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
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
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
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 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
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 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...
US Disparate Impact Law: A View From Across the Pond
In the set of (relatively) liberal recent pronouncements from the United States Supreme Court features its judgment in Texas Department of Housing v Inclusive Communities Project (2015). The Court, by...
Holding the Government to Account for England’s Housing Crisis through the ICESCR Parallel Reporting Process
The United Kingdom is approaching its 6th Periodic Report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), which will assess its performance and compliance with its obligations under...
Victory for Islanders’ Homes: Hong Kong Court Rules Against Unlicensed Funeral Parlour
For over 20 years, residents of Cheung Chau Island in Hong Kong have performed funeral rites in a makeshift Funeral Pavilion. Located less than 10 metres from homes on a...
Right to Housing Debate Stalled by Canadian Court
By a 2-1 majority, a provincial appellate court has halted proceedings in Tanudjaja v Canada (Attorney-General) which sought to recognise a constitutional obligation on provincial and federal governments to provide...
The Zulu Case: Threats to Squatters’ Rights in South Africa
It is trite to say that land is a contentious issue in South Africa. This encompasses not only the legacy of the unjust expropriations and arbitrary evictions of the apartheid...
