UN-HABITAT BEGINS SURVEY OF WAR DAMAGED HOUSING STOCK IN IRAQ

UN-HABITAT BEGINS SURVEY OF WAR DAMAGED HOUSING STOCK IN IRAQ

(Reissued as received.)

NAIROBI, 6 May (UN-HABITAT) – United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) has opened a new office in Basra in order to begin the urgent task of certifying the state of war damaged housing stock.  This survey is being undertaken as part of UN-Habitat's Emergency Relief Response and will also be conducted in Baghdad, Mosul and other urban areas.  The team in Basra consists, at present, of one international expert and 54 national engineers, architects, and database managers.

UN-Habitat has also examined the state of sewage disposal and solid waste management in Habania, a low-income district in Basra with a population of 300,000.  According to initial findings the situation is desperate due to years of neglect and additional war damage.  UN-Habitatwill liase with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the purpose of emergency repairs once the ongoing assessment reporting is finalized.

The officers in Basra are being supported by UN-Habitat's offices in Amman, Jordan and Larnaca, Cyprus.  UN-Habitat will soon re-open its offices in Baghdad and UN-Habitat's international experts are now returning to the three northern Iraqi governorates of Erbil, Dahuk and Suleimaniyah, where UN-Habitathas been working on Settlements Rehabilitation Programme for internally displaced persons and most vulnerable groups, under the "oil-for-food" programme, since 1997.

UN-Habitat has been at the forefront of post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction in many post war situations across the globe.  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 Hargeisa.  This included the training and capacity building of staff in the Mayor's office.  In Kosovo, UN-Habitathelped United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) 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 continues to be 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-Habitathas 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.

Many of these projects and UN-Habitat's work in post-conflict reconstruction and disaster management will be discussed at parallel events during the nineteenth session of the Governing Council which is currently meeting at UN-Habitat's headquarters in Nairobi.

Background:

In 1997, the Secretary General called upon UN-Habitatto implement the settlement rehabilitation component of the oil-for-food programme.  As of
31 December 2002, the Settlements Rehabilitation Programme had served
191,000 beneficiaries directly, and has delivered:  19,051 houses, 685 schools, 127 health centres; 99 agriculture and veterinary centres, 48 other social and civic buildings, 2,800 kilometres of roads and bridges, and 853 kilometres of sewage and water systems.  The Programme has further created 150,000 much-needed jobs in the private sector by engaging and training local contractors.

For further information, please contact:  Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson, or 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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