Right to Housing

Is the restitution of land in the ‘public interest’?

Is the restitution of land in the ‘public interest’?

In the wake of public hearings taking place around South Africa concerning the Parliamentary motion to review and amend the compensation provisions for the lawful expropriation of land contained in...
Governance Gaps Lead to the Displacement of People Living in Rural Communities in Zambia

Governance Gaps Lead to the Displacement of People Living in Rural Communities in Zambia

In Zambia, gaps in governance are allowing commercial farmers to contravene the law. This has resulted in the physical displacement and dispossession of native rural communities as well as the...
Homeless at Home: Forced Internal Displacement In India

Homeless at Home: Forced Internal Displacement In India

In September 2017, the Prime Minister of India inaugurated the Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSP), which was designated as the second largest dam in the world. Most of the Indian media...
Djazia and Bellili v Spain: Eviction and Homelessness under the OP-ICESCR

Djazia and Bellili v Spain: Eviction and Homelessness under the OP-ICESCR

When the private housing sector fails the State must use its resources to provide alternative housing, according to the latest case concluded by the CESCR. The Committee also makes its...
Balancing the Scales in Eviction Cases in South Africa: A Note on Occupiers of erven 87 & 88 Berea v Christiaan Frederick De Wet

Balancing the Scales in Eviction Cases in South Africa: A Note on Occupiers of erven 87 & 88 Berea v Christiaan Frederick De Wet

In a landmark judgement by the South African Constitutional Court, Occupiers of erven 87 & 88 Berea v Christiaan Frederick De Wet, the Court found that eviction orders that will...
Human Dignity, Land Dispossession, And The Right To Security Of Tenure: A Note On The South African Constitutional Court’s Judgement In Daniels v Scribante

Human Dignity, Land Dispossession, And The Right To Security Of Tenure: A Note On The South African Constitutional Court’s Judgement In Daniels v Scribante

In a recent judgement by the South African Constitutional Court, Daniels v Scribante and Another, the court made a link between land dispossession, the right to security of tenure and...
Likuwa v City of Windhoek: Namibian Court Misses an Opportunity to Develop Land Occupation Laws

Likuwa v City of Windhoek: Namibian Court Misses an Opportunity to Develop Land Occupation Laws

Namibia’s history is one tainted by grotesque land evictions en masse and natives suffering dispossession at the hands of settler colonialists and apartheid-inspired forced evictions. This legacy subsists today, with...
Turning back the clock on Socio -Economic Rights: Kenya’s Court of Appeal decision in the Mitu-Bell Case

Turning back the clock on Socio -Economic Rights: Kenya’s Court of Appeal decision in the Mitu-Bell Case

A July 2016 decision by the Kenyan Court of Appeal in Kenya Airports Authority v Mitu-Bell Welfare Society & 2 Others (“Mitu-Bell”) threatens to plunge the country back into the...
Socio-Economic Rights Advocacy in South Africa’s Eastern Cape

Socio-Economic Rights Advocacy in South Africa’s Eastern Cape

I am one of the two Oxford Human Rights Hub/Rhodes University Travelling Fellows for this year. This is the first year of the fellowship, and the second fellow will be...
Justice Scalia and the Fair Housing Act: A Textualist Approach Honed in Oral Argument

Justice Scalia and the Fair Housing Act: A Textualist Approach Honed in Oral Argument

Justice Antonin Scalia’s output in the area of housing rights, and Fair Housing Act (FHA) law specifically, is deceptively sparse, if judged by authored opinions. Assessing his impact on these...
Abbotsford v Shantz: Housing Rights and the Canadian Constitution

Abbotsford v Shantz: Housing Rights and the Canadian Constitution

The struggle for recognition of the right to adequate housing under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has not met with much success. Abbotsford (City) v Shantz is the...
Forced Evictions and Demolition of  Informal Settlements in Kenya

Forced Evictions and Demolition of Informal Settlements in Kenya

Forced evictions and demolitions of informal settlements in Kenya have been on the increase in recent days due to urban redevelopment and claims that such installations pose a security threat...

Become A Contributor To The Blog