Human Rights Council, 5^th Session

11-18 June 2007

Item 2: Implementation of General Assembly resolution 60/251 of 15 March 2006 entitled “Human Rights Council”

 
Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living

Statement by the International Federation for the Protection of the Rights of Ethnic, Religious, Linguistic and Other Minorities (IFPRERLM)

Delivered by Mr. Damianos Serefidis [Main Representative, Geneva] on 11 June 2007

“Mr. President,

The International Federation for the Protection of the Rights of Ethnic, Religious, Linguistic and Other Minorities (IFPRERLM) would like to thank the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Mr. Kothari, for his work, and to bring forward the problem of adequate housing in cases of tensions or unrest, internal, international or mixed conflict. More specifically we want to address the problem from two different angles: a) violations of the right to adequate housing through direct or indirect forced evictions of populations from their homeland and, b) the housing situation of populations who find refuge to neighboring countries because of direct or indirect forced evictions.

For that, the International Federation would like to draw the attention of the Council to the case of the Assyrian minority in Iraq. The Assyrian case constitutes a real example of the combination of the two above-mentioned aspects and is related to situations of high political uncertainty, tensions and unrest. It has been repeatedly reported that since 2003 more than half a million Assyrians were forced to abandon their homeland and to flee to neighboring countries because of the fragile situation in Iraq and mostly in its northern provinces where serious human rights violations have been committed. Unfortunately, the strong geo-strategic interests in this particular area have left little space to address the difficult issue of the future status of the various minority groups and have prevented any further elaboration of an efficient framework towards harmonious ethnocultural coexistence.

Furthermore, not less alarming is the current housing situation of Iraqi Assyrian refugees in Jordan and Syria. Due to the fragility and uncertainty of their refugee status as well as due to various structural difficulties, among which the continuous rise of rental rates, there is a serious issue of affordability of housing for Assyrian refugees in these countries. In addition, there are many Assyrians who dwell in paper boxes or even sleep in cemeteries, living in substandard conditions and being dependent on handouts from local organizations.

The Assyrian example - a national minority in Iraq which becomes a refugee group in neighboring countries - clearly shows us that in conflict situations, for one and the same case we might have more than one type of violations of the right to adequate housing.

On this basis, the International Federation would like to address the following comments and questions:

- There is a need to further apply the disaggregated data approach for monitoring the right to adequate housing, as mentioned in the report, because as elicited by the case of Assyrians of Iraq, aggregated indicators can hide the disproportionate burden that specific minority populations may bare in situations of conflict or tension.

- On the issue of forced evictions in conflict situations: how can we draw the line between on the one hand deliberate governmental policies and on the other hand the incapacity of state authorities to control parts of the state’s territory?

- Finally, Mr. President, the International Federation would like to ask the Special Rapporteur whether he plans to present, in the future, a detailed study on how the proposed indicators can apply to situations of conflict or tension.

Thank you.”