GENEVA – The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, will conduct a visit to Uzbekistan from 19 to 30 August 2024. Rajagopal will examine the protection and realisation of the right to adequate housing in national law and practice, including housing affordability, accessibility, habitability, access to services and the issue of forced evictions. He will analyse measures taken by Uzbekistan to ensure that the right to adequate housing is enjoyed by all population groups in the country. The expert will also study effects of the climate crisis on the right to adequate housing and the participation of residents in decision-making on housing matters and urban development. Rajagopal will visit Tashkent, Zaamin, Samarkand and Bukhara and surrounding regions, including housing for students and shelters for persons fleeing domestic violence or experiencing homelessness. He will hold meetings with national and local officials, judges, civil society representatives and business actors who are active in the housing sector. The Special Rapporteur will hold a press conference on 30 August 2024 at 15:00 at the UN House in 4 Taras Shevchenko Street, Tashkent 100029. Access will be strictly limited to journalists. The expert will present a report on his visit to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2025. 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. Special Rapporteurs 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 — Uzbekistan For more information and press inquiries, please contact Mr Gunnar Theissen (gunnar.theissen@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 30 August 2024, please write to: Mr. Anvarjon Meliboev, (anvarjon.meliboev@un.org), Communications Officer, UN Information Office in Tashkent. For media enquiries regarding other UN independent experts, please contact Dharisha Indraguptha (dharisha.indraguptha@un.org). Follow news related to the UN"s independent human rights experts on X: @UN_SPExperts