COHRE Women and Housing Rights Programme: ISSUE BRIEF NINE
Women and Housing Rights
ISSUE BRIEF Women’s Housing Rights and Gender-Based Violence
Contents Women’s Housing Rights and Gender-based Violence...............1 Violence against Women in the Context of Forced Evictions.......4 Security Begins at Home: Domestic Violence.....................6 Violence against Women in the Context of Conflict and Displacement.............................8 Strategies to Combat Violence..10
Violence against women is endemic in all corners of the globe and is one of the world’s foremost human rights crises. It has been defined by the United Nations as “violence that is directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately. It includes acts that inflict physical, mental or sexual harm or 1
suffering, threats of such acts, coercion and other deprivations of liberty.” Violence against women is a universal problem that manifests itself in different forms in every country and culture. Social norms and practices that are biased against women may make them more susceptible to violence, and also to housing rights violations.
Violence against Women: A Global Human Rights Crisis The overall consequence of any form of violence against women and girls is the denial of fundamental human rights, including their enjoyment of the right to secure tenure and adequate housing. Through its own research, COHRE has seen time and time again the close connections between a woman’s housing security, and gender-based violence. In the context of urbanisation, for example, COHRE has noted that domestic violence is sometimes a cause for women to move into urban
According to global statistics, during their lifetime, 1 in 3 women have been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused. Typically, violence against women is perpetrated by women’s family members or intimate partners -- usually males.
Why Does a Woman’s Housing Security Matter?
Women’s Housing Rights and against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men.” Victims of violence have a right to the resources necessary to support themselves and their children, including the right to adequate housing. Nonetheless, lack of access to safe, alternative housing is too often a major factor keeping women trapped in violent situations. This is unfortunately true for women all across the world.
Violence against women is a crisis which fundamentally reflects women’s low status within societies. The UN General Assembly has also acknowledged that “violence against women is a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full advancement of women….” Moreover, “violence 2
slums, and any are prevented from leaving violent homes because they do not have alternative housing, and they are financially dependent on their husbands. Women interviewd by COHRE in the favelas of Brazil noted that the police patrolling the favela were highly insensitive to domestic violence issues, and often times, they did not take any measures to protect women. An important solution came with the creation of Delegacia de Defesa de Mulher (DDMs), a special police force dedicated to gender-based crimes. The women recognised the DDMs as a huge improvement in their lives since these authorities actually intervened in cases of domestic abuse.
slums. Unsafe environments and the lack of immediate solutions force women to leave their house in order to find a place far from the perpetrator. In this context, it takes a great deal of courage for women to move from their houses, leaving family and friends behind, to an unknown place to escape the abuse. Second, women also face domestic violence in the
Gender-based Violence
- A woman interviewed by COHRE in Jardim Celeste, one of the many in SĂŁo Paulo, Brazil 3
The Global Scope of Forced Eviction Without a doubt, women’s housing poverty and insecurity take many forms. Yet, one of the critical housing rights crises that we see today involves the widespread use of forced evictions. Under international human rights law, the practice of forced evictions is widely considered to “constitute a gross violation of human rights, in particular the right to adequate housing.” Based on sustained field research and eviction prevention activities, COHRE estimates that annually
well in excess of 5 million people are forcibly evicted, with the actual number likely to be much higher. Forced evictions thus represent one of the most widespread human rights and housing rights violations in the world today. For women, the negative implications of forced evictions are especially profound.
Violence against Women in the
– Testimony provided to COHRE by a woman forcibly evicted in Cambodia
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Violence against Women Before and During Forced Eviction security forces, including the police, often perpetrate acts of physical and sexual abuse and harassment against women and girls. One woman who survived the violent forced eviction of her community in Guatemala told COHRE: “I said to myself that I cannot leave here because I am seeing the women -that they are being raped by the soldiers and the patrollers. … And then, when they finally stopped the raping, then the children who were as young as 2 years or 7 months, were screaming and screaming ‘mama, mama, mama, where are you?’ I wanted to cry.”
Through previous research, COHRE has documented that women are most often the primary targets during forced evictions because evictions most often take place during the day, when women (often perceived to be less likely to resist) are at home. Forced evictions are often accompanied by violence, sometimes specifically targeting women (including genderbased and other forms of bias, such as race and class-based discrimination). In the midst of the violence and chaos, which often accompanies forced evictions, private actors and State
Violence against Women in the Aftermath of Forced Eviction
Context of Forced Evictions isolation. Women’s position within and outside the family also too often becomes more precarious as forced eviction places additional strain on situations that are often difficult from the onset. The loss of support systems often caused by dispersal of families post evictions, impacts women’s ability to care for children and other dependent family members, which also affects their ability to find work and ensure their economic independence.
Forced evictions often lead to homelessness and thus increase affected women and girls’ vulnerability to physical and sexual violence and exploitation. Further, women may also suffer additional violence in the home in the context of strained living conditions and psychological impact of eviction on family members, which may also at times aggravate problems of substance abuse and social 5
Domestic Violence is a Women’s Housing Rights Issue
deny married women legal autonomy” (Maria Eugenia Morales De Sierra v. Guatemala). The InterAmerican Commission also took the opportunity to cite the United Nations Commission on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women’s General Recommendation 19 on violence against women, arguing that de facto (in practice) or de jure (in law, policy, regulation) economic subordination, in turn, “forces many women to stay in violent relationships.” This was the first time that the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights noted the important link between the denial of women’s housing rights and the scourge of domestic violence within the Americas region.
In 2001, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights handed down a milestone judgement condemning the Government of Guatemala for provisions under its Civil Code which enshrined discrimination against women by subordinating a wife’s control of jointly held property to the will of her husband. The Commission found that “the overarching effect of the challenged provisions is to
Shelters and Transitional Housing Programmes
Security Begins at Home: Domestic Violence In 2005, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights adopted General Comment No. 16 on the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all economic, social and cultural rights. The General Comment explicitly recognised that the enjoyment of human rights on the basis of equality between men and women must be understood comprehensively, ensuring both de facto and de jure equality. On housing the Committee made a critical
connection between women’s ability to seek safety from domestic violence, and their ability to enjoy their housing rights. The Committee held that the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights requires States “to provide victims of domestic violence, who are primarily female, with access to safe housing.” This was a tremendous achievement for women’s housing rights advocates. 6
housing, land and property rights. In its resolution adopted in 2005, the Commission tackled key issues facing women’s housing security and reaffirmed that women’s housing rights were integral to the full realisation of women’s human rights. As in the Americas region, this international body also expressed its conviction that a lack of adequate housing makes women as a group more vulnerable to various forms of violence, including domestic violence, and in particular that the lack of housing alternatives may limit many women’s ability to leave violent situations.
Since that time, similar sentiments have been echoed by other leading international human rights bodies. For example, the former United Nations Commission on Human Rights (made up of members representing Governments from all over the world) also adopted a series of crucial annual resolutions affirming women’s
and Women’s Housing Rights government of Brazil had failed to adequately protect her rights as a victim of domestic violence.
Brazil’s Approach to Combating Domestic Violence Law 11.340 is known in Brazil as the ‘Marìa da Penha’ Law in honour of a survivor of domestic violence who lived through two murder attempts by her husband and became a symbol of the scourge of domestic violence within the country.
Law 11.340 was adopted by the government of Brazil in August 2006, and the law defines domestic violence as a human rights violation. In addition, the law provides for significant changes both in the definition of violence against women and in the legal, police, judicial, and social assistance (including housing) sectors and processes aimed at preventing and punishing domestic violence.
Marìa da Penha brought and won a case against Brazil before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, which found that the 7
Violence against Women and Displacement Displaced persons regularly lose much of their property when displaced. What is more, displaced women and girls face unique problems at all stages, largely due to the prevalence of gender-based violence and gender-based discrimination. This violence occurs mainly at the hands of the warring parties, but is also perpetrated by fellow community members and even family members. Displaced women interviewed by COHRE in places like Colombia, Sudan and Sri Lanka have shared harrowing tales of the violence
that played a role in their being forced to flee their homes. For example, displaced women interviewed by COHRE in Colombia Many spoke of long, arduous journeys through the Colombian countryside, enduring dangerous and desperate
Violence against Women in the Context of
- Radhika Coomaraswamy, former UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences
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Miloon Kothari, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing 8
situations, often with young children in their care. After arriving in a city environment, these women continue to face great difficulties. They spoke of being unable to obtain the most basic social services, such as adequate housing, water and electricity, and of continuing violence and intimidation in their communities.
In camps for displaced persons across Darfur and Eastern Chad, women and young girls leaving the camps to collect water, firewood, or to tend to their small garden plots have reported being attacked and raped by rebel fighters with impunity. In Sri Lanka, women displaced by both war and the tsunami have also found it difficult to find adequate housing once displaced. Even in cases where relocation housing has been provided by the government, these programmes do not recognise women's right to adequate housing, as they in effect only grant such entitlements to males ‘heads-of-household.’
In war-ravaged Sudan, basic security for displaced women has been virtually non-existent.
Ensuring Women’s Security during Displacement
Conflict and Displacement States should ensure that housing, land and property restitution programs, policies and practices recognise the joint ownership rights of both the male and female heads of the household as an explicit component of the restitution process, and that restitution programs, policies and practices reflect a gender sensitive approach. States should adopt positive measures to ensure gender equality in this regard.
According to the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, States should involve those affected by displacement, particularly women, in the planning and management of their relocation. In addition, displaced women have a right to have restored to them any housing, land and/or property of which they were arbitrarily or unlawfully deprived. They also have a right to equality on the basis of sex. Therefore, 9
Fight for Women’s Housing Rights
Regardless of the strategy, advocacy initiatives on women’s housing rights share the same fundamental goals, and securing these rights can mean that women are better able to live lives free from gender-based violence. While many of the challenges are similar, determining the appropriate strategy depends on a variety of internal and external factors and conditions at the local, regional and international level.
planning, access and resources. Advocacy can take place at multiple (and concurrent) levels and phases, and via various means as long as the goals and objectives can be achieved. In addition to substantive claims, advocacy on women’s housing rights also seeks to address the underlying causes of women’s unequal status and the gendered dimensions of property ownership and control, which operate to deny women of the equal exercise and enjoyment of their rights to housing. It is these underlying causes which often make them more vulnerable to
Nevertheless, each strategy to ensure women’s housing rights depends on the same essential elements, including information,
Zero-Tolerance for Violence against Women
Focus on Women’s Housing Rights: Violence against women is a plague in both rural and urban communities. Governments that have not done so already should criminalise violence against women in all of its forms, including domestic violence, forced marriage, rape, and sexual assault. States should redouble their efforts to combat violence against women in both rural and urban areas, and such efforts should also prioritise
eliminating violence against women in slum communities. As such, States must recognise the inter-linkages between domestic violence and women’s housing rights, and work to ensure that inability to access adequate housing does not become a barrier to women who wish to leave violent relationships. States must also communicate and enforce a zero-tolerance policy on violence and specifically gender-based violence during eviction. 10
situations of violence at the hands of authorities, community members and family members.
political process. For women, such inclusion is critical to ensure gender-sensitive responses to the housing rights challenges they face. However, in addition to legal and legislative advocacy, and even in the absence of formal institutional structures, the creative use of available resources can encourage inclusion and recognition of women’s housing rights.
Successful advocacy in women’s housing rights in areas such as strategic litigation and legislative lobbying often depends on the existence of legal and institutional structures including legislation that allow for participation in the
Programmatic areas, such as development planning, can also highlight the importance of women’s housing rights in longterm strategies for women’s social equality and economic empowerment.
Strategies to Combat Gender-based Violence Raise Your Voice
About Us
Advocacy on women’s housing rights cannot be removed from the broader context of women’s human rights advocacy. This includes the specific recognition of the interdependence and indivisibility of rights, viz. economic, social and cultural rights, women’s economic status and issues affecting women including discrimination and violence. A basic requirement for women to exercise their rights is comprehensive knowledge and information regarding those rights and access to full participation and enforcement mechanisms.
COHRE’s mission is to ensure the full enjoyment of the human right to adequate housing for everyone, everywhere, including preventing forced evictions of persons, families and communities from their homes or lands.
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The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) Women and Housing Rights Progtamme 83 rue de Montbrillant 1202 Geneva, Switzerland Phone: +41.22.734.1028 ¡ Fax:+41.22.733.8336 ¡ Email: women@cohre.org www.cohre.org/women 12