Right to Own Land and Other Property
The right to own land and other property includes the right of everyone to private ownership and the right to the use and enjoyment of land and other property. Part and parcel of this is the right to exclude other from such use and enjoyment or privately owned land and other property.
In recent years, the relationship between this constituent right to exclude others from property use and enjoyment and the full promotion and protection of other ESC rights has been particularly tenuous with regards to intellectual property rights. This tension is most apparent to human rights defenders working to protect the rights of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA), including their rights to the highest attainable standard of health and their rights to benefit from scientific advancement. Under the World Trade Organization’s Agreement on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (the “TRIPS Agreement”), for example, medications essential to the management and treatment of HIV/AIDS were accorded strengthened patent protection that, in practical terms, made it impossible for most PLWHAs worldwide to have access to the drugs. This was cured, in part, by the Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement & Public Health (the “Doha Declaration”) in which the WTO Ministers agreed to exempt least-developed countries from the stringent measures demanded by TRIP until 2016.
The General Recommendation 21 of Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women further provides that the right to own, manage, enjoy and dispose of property is central to a woman’s right to enjoy financial independence, and in many countries will be critical to her ability to earn a livelihood and to provide adequate housing and nutrition for herself and for her family.
One important quantifying and qualifying tool that is useful when monitoring program service delivery on the right to own land and other property is the Revised Guidelines Regarding the Form and Contents of Report to be submitted by States Parties under Articles 16 and 17 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Right to Own Land and Other Property Dossier
- Article (1) of the European Convention Protecting Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Protocol One
- Article 13, 14 of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees
- Article 13 of the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons
- Article II(d) of the International Convention on the Suppression and Punishment of the Crime of Apartheid
- Article 21of the American Convention on Human Rights
- Article 13(3), 14 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights
- Article 5(d) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
- Article 16(1)(h) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women
- Article 15 of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families
- Convention Establishing World Intellectual Property Organization
- Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property
- Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Article 5 of the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam
- Article 6(2) of the Declaration on Social Progress and Development
- Article 13 of the Declaration on the Rights of Disabled Persons
- Article 5(2)(d) of theDeclaration on the Human Rights of Individuals Who are not Nationals of the Country in which They Live
Key Right to Own Land and Other Property Developments and Sample Best Practices
Significant advances toward the full realization of the right to own land and other property continue to be made. One initial resource on the right is Module 18 of Circle of Rights on “Land Rights”.
The following case summaries illustrate how human rights defenders have used the ESC rights approach to promote and protect the right to own land and other property: