Deconstructing the Eviction Protections Under the Revised European Social Charter: A Systematic Content Analysis of the Interplay Between the Right to Housing and the Right to Property

EVICT researchers Emma Sweeney, Michelle Bruijn, and Michel Vols have conducted a systematic content analysis on the Revised European Social Charter and looked into the interaction between housing rights and property rights.

This article analyses the eviction protections provided by the Revised European Social Charter by conducting a systematic content analysis of the European Committee on Social Rights’ (ECSR) Conclusions and Decisions on Articles 16 and 31. The findings reveal that the ECSR has established nine consistent eviction protections throughout its jurisprudence. Additionally, this article examines how the ECSR considers the right to property within the context of evictions, revealing additional eviction protections inconsistently applied by the ECSR that address the conflict between the right to housing and property. To provide insight into how the ECSR could address the conflict more directly, this paper compares the ECSR’s approach with that adopted by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN CESCR). Ultimately, this study concludes that the UN CESCR engages with the right to property in the context of evictions more directly than the ECSR.

The article is open access and can be read in Human Rights Law Review.