16 August 2010 - It is estimated that in most countries in Latin America, between 30 and 60 percent of women have been victims of domestic violence at some point in their lives. The real figure is likely to be much higher, as many women don’t report these crimes.

The latest edition of COHRE’s popular Bulletin on Housing Rights and the Right to the City in Latin America explores this crisis through the experiences of some of the activists working on this issue in Latin America, and details the main challenges and possible solutions for those women for whom the home has become a prison.

In her article, Elba Núñez, researcher at the Latin American and Caribbean Committee for the Defence of Women’s Rights (CLADEM Paraguay), presents some of the obstacles to the achievement of the right of women to adequate housing.

Patricia Guerrero, founder of the League of Displaced Women in Colombia, raises some of the solutions that have been proposed by local human rights organizations to the housing problems faced by women. In her article, Guerrero details the construction of the City of Women, a unique housing experience in the region developed by and for women.

As Victoria Ricciardi, author of a recent COHRE report on women and housing rights in Argentina, Brazil and Colombia explains in her article, the number of shelters for women victims of domestic violence in the countries she studied is extremely limited, and with possible periods of stay limited to less than six months, long-term solutions are almost non-existent.

To see the full COHRE report on housing rights for women victims of domestic violence, please click here.

To read the latest Bulletin on Housing Rights and the Right to the City in Latin America, see below.