PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR ‘ISTANBUL +5’ OPENS IN NAIROBI

(Received from a UN Information Officer.)

NAIROBI, 20 February -- The second session of the Preparatory Committee for Istanbul +5 began its work yesterday to finalize preparations for the Special Session of the General Assembly for an overall review and appraisal of implementation of the Habitat Agenda, scheduled for 6 to 8 June in New York.  The participants at the Preparatory Committee -- governmental representatives, local authorities, non-governmental organizations and other civil society partners -– are in Nairobi to finalize arrangements and texts that will be considered at the June special session of the General Assembly, or Istanbul +5.

Five years ago in Istanbul, Turkey, 171 governments agreed to the Habitat Agenda, and committed themselves to developing policies and programmes to further the twin goals of the Agenda -- to provide adequate shelter for all, and to develop sustainable human settlements.  The Habitat Agenda also calls on governments and its partners, including local authorities, the private sector and communities, “to monitor and evaluate their own performance in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda through comparable human settlements and shelter indicators and documented best practices”.  This is the intent of the special session.  Participants will gather to review and appraise their shelter and sustainable urban development policies and will evaluate their effectiveness at reaching the goals of the Habitat Agenda over the last five years.

In her opening comments, Anna Tibaijuka, the recently appointed Executive Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat), talked about the need for communities and cities to become more inclusive, like the village in which she grew up -- where the community tried to provide for everyone, however modestly, and where she never saw anyone sleeping under a tree.

"The exclusion of the poor from the benefits of urban life is a daily reminder of the urgent need for greater social and civic responsibility.  People everywhere lack adequate shelter, which is a basic human right enshrined in the Habitat Agenda, the United Nations Charter, and other conventions”, she said.  She reminded the participants that at the recent Millennium Summit in New York, world leaders specifically pledged to improve the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.

In the new millennium, she said, urban-based economies are driving development.  And while they are the “crossroads of ideas and places of great intellectual energy”, they are increasingly home to many social inequities, such as environmental hazards and crime, and the increasing feminization of poverty.

She stressed that today's new complexities require that governance -- both national and global -- must be redefined and reinvented.  New partnerships for development must be established.  Istanbul +5 must take its place at the centre of a new context with new contradictions:  on one hand, an era of globalization of both economy and information; and, on the other, an era of greater localization of social and political life. 

She also stressed that, in spite of a period of difficulties following the 1996 conference in Istanbul, Habitat remains the natural system-wide focal point for implementing the Habitat Agenda.  The Commission on Human Settlements has recently taken steps to strengthen the Centre politically and in terms of its human and financial resources.  Thus, Habitat is now in a position to fulfil its mandate and to support the Committee in its work to conclude the preparatory process.  The Centre is developing a new advocacy approach based on new campaigns and programmes, such as secure tenure, urban governance and managing water -- two pivotal areas for addressing shelter and urban development challenges in the next millennium. 

The campaign for urban governance was established as a result of the understanding developed over years of Habitat’s involvement that effective and inclusive urban governance is an essential ingredient in successfully addressing problems of social exclusion.  The campaign seeks to increase the capacity of local governments and other stakeholders to recognize and practice inclusive urban governance -- which would respond responsibly to the needs of everyone, including the urban poor.  The campaign focuses on developing inclusive cities, where everyone, regardless of wealth, gender, age, race or religion, is enabled to participate productively and positively. 

Habitat has also recognized that lack of secure tenure is one of the biggest hurdles for poor people to overcome.  The Habitat Agenda calls on governments to provide “legal security of tenure and equal access to land to all people, including women and those living in poverty”.  The campaign seeks to demonstrate that there are real and viable alternatives that can be negotiated at the local level to provide poor people with secure tenure.

At a press conference, Mrs. Tibaijuka said that the number of countries that have submitted their reports already is a strong indication that governments are taking the issues seriously.  She also made the point that the necessary footwork has been done for Istanbul +5 to have a successful outcome.

Arcot Ramachandran, the first Executive Director of Habitat, also at the press conference, said that the main progress that had been made since Istanbul +5 might have been in raising awareness among governments of the importance of the human settlements situation.  Cities were now concerned, he said, because they realize that “no elected government will survive if they do not take action”.

Several parallel events and consultations are taking place during the Preparatory Committee, on such topics as:  water management; local governance; city-to-city cooperation; providing basic services for the urban poor; and housing and property rights in post-conflict and post-disaster environments, including property claims in Kosovo, social and gender equality in Central America and post-disaster responses in Mozambique. 

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