THE RIGHT TO A NATIONALITY AND THE RIGHT TO
ADEQUATE HOUSING: AN ANALYSIS OF THE
INTERSECTION OF TWO LARGELY ‘INVISIBLE’
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
BENJAMIN GRONOWSKI *
Millions of individuals around the world face challenges enjoying their right to a nationality, and
millions more face challenges enjoying their right to adequate housing. While these human rights
violations are recognised in general terms, little research has considered the extent to which
these human rights abuses intersect as stateless persons face violations of specific socioeconomic
rights, especially the right to adequate housing. This research attempts to fill that gap. This
analysis explores the term adequate housing and the various legal instruments that enshrine this
right, as well as the unique challenges faced by stateless persons in its enjoyment. This research
argues that states have failed to respect, protect and fulfil the right to adequate housing for
stateless persons in a number of contexts and that these failures are particularly acute for
stateless persons with additional marginalised identities, which can then result in additional
human rights violations. This analysis examines how previous policy solutions have failed to
adequately consider the unique needs of inadequately housed stateless persons and calls
attention to the need for more holistic and inclusive approaches to realise the right to adequate
housing for all, which must include stateless persons.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Two ‘Invisible’ Human Rights Violations, Individually and Together ................ 240
The Meaning of the Right to Adequate Housing and Its Protections
According to Human Rights Law ......................................................................... 243
Challenges to Enjoying the Right to Adequate Housing for Stateless
Persons and Further Legal Protections for Stateless Individuals .......................... 246
State Obligations Regarding the Right to Adequate Housing for
Stateless Persons ................................................................................................... 249
A The Obligation to Respect ........................................................................ 249
B The Obligation to Protect ......................................................................... 250
C The Obligation to Fulfil ............................................................................ 252
Intersectional Identities and Statelessness: Further Discrimination in the
Right to Adequate Housing................................................................................... 254
The Interconnected Nature of Violations of the Right to Adequate Housing
and Other Human Rights ...................................................................................... 256
Shortcomings of the Past and a Look to the Future .............................................. 258
* Benjamin Gronowski is a recent graduate of the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey School
of Public Affairs, where he received the James Lyday Fellowship for Public Service and
obtained his Master of Human Rights degree. He has researched and advocated for the right
to a nationality at the Institute for Statelessness and Inclusion, as a Peace Corps Volunteer in
the Dominican Republic, and in academia.