GENEVA (8 December 2023) – The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, will conduct a visit to the Netherlands from 11 to 21 December 2023. The expert will examine issues relating to housing availability, affordability and accessibility, homelessness, and what measures the Netherlands undertakes to ensure that the right to adequate housing is enjoyed by all population groups in the country. Due to travel restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic and other considerations, this will be the first country visit by the Special Rapporteur since his appointment by the Human Rights Council in 2020. Rajagopal will visit the Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Groningen, as well as reception centres for asylum seekers and persons under international protection. He will hold meetings with national and local officials, civil society representatives and housing providers. The Special Rapporteur will hold a press conference on 21 December 2023 from 15:00 in the Mandela room, at the Asser Institute, R.J. Schimmelpennincklaan 20-22, 2517 JN the Hague. Access will be strictly limited to journalists. The expert will present his report to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2024. Mr. Balakrishnan Rajagopal (USA), assumed his function as Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing on 1 May 2020. He is Professor of Law and Development at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). A lawyer by training, he is an expert on many areas of human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, the UN system, and the human rights challenges posed by development activities. The Independent Experts are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent of any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. UN Human Rights, Country Page — Netherlands For more information and press inquiries, please contact Ms Mariya Stoyanova (mariya.stoyanova@un.org) or write to hrc-sr-housing@un.org. For registration to the press conference and requests for media interviews immediately after the press conference on 21 December 2023, please write to: chiara.menghetti@un.org. For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts please contact Maya Derouaz (maya.derouaz@un.org) or Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org). Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter @UN_SPExperts. Concerned about the world we live in? Then stand up for someone"s rights today. #Standup4humanrights and visit the website at http://www.standup4humanrights.org