UNITED NATIONS CENTRE FOR HUMAN SETTLEMENTS (HABITAT)

STATEMENT

BY

ANNA KAJUMLILO TIBAIJUIW

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

UNCHS (HABITAT)

AT THE

THIRD UN CONFERENCE ON LDCs

BRUSSELS 14-20 MAY, 2001

Mr. Chairman,

It is a privilege for me to address the Third UN Conference on LDCs in my new capacity as Executive Director of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat). May I first begin by congratulating you and the members of the Bureau on your election. let me also congratulate the the Secretariat of LDC III for wok welldone as a former Executive Secretary of this event, I Know the great effort that has been done to bring us where we are. Let me therefore also recognize the commitment of the hosts, the EU and other donors who have supported the process.

Distinguished Delegates,

The new urban millennium is seeing a radical transformation, not only in where people live, but how they live. A century ago, only one in ten people lived in cities. Today, about 3 billion people - half of humanity -are urban dwellers. Within just 25 years, two thirds of the people will be in urban areas and almost all of that rapid increase will come in developing countries.

The urban-based economies are now contributing a major share of GDP in most countries. Cities are engines of growth and crossroads of ideas, places of great intellectual ferment and innovation. They can also be models of democracy and multicultural coexistance. But the same cities can also be places of exploitation, disease, violent crime, unemployment, underemployment, and extreme poverty. Nowhere are the problems of cities so acute as in LDCs .

As elsewhere, in LCDs poverty is increasingly becoming an urban phenomenon. More than one billion urban building and international cooperation and, finally, continuous monitoring and evaluation. Member states also committed themselves to developing and implementing these programmes and policies through local, national, subregional and regional plans of action.

Habitat Advocacy Campaigns

Distinguished Delegates, the work programme for the current biennium is focussed on the two main themes of the Habitat Agenda - Adequate Shelter for All and Sustainable Urban Development, and the work combines normative and operational activities. The Centre is now in a much stronger position to play its role as focal point for the implementation of the Habitat Agenda, a powerful mandate dwellers are now living in poverty. The feminization of poverty is another aspect of urbanization. Women's economic opportunities are constrained by their lack of control over crucial decisions related to resource use and access. Insecure land tenure and rights limit their potential. Enhancement of women's rights and control over resources should be central to overall improvement in urban management. It is imperative that we increasingly involve LDC women in the urban and spatial planning process and in local decision-making.

We are indeed entering a new era, the era of globalisation of the economy and information, and localization of social and political life, a phenomenon which has rightly been described as "globalization". For example, foreign policy is no longer solely influenced by national interests but also by local interests as legislators have to take into account the foreign policy demands of their respective constituents in cities, towns, and villages. This is the context in which Istanbul + 5 should be placed.

The role of national governments in this increasingly globalised and urbanizing world has become more complex and requires a radical shift in development thinking. It is now widely acknowledged that local, national and global governance has to be redefined and reinvented to adapt to the new realities. This is especially so because the Habitat Agenda is a local agenda and requires local actors as the communities in a globalizing world learn "best practice" from one another.

Mr. Chairman,

The United Nations held Habitat II, The Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements in Istanbul in 1996. This meeting was more than just a Conference. It was an opportunity to make the world understand that, with proper guidance, the process of urbanization could be a positive force for development. This is also true for LDCs.

At the conference, the Habitat Agenda was adopted unanimously by all Member States and they committed themselves to its implementation by developing policies and programmes for adequate shelter and sustainable human settlements. Amongst other things, these policies and programmes are meant to promote an enabling environment, greater partnership and participation; capacitydealing with very real issues of shelter and the living environment. As we all know, shelter is one of the three basic needs. Without exception, the poor do not have adequate shelter. It goes without saying therefore that the provision of adequate shelter is one of the challenges in the development of LDCs and the fight against poverty.

Our advocacy approach focuses on two Campaigns, one for Secure Tenure and the other for Good Urban Governance. These two areas are pivotally important for pursuing our goals, and will provide Habitat and its partners with clear entry points to address the urban development challenges of the new millennium in the LDCs.

The purpose of these Campaigns is not to propose a new conditionality, but rather to act as spearheads that raise the key policy issues facing cities and human settlements today. The Global Campaign for Secure Tenure promotes recognition of the permanence of the urban poor in the city, based on existing evidence that the granting of secure tenure is an essential and catalytic element of a sustainable, pro-poor shelter policy, one which unleashes the energies of the poor themselves. The Campaign will actively promote equality of treatment for women, particularly in respect of access to property title, and equal inheritance rights. In the promotion of housing rights generally, Habitat welcomes the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on the right to Adequate Housing by the Human Rights Commission. Habitat and the Office of the Human Rights Commission have also agreed to establish a United Nations Housing Rights Programme, which will be finalised later this year.

The Global Campaign for Good Urban Governance focuses on the essential elements necessary to properly manage cities and human settlements. Good Urban Governance is a vital precondition for economic efficiency, especially when it provides city-wide framework for sustained action against poverty. The "inclusive city," based on transparency, accountability and equity, recognises the rights and responsibilities of all urban citizens, and provides a sound basis for sustainable development.

UNCHS (Habitat) will improve the linkages between its operative and normative activities, ensuring better integration and impact leading to improved support to Member States. For example, the Cities Alliance is a global initiative between Habitat and the World Bank, to upscale slum-upgrading programmes and thus improve the living conditions of millions of the urban poor. The two goals of the Habitat Agenda are being addressed through this Alliance. On the one hand, slum upgrading is a direct contribution to the goal of "Shelter for All". On the other hand, the participatory preparation of City Development Strategies is a contribution to the goal of "sustainable urban development". Our Global Campaigns on Secure Tenure and Good Urban Governance constitute the policy framework for the operational activities of the Cities Alliance.

Our operational activities will continue to help municipalities to build their capacity to prioritise the needs of the urban poor. We will promote city to city linkages in order to exchange lessons learned and best practices and mobilise additional voluntary resources between cities, knowing well that in the 21St century we need more innovative ways to supplement the traditional mechanisms of international cooperation. (…..).

In this regard Habitat, in cooperation with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), has undertaken the task of taking a lead in organising a special parallel event on "City to City Cooperation" at this Third UN Conference on Least Developed Countries. This event, coming just before Istanbul + 5 has provided the international community an opportunity to focus on cities and settlement conditions in the world's poorest nations.

I am committed to making Habitat a centre of excellence on cities and human settlements which will try to provide leadership not only in understanding the symptoms of problems of urbanisation but their underlying and fundamental causes including rural-urban linkages and dynamics. Regional policies are important in addressing urban problems both in developed and developing countries. Some urban problems cannot be solved without tackling problems facing rural dwellers. This is particularly true in LDCs where, without rural development, it will be difficult to tackle urban problems. The rural poor are migrating to become the urban poor.

I would like to assure LDCs, and call upon all our partners, policy makers and planners responsible for human settlements to join us in meeting the challenges of the urban millennium in LDCs. In particular, I call upon the distinguished delegates gathered here to recommit themselves to the further implementation of the Habitat Agenda especially as the future of the planet is closely linked to the way we manage cities and human settlements particularly in LDCs. Next month, in New York a Special Session of the General Assembly on the Implementation of the Habitat Agenda will be held.

I would like to take this opportunity to advance LDCs to their concerns on shelter delivery, and LDCs who are yet to submit their national reports to the special session do so. National reports so far received by Habitat indicate that many countries have made progress towards fulfilling their commitments to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda but much remains to be done in LDCs.

The purpose of the Istanbul +5, however, is not only to review but also to identify and agree on concrete initiatives for extending and strengthening global action to fulfil the Habitat Agenda commitments and achieve its goals. LDCs will need international support in the efforts to implement the Habitat Agenda. It is a resource intensive undertaking.

Distinguished delegates,

I should like to close my remarks by underscoring my personal commitment and that of the entire staff of UNCHS (Habitat) to assist LDCs in their efforts to implement the Habitat Agenda in the new millennium. The new Programme of Action, to be endorsed by this Conference should recognize the importance of shelter in the fight against poverty.

I wish you all success in your deliberations and I look forward to working with you in the future.

I thank you for your attention