A/HRC/37/53
130. In Lima, regeneration efforts have been led in the Rimac area through partnerships
between community residents’ associations and private developers. 56 The community
associations identify private developers to buy historic houses. The buildings are then
reconstructed in order to provide subsidized units to current residents and market-rate units
to new buyers.57
J.
Principle 10: implement international cooperation and assistance
131. Housing strategies are primarily focused on realizing the right to housing within
States and ensuring that domestic policies and programmes are designed and implemented
to ensure adequate housing for all, in line with commitments made in the New Urban
Agenda and the 2030 Agenda. At the same time, however, States must recognize that many
of the challenges addressed in housing strategies are global in nature and also require
international action.
132. Article 2 (1) of the Covenant recognizes the international dimension of the
obligation to progressively realize Covenant rights, stating that States must take steps,
individually and through international assistance and cooperation, especially economic and
technical. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has recognized that a
State is not in compliance with its international human rights obligations with respect to
housing where its development assistance has resulted in the violation of the right to
housing in another country. 58 Housing strategies should embrace the international
dimensions of the right to housing by strengthening commitments to international
cooperation and assistance and facilitating shared action to address global challenges.
133. Rather than facilitating the realization of the right to housing, development
assistance often impedes it. Funding continues to be provided for infrastructure projects that
result in forced evictions, and to support the financialization of property and housing, which
leads to speculation and unaffordability. Instead, innovative models of technical and
financial assistance should be adopted to support community-driven in situ upgrading,
drawing on models of collective title and cooperative ownership. States receiving
development assistance should insist that it be provided in a manner that supports and
facilitates the implementation of housing strategies.
134. International financial institutions have frequently imposed deregulation or austerity
measures that undermine housing strategies as a condition for loans or projects. States
required to borrow from international or regional lenders should negotiate terms and
conditions that support their housing strategies and should not accept conditions on loans
that would result in violations of the right to housing. 59 Expedited complaints procedures
should be available to contest imposed conditionality that is contrary to human rights
obligations.
135. Unprecedented capital flows and the financialization of housing in “global cities”
turn housing assets into internationally traded commodities. Housing strategies should
ensure transparency and accountability of investment firms and funds, real estate investors
and other corporate actors. They should engage with international initiatives such as the
United Nations Global Compact to promote investment and business practices consistent
with sustainability and the right to housing. They should ensure that national financial
institutions, securities and capital markets are regulated in a manner that promotes the right
to housing and should push international bodies such as the International Organization of
Securities Commissions to develop and promote standards to support the right to housing.
136. International tax havens and lack of transparency in real estate investments deprive
governments of resources that would otherwise be available for the implementation of
housing strategies. States should work collaboratively on measures such as a global
56
57
58
59
Ibid., p. 30.
Ibid., p. 31.
See E/C.12/DEU/CO/5 para. 11.
See E/C.12/2016/1, para. 4.
19
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