2019 Statelessness & Citizenship Review 1(2) the authorities’ methods of addressing the housing issue have involved coercion, forcible removal and segregation, while the government’s financial investment in solving this issue has been negligible. 103 Instead of receiving support as part of the state’s obligation to fulfil the right to adequate housing, stateless populations and those at risk of statelessness face responses ranging from passive neglect to failure to even respect this right. INTERSECTIONAL IDENTITIES AND STATELESSNESS: FURTHER DISCRIMINATION IN THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE HOUSING The previous section demonstrates that states have failed to comply with their obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to adequate housing for stateless persons collectively. But certain groups of stateless persons face further challenges in the enjoyment of this right, encountering additional barriers in initial access and suffering further human rights abuses after this right is violated. One such group are stateless women. They may face discrimination both due to their gender and their lack of a nationality in securing tenure or owning land or property as a result of inequitable laws and biased administration. As a result women make up a disproportionate number of those inadequately housed. 104 Stateless women face land and property seizure by the state and other third-party actors like all stateless persons, but they also may face seizures by relatives when inheriting land or property due to unequal practices based in law and custom. 105 Stateless women are often dependent on male family members in gaining access to housing or land, making them more vulnerable to abuse due to inequality in the relationship. 106 This inequality and resulting dependence also increases the likelihood that women will stay in abusive relationships to avoid displacement or homelessness. 107 If displaced or already living in substandard housing, women are also disproportionately exposed to gender-based violence and rape, due to a lack of privacy or the necessity that they travel long distances to access water or sanitation services. 108 Similarly to stateless women, stateless children face additional challenges accessing adequate housing and suffer disproportionately when the state fails in its obligations. As minors, children are dependent on adults to access adequate housing but many are unable to do so. While data is limited, figures estimate that one in three children do not have access to adequate shelter. 109 There is no data available to show the additional impact that statelessness has on children’s access to adequate shelter. Stateless children are often born to stateless parents, who face additional challenges in providing adequate housing for themselves and their offspring. The lack of adequate housing impacts children’s ability to study, as they are often attempting to do so in overcrowded spaces, and stateless children may already face challenges enrolling in schools or accessing 103 Perić (n 85). 104 General Comment No 7, UN Doc E/1998/22 (n 13) 115 [11]. 105 Miloon Kothari, Study by the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing as a Component of 106 107 108 109 the Right to an Adequate Standard of Living on Women and Adequate Housing, UN ESCOR, UN Doc E/CN.4/2005/43 (25 February 2005) 16 [55]. ibid 14. ibid. Amnesty International, Insecurity and Dignity: Women’s Experiences in the Slums of Nairobi, Kenya (Report, Amnesty International Publications 2010) 7. The State of the World’s Children: 2005 (Report, United Nations Children’s Fund 2005) 2. 254