a checkpoint, for example in Jerusalem.268 This means that, regardless of the efficiency of the bureaucratic system, a significant period of time passes until a Palestinian receives the medical care that he or she needs. This is illustrated by the increasing number of Palestinian births taking place at home, rising from just eight percent in 1999, to 33 percent in 2002.269 These figures illustrate how Palestinian families are increasingly considering it to be safer to stay at home rather than risk being denied crossing at a checkpoint on their way to a hospital. In fact, between the years 2000 to 2007, ten percent of pregnant Palestinian women were denied or delayed at checkpoints, resulting in 69 births at checkpoints as well as 35 infant and five maternal deaths.270 Restrictions on the Right to Adequate Housing Israel’s obligation as an occupying power to protect the right of Palestinians to adequate housing is clearly stated in international law, including under Article 11 (1) of the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and, according to General Comment No. 4 of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,271 Article 11 (1) does not simply protect the right to have a roof over one’s head, but in fact protects the right to live somewhere “in security, peace and dignity”.272 During the most recent visit of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing to Israel and the oPt, the mandate holder expressed grave concerns as to how Israel uses its permit regime to severely restrict the Palestinian right to adequate housing. She reported that Israeli authorities refuse to approve, or disproportionally delay, projects aimed at improving housing and vital services in the oPt, including the denial of authorization to import construction materials into the Gaza Strip.273 The Special Rapporteur further noted, that: “[...] in very different legal and geographical contexts, from Galilee and the Negev to the West Bank, she received multiple similar 268 World Health Organization, “Right to Health: Barriers to health access in the occupied Palestinian territory, 2011 and 2012”, WHO, 2013, page 9. Available at: http://www.emro.who.int/images/ stories/palestine/documents/who_access_report-march_5_2013.pdf 269 HailaShoaibi, “Childbirth at checkpoints in the occupied Palestinian territory”, The Lancet, 5 July 2011. Available at: http://www.thelancet.com/pb/assets/raw/Lancet/abstracts/palestine/palestine2011-4. pdf 270 Ibid. 271 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), “General Comment No. 4: The Right to Adequate Housing (Art 11 (1) of the Covenant)”, United Nations, 13 December 1991. Available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/47a7079a1.html 272 Ibid. Page 2 273 Raquel Rolnik, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this contest. Mission to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, United Nations, 24 December 2012, page 19. Available at: http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/RegularSession/Session22/A-HRC-22-46_ Add1_en.pdf 71