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Chapter 4 CESCR General Comment No. 4 (1991) on the Right to Adequate Housing (Article 11(1) of the Covenant) 1. Pursuant to Article 11 (1) of the Covenant, States parties “recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions .” The human right to adequate housing, which is thus derived from the right to an adequate standard of living, is of central importance for the enjoyment of all economic , social and cultural rights. 2. The Committee has been able to accumulate a large amount of information pertaining to this right. Since 1979, the Committee and its predecessors have examined 75 reports dealing with the right to adequate housing. The Committee has also devoted a day of general discussion to the issue at each of its third (see E/1989/22, para. 312) and fourth sessions (E/1990/23, paras. 281–285). In addition, the Committee has taken careful note of information generated by the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (1987) including the Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000 adopted by the General Assembly in its resolution 42/191 of 11 December 1987. The Committee has also reviewed relevant reports and other documentation of the Commission on Human Rights and the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. 3. Although a wide variety of international instruments address the different dimensions of the right to adequate housing, Article 11 (1) of the Covenant is the most comprehensive and perhaps the most important of the relevant provisions. 4. Despite the fact that the international community has frequently reafWrmed the importance of full respect for the right to adequate housing, there remains a disturbingly large gap between the standards set in Article 11 (1) of the Covenant and the situation prevailing in many parts of the world. While the problems are often particularly acute in some developing countries which confront major resource and other constraints, the Committee observes that signiWcant problems of homelessness and inadequate Original notes omitted. housing also exist in some of the most economically developed societies. The United Nations estimates that there are over 100 million persons homeless worldwide and over 1 billion inadequately housed. There is no indication that this number is decreasing. It seems clear that no State party is free of signiWcant problems of one kind or another in relation to the right to housing. 5. In some instances, the reports of States parties examined by the Committee have acknowledged and described difWculties in ensuring the right to adequate housing. For the most part, however, the information provided has been insufWcient to enable the Committee to obtain an adequate picture of the situation prevailing in the State concerned . This General Comment thus aims to identify some of the principal issues which the Committee considers to be important in relation to this right. 6. The right to adequate housing applies to everyone. While the reference to “himself and his family” reXects assumptions as to gender roles and economic activity patterns commonly accepted in 1966 when the Covenant was adopted, the phrase cannot be read today as implying any limitations upon the applicability of the right to individuals or to female-headed households or other such groups. Thus, the concept of “family” must be understood in a wide sense. Further, individuals, as well as families, are entitled to adequate housing regardless of age, economic status, group or other afWliation or status and other such factors. In particular, enjoyment of this right must, in accordance with Article 2 (2) of the Covenant, not be subject to any form of discrimination. 7. In the Committee’s view, the right to housing should not be interpreted in a narrow or restrictive sense which equates it with, for example, the shelter provided by merely having a roof over one’s head or views shelter exclusively as a commodity. Rather it should be seen as the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity. This is appropriate for at least two reasons. In the Wrst place, the right to housing is integrally linked to other human rights and to the fundamental principles upon which the Covenant is premised. This “inherent dignity of the human person” from which the rights in the Covenant are said to derive requires that the term “housing” be interpreted so as to take account of a variety of other considerations, most importantly...

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