Decision adopted by the Committee under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, concerning communication No. 94/20191*, 2**
- *Adopted by the Committee at its seventy-fourth session (25 September–13 October 2023). ↩
- **The following members of the Committee participated in the examination of the communication: Aslan Abashidze, Mohamed Ezzeldin Abdel-Moneim, Nadir Adilov, Asraf Ally Caunhye, LauraMaria Crăciunean-Tatu, Peters Sunday Omologbe Emuze, Santiago Manuel Fiorio Vaesken, Ludovic Hennebel, Joo-Young Lee, Karla Vanessa Lemus de Vásquez, Seree Nonthasoot, Lydia Carmelita Ravenberg, Julieta Rossi, Preeti Saran, Shen Yongxiang and Michael Windfuhr. Pursuant to rule 23 of the rules of procedure under the Optional Protocol, Mohammed Amarti and Mikel Mancisidor de la Fuente did not participate in the examination of the communication. ↩
The author is M.E.F., a national of Morocco. He submits an individual communication on his own behalf and on behalf of his wife, L.A., and of his daughter, N.E.F., and his son, I.E.F., born in 2015 and 2011 respectively. He claims that the State party would violate his rights and those of his family under article 11 (1) of the Covenant if it evicted them without ensuring that they have alternative housing. The author is represented by counsel.
In 2011, the author began renting a property for the monthly sum of €480. On an unspecified date, the owner reduced the rent, presumably because of the family’s precarious financial situation. The author claims, however, that the reduction was due to the poor condition of the property, as confirmed in a report issued by the Institute of Public Health in Madrid. At the same time, the owner filed eviction proceedings against the family for failure to pay the rent correctly. On 31 October 2018, Madrid Court of First Instance No. 36 found against the author. On 29 November 2018, the Court set an eviction date for 14 January 2019. The author’s monthly income consisted of €600 in unemployment insurance, and his wife had been unemployed since September 2018. The Social Services Department in the Villaverde District of Madrid issued a vulnerability report in which it stated that the eviction would place the family at serious risk of exclusion. The author’s application for social housing was accepted on 29 October 2018, and the family was placed in 1772nd position on the waiting list for a three-bedroom property. The author claims that the eviction violates his rights and those of his family under article 11 of the Covenant and asks the Committee to request the State party to take interim measures to suspend the eviction since he has no alternative housing.
On 10 January 2019, the Committee, through its Working Group on Communications, registered the communication and requested the State party to take interim measures to suspend the eviction of the author and his family pending the consideration of the communication or to provide them with adequate alternative housing, in genuine and effective consultation with them.
On 17 September 2019, the State party submitted its observations on the admissibility and merits of the communication, which were transmitted to the author for his comments. In the absence of a response from the author, the secretariat sent reminders asking if he had lost interest in the communication. The secretariat received no response from the author.
At its meeting on 9 October 2023, the Committee, having noted that the author and his counsel had failed to respond to repeated requests for comments on the State party’s observations on the admissibility and merits of the communication and for confirmation of their continued interest therein, decided to discontinue consideration of the communication, in accordance with rule 18 of its rules of procedure under the Optional Protocol.