The Child-specific Right to Adequate Housing in the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Abstract

Millions of children live on the street or in inadequate housing. The failure of authorities to address these problems violates the right to adequate housing, as laid down in, inter alia, Art. 11(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (icescr). Yet, deplorable living conditions make children even more vulnerable than adults, given the negative impact on their development. This calls for a child-specific right to adequate housing tailored to the needs of children. Although one might expect to find such a child-specific right in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (crc), little is known about the crc and housing. This paper is the first to unravel to what extent the crc stipulates a child-specific right to adequate housing and, if so, whether it offers children other entitlements than the general right to adequate housing laid down in Art. 11(1) icescr.