FIRST EVER THEMATIC HEARING ON THE RIGHT TO HOUSING IN THE UNITED STATES BEFORE THE INTER-AMERICAN COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS聽
DECEMBER 16, 2021: The hearing is virtual and open to the public;聽 to register.听 Further information on the IACHR鈥檚 hearings, schedule, and registration is available聽.听
With the rise of so-called 鈥渁nti-homeless ordinances鈥 that have placed unhoused persons at greater risk of loss of life and loss of mental and physical health, cities and municipalities across the United States have engaged in the practice of criminalizing homelessness and poverty through issuing these ordinances, conducting police sweeps, and forcibly displacing encamped communities across the United States.
On at 14:00-15:30 ET, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights will hold a on the right to housing in the United States. The objective of the hearing-the first of its kind on this topic-is to establish the legal nature of housing as a human right, and to demand that housing be guaranteed to each person without discrimination. The hearing will outline how the failure to provide adequate shelter and housing聽subjects unhoused persons to numerous violations of their fundamental human rights, e.g., the rights to personal security, health, property, and the right to be free from torture and other ill-treatment.
The current executive administration of the USG was elected on a platform that explicitly affirmed housing as a human right. However, recent discourse has largely failed to recognize the United States鈥 existing legal obligations to ensure adequate housing as a human right under international human rights law. Likewise, there has never been a high-level formal articulation of the serious and ongoing violations arising from the criminalization of homelessness, with either a human rights framework or a racial justice lens. Addressing the rising crisis of unhoused persons in the United States using the human rights framework would ground this discussion in the protection and preservation of fundamental human rights, paying particular attention to issues affecting minority and other vulnerable groups.
PARTICIPANTS
The Center for Human for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law at 小蓝视频 Washington College of Law has convened a delegation of experts working to combat the criminalization of homelessness in the United States, including advocates from the, the, the, and California-based NGO Reach for the Top.听 This delegation of organizations is united by its commitment to recognizing housing as a human right through research, advocacy, and the implementation of policies aimed at ensuring respect for individual rights without discrimination.听 Directly impacted people from across the country will also testify to the Commission, calling attention to human rights violations and offering emerging better practices.听 Given its specific focus on the United States, the delegation believes that it is imperative that government representatives be present, testify, and respond to the Commission鈥檚 questions.听聽聽
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Role of Thematic Hearings
The (Commission) is one of the institutions of the whose mission is to promote and protect human rights in the Americas.听 The Commission is composed of seven independent members whose role is to monitor State compliance with its human rights obligations.听 The Commission holds two types of hearings: case-based (or petition) hearings and hearings of a general nature (also known as thematic hearings).听 Thematic hearings are held in response to requests from civil society and governments in order to address a wide range of human rights concerns.听 Thematic hearings can advance general awareness of a human rights issue, serve as a coalition-building tool, reinforce advocacy at the United Nations, and focus the Commission on a particular human rights concern.听 Recent hearings have addressed solitary confinement, juvenile justice, national security, indigenous rights, racial discrimination, human trafficking, rights of migrants and farm workers, detention at the U.S.-Mexico Border, the right to water, and conditions at Guantanamo Bay, among many others.