Women and housing

The Commission on Human Rights, by its resolution 2002/49 on women’s equal ownership of, access to and control over land and equal rights to own property and to adequate housing, the Commission entrusted the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing with the additional task of preparing a study on women and adequate housing. Pursuant to the Commission on Human Rights resolution 2002/49 which requested the Special Rapporteur to submit a study on women and adequate housing in 2003, the Special Rapporteur has developed a questionnaire [English] [French] [Spanish] to solicit information from States, local authorities and civil society for the preparation of the study.

With the support from UN-HABITAT, a regional civil society consultation was organized for the Special Rapporteur in Nairobi in October 2002, which helped him to collect the views of grassroots women from East African countries on issues relevant to his mandate, reflected in his study presented to the Commission in 2003 ( UN Document E/CN.4/2003/55 ).
In April 2003, the Commission adopted resolution 2003/22 requesting the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing to, within his mandate, submit a second study on women and adequate housing to the Commission in 2005. The Commission on Human Rights also specifically encouraged the holding of further regional consultations on the issue.

In addition to the regional consultation held in Nairobi, regional consultations have subsequently been held in New Delhi in October 2003, in Mexico City in December 2003, and in Alexandria in July 2004, and in Fiji