The right to adequate housing under African regional human rights law: exploring the extent of protection accorded to refugees

A considerable portion of disadvantaged people in Africa live in inadequate housing and are particularly prone to homelessness, forced evictions and other housing challenges. These people include refugees in vulnerable situations, who face multiple challenges linked to their refugee status and other factors such as gender, disability, status as a child and poverty. African regional human rights law provides a robust protection for the right to adequate housing. However, for those who live in homelessness and precarious housing conditions, the regional legal protection is only useful if it is given effect at the domestic level. The clarification of the nature of the right to adequate housing and the corresponding obligations of states through the work of the three African regional human rights bodies, scholars and other actors is a worthwhile endeavour that can potentially contribute to the realisation of this right. So far, important contributions have been made in this regard, but further clarification of applicable norms is necessary. Situated in two areas of the African human rights system, namely the regional human rights law and refugee law regimes, this article builds on the rather limited literature in these areas and sheds new light on relevant provisions of the OAU Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in Africa, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and its Protocols on the Rights of Women in Africa and the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Africa, and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. It articulates the group-specific dimensions of the right to adequate housing and argues that the corresponding obligations imposed on states, including the immediate obligation to fulfil (or ‘provide’) adequate housing, must not be overlooked in the interpretation of this right.