Domestic Violence and Housing Rights: A Reinterpretation of the Right to Housing

Abstract

This article examines the connections between domestic violence and the right to housing. While much attention has been paid to domestic violence as a violation of civil and political rights, little has been given to its unquestionable links to the socioeconomic conditions surrounding and leading to the violence. The author suggests that the universally accepted human right to housing specifically includes the right to live free from domestic violence; therefore, this right is blatantly violated when domestic violence occurs. The prevention and eradication of domestic violence should consequently start with the protection of women's right to adequate housing. However, an analysis of the currently existing international instruments addressing violence against women, read together with their main interpretations, will disclose their limitation for women's protection from domestic violence. With an almost exclusive focus on civil and political rights, such instruments disregard women's housing and property rights in their provisions and do not protect battered women where they most need it: at home. Thus, the article also identifies some normative challenges and makes some observations about the solutions that require increased study and attention by international organizations and human rights organizations working with women's rights.