Notes from a Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s
paper exploring ways in which homelessness critically affects human beings’
ability to enjoy basic rights and freedoms (Though the document pertains to
Australia’s homelessness, its findings and ideas are current, critical and universal)
Excerpt, editing by Carolyn Bennett
Without anchor, connectedness
People experiencing homelessness face violations of a wide
range of human rights. Though access to safe and secure housing is one of the
most basic human rights, homelessness is not just about housing. Homelessness,
fundamentally, is about lack of connectedness: with family, friends, the
community; and lack of control over one’s environment.
A person who is homeless may face violations of ─
[t]he
right to an adequate standard of living,
[t]he
right to education,
[t]he
right to liberty and security of the person,
[t]he
right to privacy, the right to social security,
[t]he
right to freedom from discrimination,
[t]he
right to vote, and many more.
These human rights are protected by a number of
international human rights treaties, in particular the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the Convention on the Rights of the
Child (CRC).
Defined
Homelessness has been “defined as ‘inadequate access to safe
and secure housing,’ [existing] where the only housing to which a person has
access ─
Is
likely to damage the person’s health
Threatens
the person’s safety
Marginalizes
the person by failing to provide access to adequate personal amenities or the
normal economic and social support of a home, or
Places
the person in circumstances that threaten or adversely affect the adequacy,
safety, security and affordability of that housing
Causes
Just as there are many different ways in which a person can
be affected by homelessness, there are many different causes of homelessness.
Poverty and the inability to afford adequate housing are
central to the causes of homelessness. These circumstances may result from a variety
of experiences including long-term or short-term unemployment, debt and other
financial pressures, and housing market pressures such as rising rental and
house prices and the lack of public housing.
Financial difficulty is often accompanied by other personal
or family problems such as family breakdown, domestic violence, poor physical
and mental health, substance and other addictions.
The inability to cope with combinations of these problems
can push individuals and families even closer to the edge.
Even before people become homeless, they may be living at
the margins of the society with few connections to family and the community.
Social isolation can mean that they lack the necessary support to assist them
through periods of stress and help them manage ongoing problems.
Faces
Though homelessness affects a wide range of people from
different regions, of different ages and different cultural backgrounds, some groups
of people are particularly at risk of becoming homeless, disproportionately affected by
homelessness
Women
are significantly affected by homelessness
Indigenous
people are disproportionately affected
Children
and young people are disproportionately affected by homelessness
People
with mental illness are disproportionately affected by homelessness
Refugees
and asylum seekers are disproportionately affected by homelessness
The right to housing is more than simply a right to shelter;
it is a right to have somewhere to live that is adequate. Housing adequacy
depends on a range of factors─
Legal
security of tenure
Availability
of services, materials, facilities and infrastructure
Affordability
Accessibility
Habitability
Location
Cultural
adequacy
Homelessness impact on health right
All people including children have the right to enjoy the
highest possible standard of health and homelessness is naturally associated
with poor health.
Some health problems can cause a person to become homeless: poor
physical or mental health can reduce a person’s ability to find employment or
earn an adequate income.
Some health problems are consequences of homelessness: depression,
poor nutrition, poor dental care, substance abuse, mental health problems. Homeless
people also experience significantly higher rates of death, disability and
chronic illness than others in the general population.
Homelessness exacerbates and complicates the treatment of
many health problems: because of financial hardship, lack of transportation to
medical facilities, lack of identification or Medicare Card, difficulty maintaining
appointments or treatment regimes ─.homeless people have significantly less
access to health services than people in the broader population.
All people have the right to liberty and security of the
person but the physical safety of homeless people is often under constant
threat. Lacking a safe living environment, homeless people are more vulnerable
to crime and personal attacks.
I
lived in constant fear of violence. There was no door I could lock to separate
me from the rest of the world. There was no safe place for me to just be, a
kid on the street tells researchers
Children and young people are particularly vulnerable to
attacks on their personal safety and human rights law recognizes their right to
special protection from sexual and other abuse.
Homeless women are also at greater risk of violence and
sexual abuse and are often forced into harmful situations and relationships out
of need.
All people have the right to protection against arbitrary or
unlawful interference with their privacy but homeless people may be forced to
carry out their personal activities in public – sleeping, urinating, washing
and eating – activities that most people are able to do in the privacy of their
own homes.
People living in homeless shelters or boarding houses may be
required to share facilities with others, which may also threaten their right
to privacy.
Education is a basic human right and every child should have
access to government-ensured primary education and vocational education. Financial
difficulty and insecure housing conditions make it hard for homeless people to
access education and training facilities on a sustained basis.
In addition to problems meeting costs, such as for books,
clothes, social activities, associated with education, many homeless people are
forced to frequently move around; and this causes disruptions in schooling and
difficulty making friends and connections. For many children and young people,
school is an experience of marginalization.
The
education system in high school is geared to [the] situation of being at home
with a family, whereas with me I don’t have that family support, either
financially or emotionally, and I sort of feel like a square peg in a round
hole, a child tells researchers.
I
was away from school most of the time. I got so behind. I didn’t know what I
was doing so I just left.
The right to work means all people must have the opportunity
to gain a living by work that they have freely chosen or accepted.
You
can’t get a job if you [have] got nowhere to sleep… Looking like ‘foreman
material’ is not easy when you are sleeping out or in squats with no amenities
like running water or electricity, a potential workers and homeless person tells
researchers.
The right to be treated equally by the law and to be free
from discrimination is a fundamental human right but people experiencing
homelessness face persistent stigmatization and discrimination in a range of
different contexts.
Together with discrimination in access to health care, education
and employment, discrimination against homeless people also occurs in
situations where certain laws operate in a manner that disadvantages homeless
people, compared to other people in society: laws that include (but are not limited
to) rules governing eligibility for social security and voting; laws that criminalize
the doing of certain activities in public space.
The human right to social security imposes an obligation on government
to provide welfare necessary for subsistence to people who are unable to
support themselves.
Strict requirements often disproportionately burden homeless
people who often do not have and cannot afford to obtain a birth certificate or
other documents that prove their identity or cannot make interviews or reply to
correspondence; and without these, homeless people are threatened with denial or
termination of benefits.
Homeless people often have difficulty in complying with conditions
or entitlement requirements because of poor literacy, problems receiving mail,
and needing to give priority to more immediate pressures in their life, such as
finding a place to sleep.
Many cities and sectors allow police to ban, push or direct individuals
or groups to move on from public areas. This usually happens where the presence
of the person or group is considered by the police to be disorderly,
obstructing, threatening, or negative in some other way with regard to other
members of the public. Young people and homeless people are particularly and disproportionately
affected by these laws since they have no other place to relax or to socialize and
therefore they use public space more than others.
Where the use of these police powers goes beyond what is
necessary for protecting the rights of others, the rights to freedom of
movement and freedom of association may be breached.
It may be argued that begging is the expression of poverty
and disadvantage. Often begging is the
only way ─ and is usually a last resort ─ to express poverty and disadvantage. But
anti-begging laws criminalize this form of expression and undermine the right
to freedom of expression. Fining people for such activity aggravates the causes
that underlie it.
All people have the right to freedom of expression. This
right includes the right to seek, receive and communicate information and ideas
of all kinds, either orally, in writing, in the form of art, or through any
other chosen media.
Laws which criminalize essential human behaviors connected
to being homeless ─ sleeping, bathing, urinating, or storing belongings in
public ─ may violate the right to freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment. Such criminalization
punishes homeless people on the basis of their status; not because of their
conduct.
Homelessness is an involuntary status when there is
insufficient accommodation to support homeless people; therefore, homeless
people are involuntarily forced to break the law as they have no alternative
but to perform these acts in public.
Recognizes that effect of homelessness on a person’s ability
to enjoy basic rights and freedoms has critical consequences for the way society
perceives and treats homeless people.
Acknowledges that homelessness is more than just a housing
issue and that addressing homelessness requires a comprehensive and integrated
approach that takes into account its many and varied causes and effects.
Departs from a welfare approach to homelessness by
demonstrating that homeless people are not mere objects of charity seeking help
and compassion; they are individuals who are entitled under international law
to protection and promotion of their human rights.
Highlights the need to directly and meaningfully involve homeless
people in the development of solutions to homelessness this based on the premise
that the active and informed participation of homeless people will likely result
in creating more effective and relevant services that meet the needs of the
homeless.
Involves government at all levels to actualize their commitment
and undertake concrete and targeted legislative, policy and budgetary steps
toward full and immediate realization of the human rights of homeless people.
“Homelessness is a Human Rights Issue” (2008), available for
Download Word (60 kb), Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission,
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/human_rights/housing/homelessness_2008.html
A paper exploring the many ways that homelessness impacts on
a person’s ability to enjoy basic rights and freedoms. The paper shows that
homelessness is more than just a housing issue.
Homelessness is about human rights.
Homeless people are not merely objects of charity, seeking
help and compassion …, they are individuals entitled to the protection and
promotion of their human rights.
Since human rights belong to everyone, it is in the
interests of the Australian community as a whole to ensure that the rights of
homeless people are respected and protected.
Australian Human Rights Commission
The Australian Human Rights Commission is the name of the
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. An independent statutory organization
reporting to the federal Parliament through the Attorney-General, the
Commission was established in 1986 by an act of the federal Parliament.
Its vision: Human
rights: everyone, everywhere, everyday
Its mission: Leading the promotion and protection of human
rights in Australia by:
Making
human rights values part of everyday life and language;
Empowering
all people to understand and exercise their human rights;
Working
with individuals, community, business and government to inspire action;
Keeping
government accountable to national and international human rights standards;
Securing
an Australian charter of rights, http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about/index.html
Images
Stop Criminalizing Homelessness, http://news.change.org/stories/5-things-you-should-know-about-homelessness
Homelessness in the United States, http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2009/09/14/human-rights-facts-144-homelessness-in-the-u-s-in-2008/
Shelter is a right, http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/human-rights-facts-7/
Homeless is not a crime, http://leedamiller.wordpress.com/category/our-forgotten-neighbors/
Please have change ready for homeless, Homelessness in Toronto | P.a.p.-Blog, Human Rights Etc
405 x 330 | 34.6 KB, filipspagnoli.wordpress.com
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