UN expert condemns human rights leaders for failure to address housing crisis News
UN expert condemns human rights leaders for failure to address housing crisis

UN housing crisis expert Leilani Farha on Monday criticized human rights leaders who have failed to hold themselves accountable for inadequate housing rights.

The UN Special Rapporteur previously urged the leaders of the G-20 summit to address the global housing crisis. Following the summit, Farha presented a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva calling for accountability in providing remedies for government failures in resolving housing problems.

The range of problems include rampant evictions issued by the courts to the criminalization of the homeless. Those without adequate access to housing have been treated as less than human and should be considered internationally as a violation of a basic human rights. Farhas calls for a reform of the role of the judiciary in handling evictions and criminal offenses, but also development plans that make access to housing affordable.

She calls on human rights leaders of states to recognize access to adequate and affordable housing as a human right within their borders and to make necessary remedies to address the global housing crisis to ensure better access to justice.