Habitat International Coalition (HIC) is a Mexico City based independent housing rights advocacy group comprised of over 350 member non-governmental and community-based organizations from over 75 countries. Based upon a fact-finding mission carried out between 23 September - 4 October l995 in and around Kobe, HIC has identified significant discrepancies between the international human rights obligations of the government of Japan and the prevailing post-earthquake housing situation in the area affected by the 17 January 1995 earthquake.

Following extensive on-site visits, meetings with all levels of government and additional research, Habitat International Coalition has concluded that the internationally recognized human right to adequate housing has not been fully respected. HIC believes that a number of steps should be taken by all levels of government in Japan to rectify this situation as expediently as possible, in order to secure the enjoyment of this right for all earthquake-affected residents, as soon as possible.

In view of the fact that the government of Japan has been legally bound to comply with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) since 21 September 1979, Habitat International Coalition would like to emphasize the importance of securing for all persons, in particular victims of the Kobe quake, the full enjoyment of the right to adequate housing, as enshrined within article 11(1) of the CESCR, as a matter of urgency.

Indeed, HIC is also very concerned about the housing and living conditions currently facing tens of thousands of Kobe earthquake victims, a full year following the quake. Many aspects of the housing and living conditions facing those residing in waiting/evacuation centres, temporary housing sites or in parks fail to conform with basic international human rights standards on housing adequacy. In this respect, HIC is particularly concerned about the lack of security of tenure, the near absence of public participation in the housing decision-making process by citizens (in particular by earthquake victims) and the low standards found at many temporary housing sites.

With a view to improving the currently unacceptable situation, Habitat International Coalition recommends to the various governments of Japan (national, prefectural and municipal) to undertake, inter alia, the following measures to ensure that the international housing rights obligations held by the government of Japan are fully complied with and that all residents of Kobe and environs can enjoy their human rights:

a Ensure the right of all earthquake victims who so request to return to the communities and neighbourhoods in which they were resident prior to the earthquake;

b Guarantee, as a legally enforceable right, the provision of affordable, adequate and centrally located public or other housing to all residents of temporary housing who require it;

c Refrain from carrying out or tolerating any forced evictions of earthquake victims now resident in temporary or unofficial housing situations;

d Establish a consultative body on post-earthquake reconstruction, including housing issues, comprised of representatives of civil society and government, with a view to promoting dialogue, democratic decision-making and ensuring in the most rapid manner possible, the full realization of the right to adequate housing for everyone;

e Undertake immediate measures aimed at improving housing and living conditions at waiting centres and temporary housing sites, in a manner reflecting citizen demands and, in the process, bringing such housing up to internationally acceptable standards;

f Provide increased and appropriate levels of compensation to ail victims of the earthquake, in particular to the families of those killed due to post-earthquake trauma resulting from poor housing conditions and those whose houses were inadvertently demolished, both of which could have been prevented by proper governmental interventions.

g Give serious consideration to the direct provision of debt relief and no-interest loans to earthquake victims currently unable to pay debts or obtain loans from the private banking sector;

h Ensure the full enjoyment of the right to equality of treatment for all women, taking into account the special needs and rights of women. This should include ensuring that women are secure in their homes, free from domestic and other forms of violence and treated with full fairness and dignity;

i Prioritize the realization of the housing rights through, inter alia, special measures, in particular the rights of children, women, the elderly the physically and mentally disabled, ethnic minorities, the homeless or any other marginalized group;

j Ensure the provision of adequate welfare assistance to all residents, notwithstanding the absence of a recognized address by residents, as a matter of human rights;

k Scrupulously abide by the legal obligations contained in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in particular those relating to article 11(1), and ensure that all post-earthquake legislation, policies and plans are fully consistent with the provisions of the Covenant;

l Submit to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights, within the shortest possible time-frame, the long overdue State report of the government of Japan (which is legally required under article 16-17 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), and include within this report a detailed examination of the measures, both legislative and political taken by the relevant governments following the Kobe earthquake;

m Give favourable consideration to judicial interpretations of articles 13, 14, 22, 25, 29(1) and 29(3) of the Constitution of Japan resulting in Judgments wherein the interrelationships of these articles and the core contents of the human right to adequate housing are elucidated and incorporated into the case law; and

n Promote, by utilizing all relevant mechanisms, the domestic enforcement and implementation of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights through, inter alia, strengthening the domestic legal applicability of the Covenant, developing public education campaigns on the rights found in this text and generally raising the legal and political stature of the Covenant to appropriate levels.

These 14 recommendations are practical, feasible and obtainable within a very short period of time should concerted efforts be made to do so by the government, notwithstanding any growth or decline in resource levels available to the government.

Should the government of Japan fail to take the necessary steps towards this end, through the full and efficient utilization of all resources available to it, HIC is very concerned that Kobe (and Hyogo Prefecture) could rapidly become the homeless capital of Japan. Likewise, if current patterns continue Kobe and environs will almost assuredly become a city where a disproportionately high number of residents will be forced to reside in conditions of increasingly severe housing deprivation.