Transitional Justice in Housing Injustice: The Case of Housing Rights Violations Within Settler Democracies

The right to housing is recognized by international human rights treaties as an integral part of the right to an adequate standard of living. Many states have ratified these treaties and incorporated protection of some aspects of housing rights in their constitutions and domestic legislation. Others have not enacted any legislation in recognition of housing rights, but provide judicial remedies for violations of rights. Despite that, domestic and international reports indicate that housing rights are constantly being violated worldwide at different levels and countries. This article focuses on housing rights violations within “Settler Democracies.” Such countries share common features of housing rights violations including unequal distribution of land, forced evictions, massive expropriations, crowdedness and housing demolitions within indigenous localities. Such violations are a result of historical and continues discriminatory spatial policies embedded in state legal and political systems. It asserts that housing rights violations should be addressed through Transitional Justice theory and mechanisms, which address the root causes of the systematic housing rights violations to prevent them from reoccurring in the future.