Rapporteur hosts roundtable on security of tenure in Europe

On June 26th, Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik hosted in Palais Wilson, headquarters of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, an informal consultation on security of tenure with representatives of civil society organizations from several  European countries, such as Spain, Portugal, France, Northern Ireland , Turkey and Serbia.

The meeting sought to identify the key challenges in ensuring tenure security for urban poor, particularly for informal settlement dwellers; identify and assess the effectiveness and validity of policies and practices that have been implemented or developed to ensure and/or strengthen tenure security for the urban poor, particularly informal settlement dwellers, at both national and local levels; and identify key recommendations of policies, practices and legislation that have: proven effective in addressing the above challenges; have the potential for general application; and could be part of the UN Special Rapporteur’s forthcoming Guidelines.

The consultation is part of the Special Rapporteur’s project on security of tenure. This two-year project started in 2012 and will continue until early 2014. In 2012, the Special Rapporteur ‘mapped’ legal guidance, policies and practices with respect to tenure security as a key element of the right to adequate housing, identifying a number of challenges and gaps. In 2013, between May and June, the rapporteur held regional consultations in Quito (Ecuador), in Johannesburg (South Africa) and in Sao Paulo (Brazil). The results of these events will help the formulation of guidelines on the theme, which are to be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2014.

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