The Right to Adequate Housing: A Talk by Miloon Kothari
2012 SFU Vancouver Speaker Series
The lecture will trace the evolution of the Right to Adequate Housing since the early 1990s concentrating on the work done by civil society campaigns and movements around the world and their influence on the interpretation of this critical human right at the UN human rights bodies. The lecture will also summarize the many obstacles that impede the implementation of this well articulated human right, including the impact of the current economic crisis in many regions of the world.
Mr. Kothari will use his experience as a civil society scholar/activist for the past 25 years and as the first United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing (from 2000-2008) to also elaborate on the nature of the recommendations that have emerged from the United Nations, including the need for radical changes that are necessary at social, political and economic levels, to ensure the realisation of the Right to Adequate Housing.
Moderated by Margot Young, UBC law professor
With special guest Michael Shapcott, Director of the Wellesley Institute, joining in via Skype
7:00 p.m. (PT)
Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema
SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver
SFU Vancouver Speaker Series
The SFU Vancouver Speaker Series brings global experts to a local audience. Launched in 2012, the series builds on SFU’s rich history of community engagement by exploring critical issues to contribute to better understanding among Vancouver’s citizens through an intellectually enriching experience.
The SFU Vancouver Speaker Series is presented by SFU Public Square, in partnership with SFU Vancouver and SFU’s Vancity Office of Community Engagement.
An architect by training, Mr. Miloon Kothari has extensive experience in the area of housing and land rights and has been actively working, through his various functions, to promote the realization of the whole range of economic, social and cultural rights.
Graduated from the Pratt Institute and Columbia University (New York) and the Maharaja Sayajirao University (Baroda, India), Mr. Kothari has been a Guest Professor to numerous Universities and Institutions.
Mr. Kothari is a leading voice at national, regional and international forums on human rights, especially economic, social and cultural rights. Mr. Kothari was appointed in September 2000 by the UN Commission on Human Rights as the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing. His mandate involves reporting annually to the Commission (now the UN Human Rights Council) on the status throughout the world of the realisation of the rights that are related to the right to adequate housing, and identifying practical solutions and good practices towards this end. In addition, the Commission requested the Special Rapporteur to promote cooperation among and assistance to Governments in their efforts to secure these rights; apply a gender perspective in the work; develop regular dialogue and collaboration with Governments, relevant UN bodies, specialised agencies, civil society and international financial institutions.
He is the coordinator of the South Asian Regional Programme of the Habitat International Coalition's Housing and Land Rights Network and is founding member of the International NGO Committee on Human Rights in Trade and Investment (INCHRITI). Mr. Kothari is also a member of the Leadership Council of the Global Women and AIDS Coalition, UNAIDS.
In his work as Rapporteur he has also focused on strategies to ensure respect for human rights in post-conflict and post-disaster situations. In 2007, Mr. Kothari led a mission to Canada to evaluate its human rights record related to housing. He has presented eight annual reports to the Human Rights Commission and Council. He also conducted, from 2002 to 2006, a global study on Women and Housing and Land. He has actively contributed to the standard setting process as part of his Rapporteur work, including the preparation of Principles and Guidelines on Development based Evictions and Displacement, in his 2007 report to the UN Human Rights Council.
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The lecture will trace the evolution of the Right to Adequate Housing since the early 1990's concentrating on the work done by civil society campaigns and movements around the world and their influence on the interpretation of this critical human right at the UN human rights bodies. The lecture will also summarize the many obstacles that impede the implementation of this well articulated human right, including the impact of the current economic crisis in many regions of the world.
Read More →