The Right to a Nationality and the Right to Adequate Housing
(‘CRPD’) provides for equal access to housing for persons with disabilities 39 and
obligates states to continuously improve living conditions and safeguard and
promote this right without discrimination, as well as ensure access to housing
programs. 40 The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All
Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families states that migrant workers
shall enjoy equal treatment with regards to housing access and protection against
housing-related exploitation. 41 These protections are especially important for
individuals who belong to these groups and are also stateless or at risk of
statelessness, as they face additional challenges enjoying the right to adequate
housing, which this analysis will explore in a later Part.
The right to adequate housing is further protected in regional treaties,
including the 1996 revised European Social Charter, 42 the African Charter on
the Rights and Welfare of the Child, 43 and the Charter for the Organization of
American States. 44 Even regional treaties that do not directly refer to this right,
such as the American Convention on Human Rights and the African Charter on
Human and Peoples’ Rights, have been interpreted to include protections related
to the right to adequate housing as derived from other rights, such as the right to
privacy or property. 45 The right to adequate housing is additionally enshrined in
states’ constitutions, and fifty-two national constitutions address the right to
adequate housing, either explicitly referring to this right or noting the state’s
general responsibility to ensure adequate housing and living conditions for its
population. 46 Like the right to a nationality, every state is party to at least one
treaty committing itself to respect and protect the right to adequate housing,
without discrimination on any ground, including ‘race, colour, sex … national or
social origin … or birth or other status’. 47 As such, the lack of a nationality and
underlying discriminatory factors, such as race or sex, cannot be the reason for
unequal treatment with regards to the right to adequate housing. While the right
to adequate housing is extensively enshrined in international and domestic law,
stateless persons face a number of challenges enjoying this fundamental right.
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, GA Res 61/106, UN GAOR, 61st
sess, Agenda Item 67(b), UN Doc A/RES/61/106 (24 January 2007, adopted 13 December
2006) art 9.
ibid art 28.
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families, opened for signature 18 December 1990, 2220 UNTS 3
(entered into force 1 July 2003) art 43.
European Social Charter (Revised), opened for signature 3 May 1996, ETS No 163 (entered
into force 1 July 1999) arts 30, 31.
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, opened for signature 11 July 1990,
OAU Doc CAB/LEG/24.9/49 (entered into force 29 November 1999) art 20.
Charter of the Organization of American States, opened for signature 30 April 1948, 119
UNTS 3 (entered into force 13 December 1951) art 34.
The Right to Adequate Housing (n 11) 12.
Scott Leckie, ‘The Justiciability of Housing Rights’ in SIM Special No 18: Proceedings of
the Conference on Optional Protocol to the Covenant of Economic, Cultural and Social
Rights (Netherlands Institute on Human Rights 1995) 35–77.
ICESCR (n 32) art 2.
245