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1;1 African Commission on
Human Rights our
Collective Responsibility
Human and Peoples' Rights
188. As such, the Commissions finds that the Respondent State's actions amounted
to a violation of Article 16 of the African Charter.
Alleged violation of Article 18(1) of the African Charter
189. The Complainants alleged that the forced displacement of large numbers of
civilians as a result of the Respondent State's indiscriminate bombing campaign
and other human rights violations resulted in a violation of Article 18(1) of the
African Charter.
190. Article 18(1) provides that u[tJhe family shall be the natural unit and basis of
society." The Article goes further to place an obligation on the State to protect the
family and take care of its physical and moral health.
191. The Commission has noted in its jurisprudence that the family is the basic core
of society, which should be protected by the State. In Democratic Republic of the
Congo v Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda,66 the Commission noted that the mass
transfer of persons from the eastern provinces of the complainant state to camps
in Rwanda was inconsistent with the provisions of Article 18(1) of the African
Charter.
192. Similarly, in the SERAC case,67the Commission held that the right to housing
could be implied from the combined effect of Articles 14, 16 and 18(1) of the
African Charter. The Commission noted that, at a very minimum, the right to
shelter not only" obliges the Nigerian government not to destroy the housing of its
citizens," but also required government to not obstruct efforts by individuals or
communities to rebuild lost homes. In that case, the Commission stated that:
The state's obligation to respect housing rights requires it, and thereby all of its organs
and agents, to abstain from carrving out, sponsoring or tolerating any practice, policy
or legal measure violating the integriuj of the individual or infringing upon his or her
freedom to use those material or other resources available to him or her in a way he or
she finds most appropriate to satisfy individual, family, household or community
housing needs. Its obligations to protect obliges it to prevent the violation of any
individual's right to housing by any other individual or non-state actors like landlords,
property developers, and landowners, and where such infringements occur, it should
act to preclude further deprivations as well as guaranteeing access to legal remedies.
The right to shelter even goes further than a roof over one's head. It extends to embody
66 (2004)
67 (2001)
AHRLR 19 (ACHPR 2003) para 81.
AHRLR 60 (ACHPR 2001) para 61.
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