Legal Empowerment in Informal Settlements Grassroots Experiences in the Global South

• Format: eBook
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2025
• Subjects: Accra; Anthropology; Buenos Aires; citizenship; COVID-19; Cultural and media studies; Cultural studies; Delhi; Development studies; Dhaka; Earth Sciences, Geography, Environment, Planning; Evictions; Favelas; Geography; Housing; Human geography; Human Rights; Interdisciplinary studies; International law; Johannesburg; Karachi; La Paz; Lagos; Law; Laws of specific jurisdictions and specific areas of law; Medicine and Nursing; Morelos; Nairobi; New Urban Agenda; Politics and government; Port Harcourt; Poverty and precarity; Public international law; Public international law: human rights; Quito; Reference, Information and Interdisciplinary subjects; Rio de Janeiro; Sanitation; Slums; Social and cultural anthropology; Social and ethical issues; Social discrimination and social justice; Social groups, communities and identities; Social law and Medical law; Social services and welfare, criminology; Social theory; Social welfare and social services; Social work; Society and culture: general; Society and Social Sciences; Sociology; Sociology and anthropology; Urban communities; Urbanisation; Urbanization
• ISBN: 9781032886374; 9781040343364; 9781003538806; 1003538800; 1032886285; 1040343368; 9781032886282; 1032886374
• DOI: 10.4324/9781003538806

This book investigates grassroots, community-led justice strategies – known as legal empowerment – being used to promote the human rights of people living in informal settlements in the Global South. Residents of informal settlements, also known as slums or favelas, encounter a complex array of human rights violations; from systemic discrimination by public officials, to threats to physical security from forced evictions, or arbitrary arrests, to a lack of access to basic services such as housing, water, sanitation, and education. This book shows how grassroots justice organizations around the world are working with residents to defend their rights and secure more dignified living conditions. Drawing on original empirical research across 10 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, the book demonstrates how legal empowerment can put residents at the centre of holistic approaches to urban development and confront exclusionary and undemocratic systems of governance. The book encompasses practical recommendations and strategies such as rights-based approaches to informality, participation, community mobilization and litigation. Bridging the gaps between the law on the books and the harsh realities of informality on the ground, this book will be an important read for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, working in realms of social and economic rights, access to justice and urban poverty and development.