government of the
United States did not indicate whether it had consulted with the Governor of Michigan or
the Mayor of Detroit regarding the allegations. 35
34
35
12
See, for example, case No. COL 5/2014 (A/HRC/27/72, p. 74); case No. NGA 1/2013 (A/HRC/24/21,
p. 80); case No. PRT 2/2013 (A/HRC/25/74, p. 27); case No. ROU 1/2011 (A/HRC/19/44, p. 63); and
case No. GBR 2/2011 (A/HRC/18/51, p. 87). Available from
www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/SP/Pages/CommunicationsreportsSP.aspx.
See case No. USA 9/2014 (A/HRC/28/85).
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