SECRETARY-GENERAL'S STATEMENT TO PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR HABITAT II
Press Release
SG/SM/5890
HAB/104
SECRETARY-GENERAL'S STATEMENT TO PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR HABITAT II
19960205 Following is the text of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's statement to the third session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II):We are now in the final phase before Habitat II. I should like to take the opportunity to congratulate all of you. I wish you a productive session.
Habitat II completes the current cycle of global conferences. It will be the culminating United Nations global conference of the century.
Only two years ago, the preparatory process for this Conference seemed difficult. Public awareness was not high. There was a reluctance to speak about new commitments. We kept hearing about a new global malaise known as "conference fatigue".
Today, commitments to action have already been made. This has been not only by governments. We have a broad array of new partners -- local authorities, private sector companies, non-governmental organizations, groups of women and youth, religious bodies, academic institutions and the press.
And, as for "fatigue", more than 150 countries are actively demonstrating that they do not know the meaning of the word. They are vigorously engaged in preparatory activities for Habitat II. They possess the foresight and political will to give shape to a new urban world.
You have come a long way since I addressed your first session in Geneva. Your accomplishments are a good sign that the Conference will succeed. You have pioneered a ground-breaking rules change. It could set a new pattern in the way the international community does business.
Under rule 61, all relevant partners, especially local authorities, will be able to present their views to Habitat II. This is an innovative measure. It has been endorsed by the General Assembly. It broadens the normal participation of Member States in United Nations meetings to include representatives from their own cities. It is timely and necessary in the context of your agenda.
There has been an extraordinary manifestation of interest in Habitat II by local governments and non-governmental and private sector representatives. This is borne out by the many parallel meetings these groups are organizing at Istanbul.
The vision inherent in this common initiative is evident once again in the international effort manifest in the "best urban practices" programme. Even now, it is collecting data from all parts of the world. It documents new ideas, and shares practical options, on the critical living and shelter conditions that are the concern of Habitat II.
The computerized "ideas bank" that is being set up promises that Habitat II will not be a Conference that dwells on problems. It will be a Conference that provides solutions. It will be creative and workable. It will motivate the world to make sustainable human settlements the rule and not the exception in the coming century.
Many countries are now preparing national plans of action on the urban problems confronting them. Each endeavour is unique. But far too few governments have examined in detail the needs of their cities and towns. Even fewer have had the opportunity to devise long-range strategies for dealing with them.
All this is now changing. And the thanks go to you.
These commitments show the seriousness that the international community has accorded to the "City Summit" in Istanbul. They provide us with the means to forge the instruments we need to promote more sustainable forms of development in the next century.
For, in effect, you have helped to establish the required institutional mechanisms for policy dialogue and analysis. You have established a knowledge base, designed both to solve problems and to monitor implementation.
There is one crucial step left in this preparatory process -- a step that only you can take. It is to arrive at a consensus for the Habitat agenda, the global plan of action. That will be your legacy to the future. A legacy of sustainable human, social, economic and environmental development. A legacy that is felt in the cities, towns and villages of our world in the new millennium.
At its first session, your Committee identified a list of issues that reflect the difficulties we face in our societies today. The second session saw the evolution of a conference of partners and of a more open participatory process. This third session will reflect the importance of concerted action
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and broad-based planning at all levels and among all partners.
We must take with us to Istanbul a document that is vital and vibrant. A living document, if you will, that not only shows the way, but provides realistic and attainable goals to which all nations can subscribe, and which all cities can implement.
But it cannot stop there. I look to the Habitat Summit to carry forward the agenda for global human action. That agenda has been devised in the historic continuum of global conferences which the United Nations has been proud to convene. It should be followed up by the United Nations, and the whole of United Nations system, within that framework. Coordination and integration are necessary to maximize policy coherence and impact. They also are a must, at a time of mounting resource constraints, and in the face of the deepening financial crisis confronting the United Nations.
So, let us be creative, imaginative and practical. You here today can leave a cherished legacy to the future. In this spirit, I wish you every success in your deliberations and thank you for your dedication to this great task.
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