Human Rights of Persons in Street Situations

A/HRC/RES/61/20No PDF available

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 3Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development, published in 2026.

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Anti-Discrimination Measures Homeless Persons Human Rights Social Policy Social Security

What does this mandate say?

20 operative paragraphs

Condemns all forms of discrimination, stigmatization, abuse and violence against persons in street situations and calls upon States to promote and protect effectively the human rights and fundamental freedoms of persons in street situations, especially women, girls, children, older persons, persons with disabilities and those in vulnerable situations facing heightened risks of violence;

Calls upon States to take all measures necessary to eliminate legislation that criminalizes homelessness, and to refrain from measures that revictimize persons in street situations and perpetuate the vicious circle of extreme poverty, in accordance with international human rights law obligations;

Also calls upon States to implement and strengthen nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including social protection floors, as an important contribution to preventive efforts to promote and protect the human rights of persons in street situations;

Encourages States to promote broad technical discussions, as appropriate, in order to seek a definition of persons in street situations, and to debate on new census methods to better understand the complexity and different profiles, circumstances and needs of persons in street situations;

Also encourages States, in accordance with their domestic legislation, national capacities and international human rights law, to consider designing or implementing multiple, comprehensive, interdisciplinary and coordinated programmes that are aimed at addressing the needs of persons in street situations, such as in the following areas:

Adequate housing programmes, including housing-led approaches to address homelessness;

Social protection systems, including child protection systems, and food security measures;

Physical and psychosocial healthcare services;

Programmes for the issuing of civil registration or citizenship documents to ensure access to public services, legal aid and justice;

The building of shelters and facilities for personal care and storage of belongings;

Measures to combat institutional and structural discrimination, violence and stigmatization against persons in street situations by promoting respect for human rights in society as a whole and among law enforcement officials in particular;

Educational and cultural facilities, sports venues, leisure locations, community integration programmes and access to education;

Opportunities for income generation, decent work and formal jobs, including through professional training, entrepreneurship and/or participation in cooperatives in the social and solidarity economy;

Population censuses and other surveys to collect data disaggregated by sex, age, nationality, migration status, race, ethnicity, disability, religion and culture, in order to design and implement polices for different groups and profiles;

Integration of persons in street situations into national policies on disaster risk reduction, climate resilience and housing reconstruction strategies, particularly in disaster-prone and climate-vulnerable regions;

Invites States to share lessons learned and best practices on action to address the rights and needs of persons in street situations, with a view to advancing further discussions on the subject in the Human Rights Council;

Encourages the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to take into consideration the rights of persons in street situations in its technical assistance, capacity-building activities and advisory services;

Encourages the human rights treaty bodies and the special procedures of the Human Rights Council to address the rights of persons in street situations in their debates, reports and work, bearing in mind the complexity of the phenomenon and the need to address it with a multidisciplinary approach;

Reaffirms that international cooperation has an essential role in assisting developing countries, including the least developed countries and small island developing States, in strengthening their human, institutional and technological capacity to fulfil human rights for all;

Decides to continue the consideration of this matter under the same agenda item, in accordance with the programme of work of the Human Rights Council.

Paragraph content is machine-extracted from UN documents. For authoritative content, please refer to the official UN document.

No headings found in this document.

Who created this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What does this mandate say?

Table of contents