Leilani Farha, a Canadian, is the special rapporteur on the right to housing, appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council. In Spain, more than half a million foreclosures between 2008 and 2013, resulted in over 300,000 evictions, and in Hungary almost one million foreclosures took place between 2009 and 2012. But national and local governments that recognize the effects of this human rights debacle have started to fight back. Governments play a pivotal role in regulating and overseeing domestic and international financial markets -- as such, they must be held accountable for their human rights obligations. The balance of power needs to shift to human rights because housing is more than just a cash transfer.

Source: Bangkok Post March 28, 2017 22:07 UTC