UN-HABITAT CALLS FOR FUNDS FOR SHELTER NEEDS AND URBAN RECONSTRUCTION IN IRAQ

(Reissued as received.)

NAIROBI/LONDON, 27 March (UN-HABITAT) -- As part of the United Nations Iraq flash appeal, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) estimates that the shelter needs of internally displaced people of post-conflict Iraq will require $25 million for the first three to six months.  As the lead agency for providing shelter and for urban reconstruction and rehabilitation,

UN-HABITAT will draw upon seven years experience of working in Iraq, to assume emergency assistance to post-war reconstruction of Iraq.

Acting on the instructions of the Security Council, UN-HABITAT will work in concert with other United Nationsagencies to provide immediate assistance to the people of Iraq while laying the foundation for long-term sustainable reconstruction and development.  UN-HABITAT has established an inter-agency shelter working group which is to hold its first meeting on 27 March 2003.

“UN-HABITAT is deeply concerned about the destruction and damage to housing and urban infrastructure in the cities and towns of Iraq”, said Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, the Executive Director of UN-HABITAT.  As the United Nations agency charged with the responsibility for housing and urban reconstruction, there is a desperate need to provide shelter for the internally displaced populations.  At the same time, local authorities will need to be rehabilitated for long term development.

UN-HABITAT has been at the forefront of post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction.  It has considerable experience in re-establishing institutions of local government in Northern Somalia, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

In Northern Somalia, UN-HABITAT helped with the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Hargessa.  This included the training and capacity building of staff in the Mayor's office.

In Kosovo, UN-HABITAT helped the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo establish the Housing and Property Directorate to process property claims. At the same time, in order to facilitate the legal resolution of property disputes, UN-HABITAT has been involved in re-establishing local authorities. This includes training staff to survey and computerize all land records and title deeds that were destroyed during the civil conflict.

In Afghanistan, UN-HABITAT has involved local communities in post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation.  Even under the difficult years of Taliban rule, women were involved in UN-HABITAT's community development programme.

In 1997, the Secretary General called upon UN-HABITAT to implement the settlement rehabilitation component of the “oil-for-food” agreement between the Government of Iraq and the United Nations.  The primary objectives of the Settlements Rehabilitation Programme were:  to improve the humanitarian situation of internally displaced people and most vulnerable groups in northern Iraq within the context of a sustainable human settlement framework; and to help lay the foundation for a stable society in northern Iraq by rehabilitating, upgrading, and expanding in a planned fashion the towns, villages, and rural settlements and the linkages between these.

UN-HABITAT has 600 fully trained and experienced international and local in-country staff with construction and training capacity.  The office also has extensive socio-economic databases on shelter conditions in the North, the Centre and the South of the country.

As of 31 December 2002, the Settlements Rehabilitation Programme has served 191,000 direct beneficiaries, and has delivered:  19,051 houses, 685 Schools,

127 health centres; 99 agriculture and veterinary centres, 48 other social and civic buildings, 2800 kilometres of roads and bridges, and 853 kilometres of sewage and water systems.  The Programme has further created 150,000 jobs in the private sector by engaging and capacitating local contractors.

In 2000, UN-HABITAT was entrusted with the Observation of the Housing Sector in the Centre and South of Iraq and has submitted regular reports and analysis on the housing sector in the centre and south of Iraq under the “SCR 986 Programme”.

If authorized, after the present conflict, UN-HABITAT will assume a threefold, immediate emergency assistance approach:

-- Identification of public buildings where internally displaced persons can be accommodated in the centre/south and the construction of basic services and infrastructure to ensure that adequate temporary shelter is provided for approximately 750,000 internally displaced persons’ families.  This work will support and complement the assistance to be provided by other United Nationsagencies in providing supplies and camp management services as well as providing assistance in site selection, designing camp layouts, design and construction of emergency housing and basic infrastructure.  This would include organizing the building of access and internal roads, emergency solid waste management and other common facilities such as temporary buildings for clinics and sanitation.

-- Rehabilitation of key elements of the socio-economic infrastructure (houses, water supply, sewerage solid waste, and access roads) in those urban areas most severely affected by the conflict.

-- Establishing the foundations for long-term rehabilitation of the shelter sector.  This will entail emergency assessment and planning, assistance in re-

building and/or strengthening the institutions responsible for the provision of basic services and infrastructure at the municipal level, and, the provision of assistance in resolving land and property disputes and in establishing a legal framework for secure land tenure and a system of property rights.

For further information, please contact:  Mr. Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson, or Ms. Zahra Hassan, Press & Media Liaison, Press & Media Relations Unit, Tel:  (254 2) 623153/623151, Fax:  (254 2) 624060, E-mail:  habitat.press@unhabitat.org, Web site:  www.unhabitat.org.

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