A/HRC/4/18 page 4 I. INTRODUCTION 1. Throughout his mandate, the Special Rapporteur has favoured a constructive approach to promoting the human right to adequate housing. To this end, the Special Rapporteur uses several means. First, by using the indivisibility approach, he analyses the different components of the right to adequate housing and elements that promote or impede the realization of this right, and tries to identify existing gaps in international human rights law and national law and policy. Second, the Special Rapporteur engages in constructive dialogues with States and other actors, collects information, prepares communications1 and undertakes country missions.2 Third, the Special Rapporteur proposes practical tools and solutions to help States and civil societies in implementing the human right to adequate housing. 2. Based on this approach the present report is composed of two parts. The first part aims at providing practical tools to recognize, monitor and implement the right to adequate housing. The second part discusses the importance of strengthening the legal framework to promote and implement the human right to land, an issue the Special Rapporteur believes is of particular significance for implementing the right to adequate housing. II. PRACTICAL TOOLS OF IMPLEMENTATION A. Indicators on the right to adequate housing 3. The need for the elaboration of an operational framework for the realization of the right to adequate housing, including indicators and methods of monitoring, has become more pertinent with the emergence of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Developing rights-based indicators and monitoring tools could contribute to more effective implementation of the MDGs and the realization of relevant human rights. The MDGs are important in the targets that they set for States and other actors working towards human development and improved human well-being. But the overriding human rights principles and their progressive realization must underlie the process of meeting the Goals. One of the targets of the MDGs (Goal 7) is relevant to the right to adequate housing pertains to slums: “By 2020 to have achieved a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.” The realization of this target is to be monitored by: (a) the proportion of people with access to improved sanitation; and (b) the proportion of people with access to secure tenure. In a world where there are significant variations across countries on the definition of a “slum” and “secure tenure”, the reliance on these two indicators for monitoring the quality of life of slum dwellers could be restrictive or insufficient. Recognizing the challenge, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme 1 2 For a summary of communications during this reporting period see A/HRC/4/18/Add.1. During the current reporting period, the Special Rapporteur visited Australia (A/HRC/4/18/Add.2) and Spain (A/HRC/4/18/Add.3).