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Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, A/HRC/19/53, 26 December 2011

III. GENDER-SENSITIVE HOUSING LAW, POLICY AND PROGRAMMING: THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE HOUSING FROM A GENDER-EQUALITY PERSPECTIVE 

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50. In order to ensure that housing is accessible to all groups of women, it is similarly important for housing law, policy and programmes to reflect the needs of women who may be especially disadvantaged and who encounter intersectional discrimination, including widows, elderly women, lesbians, homeless women, migrant women, women with disabilities, women who may be single mothers or single heads of households, women living with or otherwise affected by chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and mental health disorders, women belonging to racial/ethnic/linguistic minorities, domestic workers, sex workers, illiterate women and women who have been displaced.

V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

62. In order to continue to advance the recognition, protection and enjoyment of women’s right to adequate housing, as well as women’s rights to non-discrimination and equality, States should adopt reinforcing strategies. These strategies should be targeted both at the articulation of domestic law, policy and programming which uphold women’s right to adequate housing, as well as at effective implementation. In order to better protect and realize women’s right to adequate housing, the Special Rapporteur offers the following recommendations.

63. The Special Rapporteur reiterates that States should design, adopt and implement gender-sensitive and human rights-based law, policy and programming which:

  1. Prioritizes the needs of particularly vulnerable and/or marginalized women, including widows, elderly women, lesbians, homeless women, migrant women, women with disabilities, women who may be single mothers or single heads of household, women living with or otherwise affected by HIV/AIDS, women belonging to minorities, domestic workers, sex workers, illiterate women and women who have been displaced.

Link to full text of the report:
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session19/A-HRC-19-53_en.pdf