UN Legal Body Reviews Housing and Land Rights in Israel

On 5 December 2011, the UN’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) published its Concluding Observations, following its critical review of Israel’s compliance with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). In this, its third periodic review of Israel as a State party to the Covenant, the monitoring body had conducted a “constructive dialog” with a high-level delegation of the Israeli government on 16 and 17 November. CESCR’s assessment focused on the positive developments and breaches of the Covenant since Israel’s last review in 2003.

This time, CESCR noted positively Israel’s October 2011 adoption of the Trajtenberg report recommendations to lower the cost of living, ease the financial burden of poorer and middle-class families and increase the supply of affordable housing. However, the Committee noted with concern that most of the issues raised with the State of Israel in 2003—which included gross violations of housing and land rights—remain unaddressed. That previous review concluded with regret that issues raised already in CESCR’s Concluding Observations of 1998 and 2001 also remained outstanding matters of concern, including breaches of the treaty. The recent review—as before—focuses heavily on continuing violations of housing and land rights.

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