A/HRC/37/53
disaggregated based on group characteristics and be fully inclusive of people on the move
as well as those who are homeless or living in informal settlements.
106. Reviews of housing strategies conducted by affected communities, civil society
organizations, the media and human rights organizations should also be considered in
assessing progress and addressing concerns.
In practice
107. In Spain, the Ombudsman has the authority to make recommendations to public
authorities and the legislator and may generate or propose modifications to legislation. The
ombudsman analysed the causes of the mortgage crisis in Spain and its consequences for
vulnerable groups and made extensive recommendations. 47
108. In Canada, the National Housing Strategy includes a provision for a federal housing
advocate responsible for hearing the experiences of vulnerable groups regarding systemic
barriers to adequate housing. 48
109. In Peru, the Ombudsman intervenes in situations that affect or restrict people’s
access to housing. For example, it recommended that the metropolitan municipality of Lima
adopt a relocation plan for the urban indigenous Shipibo-Conibo people of the Cantagallo
community who were living in a dump. As a response, the Ministry of Housing,
Construction and Sanitation announced the construction of housing units for the families,
with an investment of 23 million soles. 49
H.
Principle 8: ensuring access to justice
110. Rights-based strategies must include effective claiming mechanisms that guarantee
access to remedies where a violation is found. Such mechanisms can play a vital role in
ensuring that housing systems operate inclusively and effectively. They allow marginalized
groups to identify unmet housing needs, draw attention to circumstances that have been
neglected or ignored and identify laws, policies or programmes that deny access to
adequate housing. They provide rights holders with the opportunity to identify appropriate
remedies or solutions to their housing problems.
111. Rights-based housing strategies may rely on a variety of means to ensure access to
justice.50 Courts may be relied upon to hear constitutional claims related to violations of the
right to housing or enforce legislation governing housing strategies. Necessary legal
assistance and other support must be available to guarantee access to courts and to ensure
fair hearings.
112. While ultimate recourse to courts is important, other more accessible claiming
mechanisms should also be included in housing strategies. Ombudsman offices, housing
commissioners, human rights institutions, community housing councils or housing
advocates may be given authority to consider complaints and to require responses by
Governments and other relevant actors.
113. It is particularly important that claiming mechanisms be able hear systemic claims
and hold all relevant actors accountable. They should be given broad jurisdiction to hear
from civil society, engage multiple levels of government and to hold private actors
accountable.
114. In the context of housing strategies, access to justice must be broadly conceived.
States are held accountable for specific actions, such as forced evictions. They must also,
however, be held accountable for violations resulting from failures to progressively realize
47
48
49
50
16
See www.defensordelpueblo.es/en/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/Ndp_hipotecas_en.pdf.
See “Canada’s National Housing Strategy” (Ottawa, 2017). Available from
www.placetocallhome.ca/pdfs/Canada-National-Housing-Strategy.pdf.
Submission of the Peru Ombudsman for the present report, p. 6.
See Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights general comment No. 9 (1998) on the
domestic application of the Covenant, para. 9.
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