forces is an infringement of Article 14 and the right to an adequate housing which is implicitly
guaranteed by Articles 14, 16 and 18(1) of the Charter.
117. Regarding the right to adequate housing, the Complainant urges the Commission to draw
inspiration from other international human rights law standards. It submits that the right to adequate
housing is well-defined under international human rights law, including the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (Article 25(1) ), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (Article 11(1) ), and other international human rights instruments.
118. The Complainant also submits that the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
gave a precise content to the right to housing in its General Comment No. 4 adopted on
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12 December 1991, concerning the State’s obligation to respect, protect and fulfil security of tenure.
In its General Comment No. 7, the Committee defines and proscribes the practice of forced evictions.
119. The Complainant recalls that in General Comment No. 4, the Committee on Economic, Social
Cultural Rights held that“many of the measures required to promote the right to housing would only
require the abstention by the [Respondent State] from certain practices”. Furthermore, in General
Comment No.7, it is affirmed that: “The State itself must refrain from forced evictions and ensure that
the law is enforced against its agents or third parties who carry out forced evictions.”
120. The Complainant further invites the Commission to find the State in violation of Article 7 as it
failed to “adequately investigate and prosecute” the authors of the forced evictions and destruction of
housing.
121. The Complainant submits that the African Commission relied on international law to define the
right to adequate housing implied by Articles 14, 16 and 18(1) of the Charter, in its decision on
the SERAC Case.
122. The Complainant also relies on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights
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in Akdivar and Others v. Turkey , where, in a situation similar to the one prevailing in the Darfur, that
is, destruction of housing in the context of a conflict between the government and rebel forces, the
European Court of Human Rights ruled that Turkey was responsible for violations perpetrated by both
its own forces and the rebel forces because it has the duty to both respect and protect human rights.
123. The Complainant submits that forced evictions and destruction of housing constitute cruel or
inhuman treatment prohibited by Article 5 of the Charter, which is consistent with international human
rights standards. It quotes the Concluding Observations on Israel in 2001 where the Committee
against Torture (CAT) found that forced evictions and destruction of housing cause “indescribable
suffering to the population”. Regarding forced evictions and destruction of housing carried out by non8
state actors, the communication relies on the jurisprudence of the CAT in Hijrizi v. Yugoslavia where
the Committee ruled that the State is responsible for failing to protect the victims from such a violation
of their human rights not to be subject to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment
under Article 16 of the Convention against Torture.
124. The Complainant also submits that forced evictions and accompanying human rights violations
constitute violations by the Respondent State of the right to adequate food and the right to water
implicitly guaranteed under Articles 4, 16 and 22 of the Charter as informed by standards and
principles of international human rights law.
125. The Complainant relies on the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General
Comment No. 12 of 1999, which obligates States to respect, protect and fulfil the right to adequate
food, and General Comment No. 15 of 2003, where the Committee declares that “the human rights to
water entitles everyone to sufficient, safe, acceptable, physically accessible and affordable water for
personal domestic uses”.
126. The Complainant invites the Commission to develop further its reasoning in the SERAC Case by
holding that the right to water is also guaranteed by reading together Articles 4, 16, and 22, of the
African Charter. It urges the Commission to find that the Respondent State has violated that right
by “being complicit in looting and destroying foodstuffs, crops and livestock as well as poisoning wells
and denying access to water sources in the Darfur region.