Commission acts on housing issues: children's rights, refugee strategy considered

UN Chronicle, Sept, 1995

Children's housing rights and the development of a strategy to assist refugees and displaced persons were among the topics of 13 resolutions adopted by the Commission on Human Settlements at its fifteenth session (24 April-1 May, Nairobi).

With children making up 40 per cent of the world's population, the Commission declared that mechanisms should be developed to protect their housing rights and called for an expert seminar on that subject, as well as further consideration of the issue at its next session, to be held in 1997.

Other resolutions dealt with: the participation of women in human settlements development; aid to countries with economies in transition; strengthening efforts in Latin America and the Caribbean; and issues related to urban environment. Outgoing Commission Chairman David Johansson of Finland recalled that two major themes for the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II) - to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, in June 1996 - were sustainable human settlements in an urbanizing world and adequate shelter for all.

The commitment to adequate shelter for all was re-emphasized by Wally N'Dow, Assistant Secretary-General of the UN Centre for Human Settlements and Secretary-General of HABITAT II.

"Human settlement policies in the future will influence and be influenced" by global development issues, he told the Commission. "Local authorities, entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations, women's and community groups, as well as young people who will live in the world of the next century, must become part of the solution."

In a message by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali to the Commission, read by Dr. N'Dow, it was noted that the Commission session held special significance as the last before the Istanbul conference, concluding a series of global meetings that would "forge the elements of a new common global strategy of people-centred and sustainable development for the twenty-first century. "The Governments and organizations assembled here today need to provide leadership and guidance for this great global undertaking, in which all elements of civil society must participate", he said.

The newly-elected Commission Chairman is Boris Maiorski of the Russian Federation. Alberto Lizarralde of Venezuela, Rachmadi Bambang Soemadhijo of Indonesia, and John Zetter of the United Kingdom were elected Vice-Chairmen; and Antoine Zanga of Cameroon as Rapporteur.

HABITAT II:

`Gateway to the next century'

Calling the 1996 HABITAT II the "gateway to development into the next century", Assistant Secretary-General Wally N'Dow told the second session (24 April-5 May, Nairobi) of the Preparatory Committee for the Conference that it would be a "true conference of partners", representing every level of Government, with input from private and voluntary sectors, professional associations, trade unions, women's and youth groups, and community representatives. All these groups, he said, would "learn from one another" how to solve the problems of human settlements put before them.

Work continued at the session by an open-ended drafting group on the text of a draft action plan to guide the sustainable development of the world's cities, towns and villages.

The text comprises a preamble, statement of goals and principles, and a set of commitments to be undertaken by Governments in support of HABITAT II's objectives: development of sustainable human settlements in an urbanizing world, and adequate shelter for all.