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Portrait of Serde Atalay. Photo.

Serde Atalay

Researcher

Portrait of Serde Atalay. Photo.

Stuck in Between Law and Politics? Understanding the Impact of the Right to Housing as a Right of Migrants and Refugees in International Law

Author

  • Serde Atalay

Editor

  • Vols Michel
  • Quintiá Pastrana Andrei
  • Nic Shuibhne Emma N.

Summary, in English

Finding and maintaining adequate housing is an increasingly serious struggle for many. To what extent the right to housing in international law offers a way out of this struggle is a crucial question that requires careful thinking. This chapter offers a perspective for answering this question by focusing on a particular group: migrants and refugees. To do so, it examines the dynamics of how the right to housing is shaped and interpreted in international law with a focus on the United Nations system. It argues that three factors impede the potential impact that the right to housing in international law could have on migrants and refugees: 1) the centrality of state consent in agreeing to be bound by treaties, 2) treaties’ selective way of granting rights, and 3) the lax regime of examining states’ compliance with their obligations. By discussing each of these factors through three relevant norms of international law, the chapter argues that looking at a social right such as the right to housing through the migration and asylum lens on the international plane lays bare the tight space between law and politics.

Department/s

  • Department of Law
  • LU Profile Area: Human rights
  • Public International Law
  • Migration Law
  • Human Rights Law

Publishing year

2026

Language

English

Pages

98-116

Publication/Series

Elgar Land and Housing Law and Policy

Document type

Book chapter

Publisher

Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

Topic

  • Law

Keywords

  • Impact
  • Right to housing
  • Migrants and refugees
  • State obligations
  • International law
  • Politics
  • Folkrätt
  • SDG 1 - No Poverty
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Conference name

EVICT: The Impact of the Right to Housing in Times of Crisis

Conference date

2024-01-25 - 2024-01-26

Conference place

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Status

Published

Project

  • Access to Housing for Migrants and Refugees: Testing the Boundaries of International Law
  • The Borders Within: the Multifaceted Legal Landscape of Migrant Integration in Europe

Research group

  • Public International Law
  • Migration Law
  • Human Rights Law

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISBN: 978 1 03535 685 0
  • ISBN: 978 1 03535 686 7