Miloon Kothari

An architect by training, Miloon Kothari has extensive experience in the area of housing rights. He is a leading voice at national, regional and international forums on human rights, especially economic, social and cultural rights.

Miloon was appointed in Miloon Kothari was appointed in September 2000 by the UN Commission on Human Rights as Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, a position he held till March 2008. His mandate involved reporting annually to the Commission on the status throughout the world of the realisation of the rights that are related to the right to adequate housing, and identifying practical solutions and good practices towards this end.

In addition, the Commission requested the Special Rapporteur to promote cooperation among and assistance to Governments in their efforts to secure these rights; apply a gender perspective in the work; develop regular dialogue and collaboration with Governments, relevant UN bodies, specialised agencies, civil society and international financial institutions.

Miloon is a member of South Asian Regional Programme of the Habitat International Coalition’s Housing and Land Rights Network (www.hic-sarp.org) and a founding member of the International NGO Committee on Human Rights in Trade and Investment.

He is also a member of the Leadership Council of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS since 2005, and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

In recent years, Miloon has been particularly active on issues such as Women's rights to land, inheritance, property, housing and globalization, trade liberalization and their impacts on the right to adequate housing and other related rights. In addition to housing and land rights, he has also been actively involved in works related to human rights dimension on poverty, water and sanitation.