STRUCTURAL LITIGATION AND THE RIGHT TO HOUSING IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN AND COLOMBIAN EXPERIENCES

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12662/2447-6641oj.v19i32.p148-183.2021

Keywords:

South Africa, Colombia, Economic, social and cultural rights, The right to housing, Structural Litigation

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this article is to investigate how structural injunctions can contribute to access to housing, based on an analysis of the experience of two countries in which structural injunctions have been used to resolve disputes related to access to decent housing: Colombia and South Africa.

Methodology: As a research methodology, in addition to the traditional documentary and bibliographic analysis, a qualitative approach is adopted to study three paradigmatic cases: Olivia Road and Joe Slovo, in South Africa, and Sentencia T-25, in Colombia.

Results: It is concluded that both experiences show the need for systemic problems related to socioeconomic and cultural rights, when adjudicated, to be resolved through structural decisions, which can produce material and symbolic effects.

Contributions: From the results, it is observed that: a) it is recommended that the judges adopt a dialogical approach when acting in structural decision making; b) in structural decision making, it is interesting that the Judiciary maintains jurisdiction over the case, following the development of the execution of the sentence; c) public participation guarantees the structural injunctions transparency and, to the judges, greater technical capacity, since only with the inclusion of the social segments affected by the problem that is intended to be overcome will the judge be able to produce measures consistent with the real needs the concrete case.

Author Biographies

Matheus Casimiro Gomes Serafim, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Doutorando em Direito Público pela Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ). Mestre e Graduado em Direito pela Universidade Federal do Ceará (UFC). Especialista em Filosofia e Teoria do Direito pela PUC-MG. Coordenador-geral do Núcleo de Pesquisa em Interpretação e Decisão Judicial (NUPID).

Eduarda Peixoto da Cunha França, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

Doutoranda e Mestre em Direito pela Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE). Pesquisadora do Núcleo de Pesquisa em Interpretação e Decisão Judicial (NUPID).

Flavianne Fernanda Bitencourt Nóbrega, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco

Professora Permanente do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direito (Mestrado e Doutorado) da UFPE, vinculada à linha de pesquisa "Justiça e Direitos Humanos na América Latina". Professora de Teoria Política e do Estado do Departamento de Direito Público Geral e Processual da UFPE. Coordenadora do Programa de Extensão "Acesso ao Sistema Interamericano de Direitos Humanos - aSIDH" e líder do "Laboratório de Pesquisa em Desenhos Institucionais", ambos da UFPE. Coordenadora da Câmara de Conciliação, Mediação e Arbitragem (CCMA) da Faculdade de Direito do Recife da UFPE. Pós-doutorado no Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law – Hamburg. Doutora em Direito pela UFPE, com período sanduíche na Bucerius Law School – Hamburg – Alemanha. Mestre em Ciência Política e Mestre em Direito pela UFPE.
(Em aberto)

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Published

2021-06-15

How to Cite

SERAFIM, Matheus Casimiro Gomes; FRANÇA, Eduarda Peixoto da Cunha; NÓBREGA, Flavianne Fernanda Bitencourt. STRUCTURAL LITIGATION AND THE RIGHT TO HOUSING IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE SOUTH AFRICAN AND COLOMBIAN EXPERIENCES. Revista Opinião Jurídica (Fortaleza), Fortaleza, v. 19, n. 32, p. 148–183, 2021. DOI: 10.12662/2447-6641oj.v19i32.p148-183.2021. Disponível em: https://periodicos.unichristus.edu.br/opiniaojuridica/article/view/3749. Acesso em: 12 sep. 2026.

Issue

Vol. 19 No. 32 (2021)

Section

Artigos Originais

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