Right to housing

Abstract: Part 1 Concepts and Principles: 1. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - a Universal Challenge, A. Eide, A. Rosas. 2. Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as Human Rights, A. Eide. 3. Economic and Social Rights as Legal Rights, M. Scheinin. 4. Cultural Rights and Universal Human Rights, R. Stavenhagen. 5. The Right of Self-Determination, A. Rosas. Part 2 Selected Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: 6. The Right to an Adequate Standard of Living Including the Right to Food, A. Eide. 7. The Right to Housing, S. Leckie. 8. Health Rights, K. Tomasevski. 9. The Right to Property, C. Krause. 10. The Right to Social Security, M. Scheinin. 11. The Right to Work and Rights in Work, K. Drzewicki. 12. The Right to Education, M. Nowak. 13. The Right to Human Rights Education, G. Alfredsson. 14. Cultural Rights as Individual Human Rights, A. Eide. Part 3 Contested Rights: 15. So-Called Rights of the Third Generation, A. Rosas. 16. The Right to Development, A. Rosas. 17. Environmental Rights, K. Tomasevski. 18. Women, K. Tomasevski. 19. Children, T. Hammarberg. 20. Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, A.-C. Bloch. 21. Immigrants and Migrant Workers, J. Niessen. 22. Armed Conflicts, A. Rosas, M. Sandvik. Part 4 Implementation: 23. Implementation Mechanisms and Remedies, A. Rosas, M. Scheinin. 24. Obstacles and Goals to be Pursued, A. Eide. 24. Indicators, K. Tomasevski. 26. International Development Finance Agencies, K. Tomasevski. 27. Technical Assistance and Advisory Services, G. Alfredsson. Annex 1: Revised Guidelines regarding the Form and Contents of Reports to be Submitted by States Parties under Articles 16 and 17 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Annex 2: General Comments of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Annex 3: Selected General Comments of the Human Rights Committee.

Abstract: * Contents * 1. Rights, resources and the politics of accountability: An introduction -- Peter Newell and Joanna Wheeler * 2. Taking accountability into account: The debate so far -- Peter Newell * Part 1: Rights and resources * Overview: The political economy of resources and the cultural politics of rights: challenges for accountability -- Peter Newell and Joanna Wheeler * 3. Do human rights make a difference to poor and vulnerable people? Accountability for the right to water in South Africa -- Lyla Mehta * 4. Managing watersheds and the right to water: Indigenous communities in search of accountability and inclusion in Southern Veracruz -- Luisa Pare and Carlos Robles * 5. Conflicting rights, environmental agendas, and the challenges of accountability: social mobilisation and protected natural areas in Mexico -- Luisa Pare and Carlos Cortez * 6. From Protest to Proactive Action: Building Institutional Accountability Through Struggles for the Right to Housing -- Celestine Nyamu * 7. Rights to health and struggles for accountability in a Brazilian municipal health council -- Andrea Cornwall, Silvia Cordeiro and Nelson Giordano Delgado * Part 2: Investor accountabilities * Overview: Rights, resources, and investor accountability -- Peter Newell and Joanna Wheeler * 8. Corporate accountability and citizen action: Cases from India -- Peter Newell with Vaijanyanta Anand, Hasrat Arjjumend, Harsh Jaitli, Sampath Kumar and A.B.S.V. Ranga Rao * 9. Environmental injustice, law and accountability -- Rohit Lekhi and Peter Newell 10. Oil and accountability issues in the Niger Delta -- Oga Steve Abah and Jenks Zakari Okwori * 11. Compliance versus accountability: Struggles for dignity and daily bread in the Bangladesh garment industry -- Simeen Mahmud and Naila Kabeer * 12. Accountability begins at home: The living wage movement in the United States -- Stephanie Luce

Abstract: The article contributes to two central and interrelated discourses in welfare state theory and housing policy. One concerns the meaning of a ‘right to housing’, and the other concerns the meaning of the dichotomy ‘universal’–‘selective’ in housing policy. The right to housing is best seen as a political ‘marker of concern’ pointing out housing as an area for welfare state policy. The more precise meaning of the idea is always defined socially, in a specific national context of relations between state, citizen, and markets in housing provision. Two alternative interpretations of a right to housing are suggested, each related to a certain logic of housing provision. In a selective housing policy, the state provides a ‘protected’ complement to the general housing market, and the right to housing implies some legalistic minimum rights for households of lesser means. In a universal housing policy, the state provides correctives to the general housing market in order to make housing available to all types of households, and the right to housing is best seen as a social right in Marshall’s meaning of an obligation of the state towards society as a whole. The concepts of ‘universal’ and ‘selective’ may be applied to either the political discourse or the social outcome of policies. Furthermore, they may refer to different political levels (e.g. welfare state level, sector level, and policy instrument level). If the dichotomy is not specified in those two respects, the distinction between a universal and a selective policy will always be seriously blurred.

Abstract: Urbanites worldwide fight for their right to housing and the city in ways that encompass what Westernized and masculine takes on ‘radical politics’ make of them. This intervention proposes a decolo...