Daily report for 1 May 1995

WORKING GROUP I

The Working Group completed consideration of national preparations for theConference, discussed plans for committees and activities at Istanbul and beganconsideration of reports on the state of human settlements.

AGENDA ITEM II: PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFERENCE:Liberia has developed a national settlement plan, established a task force forimplementation of Habitat II, and is planning a national symposium and workshops.Nepal has established a national committee and completed its human settlements sectorreview and national settlements strategy for a national plan of action. Ghana hassubmitted a report from its national committee. He called for supporting the attendanceof needy delegations and equity between rural and urban concerns.

Uganda, on behalf of the African States, noted common African priorities: rural-urbanpoverty, national development, land tenure, financial reforms, human resourcedevelopment, environmental impact assessment, gender balance, civil and humanrights, especially concerning refugees and human and natural disasters. He added thatcities and countryside are not enemies. Nigeria's national steering committee willaddress best practices, urban housing indicators and hold a workshop for localcouncils.

Responding to questions from the Netherlands, the Secretariat said that in-countrypreparations would be supported in the event of a funding shortfall, but no decisionshad been made. Regarding information flow, reports from about 40 upcominginternational meetings will be consolidated into a progress report before PrepCom III.

PrepCom II Chair Martti Lujanen then introduced document A/CONF.165/PC.2/CRP.2,Organization of Work, including Establishment of Committees and Procedural Matters,which will be considered by the Group Wednesday.

The document addresses pre-Conference consultations, the election of officers,adoption of the rules of procedure, adoption of the agenda, organization of work,participation of local authorities and the report of the Conference.

The document highlights the role of NGOs and local authorities, based on GAresolution 49/109 of December 1994 and the decision of the PrepCom at its firstsession to involve all the listed sectors as full members of the national committees.

A two-day pre-conference consultation will be held in Istanbul to deal withorganizational matters, with one representative from each delegation attending. Thisproposal needs endorsement from the GA in November. The section on election ofofficers and adoption of rules of procedure is based on a standard UN format, and theagenda will be adopted in PrepCom III. One Plenary and two Main Committees areplanned. Plenary will have two segments: general debate on the themes of the mainconference and a high-level segment. Committee I will prepare the Statement ofPrinciples and Global Plan of Action and address organizational matters. Committee IIwill conduct hearings between member States and participants from other sectors andpossibly receive recommendations on thematic issues from round-tables.Representatives of Local Authorities' associations will have access at the level ofgovernment delegations without the right to vote. The Report of the Conference willinclude the hearings from Committee II.

AGENDA ITEM 4: STATE OF HUMAN SETTLEMENTS REPORT ANDMAJOR REVIEWS: The Secretariat summarized the group of documentsreviewing the state of human settlements. India said the documents did not sufficientlyreflect developing countries' priority on international technical and financialassistance. He also pointed out problems related to inflexible regulations, the relationsbetween public and private sector finance, equal opportunity for borrowing, and theabolition of rent control. He placed a reservation on A/CONF.165/PC.2/11's treatmentof the human right to housing pending the decision of the CHS. The Netherlands saidthe Group should defer discussion on housing rights until the CHS completeddeliberations.

Finland said the review of Agenda 21 implementation in A/CONF.165/PC.2/8 showsthat development of viable indicators can ensure an efficient monitoring system. Shecalled for consideration of relevant documents and goals from Cairo and Copenhagen.

Kenya said the reports do not address the needs of vulnerable groups. The rural-urbanimbalance was not shown, and statistics were needed on regional levels ofurbanization.

Spain said a statement in A/CONF.165/PC.2/8 that 'the business of development is aneminently private affair' should be revised to say that government can help mobilizeprivate sector resources.

The Chair said an informal, open-ended drafting group chaired by India would beformed to revise the documents.

WORKING GROUP II

The informal working group of Working Group II started discussions on the structureand content of the Principles section of the draft Statement of Principles and GlobalPlan of Action (GPA) being prepared by the drafting group.

STRUCTURE: The structure proposed includes a preamble, principles, goalsand commitments, and the GPA. Benin, Nigeria and India noted that goals andcommitments have been put together as a chapter heading, but goals and principlesshould be together and commitments should form a separate section. They soughtclarification on whether the section on review and monitoring would remain in thedraft. The Chair responded that the commitments are to goals, not to specific actions,and that monitoring is a chapter within the goals and commitments section. India,Benin and Nigeria stated that goals and principles should form one section so thatcommitments refer to both.

PRINCIPLES: Six principles were considered. Additional principles ofLivable Human Settlements and Partnerships, proposed by Turkey and the AfricanGroup, respectively, will be drafted for consideration later.

Peace: India said the statement that 'governments at all levels, theinternational community and civil society should collaborate to preserve peace,'assumes that peace exists, and suggested they should also strive 'to secure' peace.Israel suggested mentioning local authorities, but the Chair stated that 'at all levels'includes these actors. Benin, supported by the Holy See, suggested including 'topromote and preserve peace,' rather than 'to secure,' deleting 'collaborate' andadding 'lasting' to the statement that 'just and comprehensive peace is an essentialcondition.' Sweden and Zambia questioned the inclusion of the qualifier 'just.'Benin, India, Nigeria and the Holy See stated that there are many examples wherecountries have experienced peace, but it is imposed and unjust.

Family: Benin suggested adding the word 'strengthened' to a sentencecalling for states to recognize and enhance the role of the family. Supported by theHoly See, Egypt, Algeria and Sweden, he stated that the sentence 'It exists in variousforms in various cultures' should be replaced with language agreed to at recent UNmeetings in Cairo and Copenhagen. Turkey noted that many statements in thisprinciple are actually commitments and proposed moving them to the commitmentssection. She added that specifically including the family as a principle requiresincluding other societal units such as the community and the individual. Manydelegations responded that the family should be highlighted as a principle because ofits importance, and suggested moving parts of the principle to the section oncommitments.

International Solidarity and Cooperation: The three paragraph principleoutlines the justification for human settlements, the rationale for international solidarityto meet the challenges of human settlements and the relevance of global terms oftrade, technology transfer and extended economic cooperation to urbanization issues.

India, supported by Russia and Nigeria, said the title should include 'Assistance.'Nigeria suggested the addition of 'substantial assistance.' Sweden, supported by theUS and Australia, said the main financial responsibility will lie with nationalgovernments and local authorities. The US then proposed: implementation of the GPAwill require application of substantial resources, local or international...." Benin statedthat international solidarity is needed and indispensable for responding to challenges ofglobal urbanization. Following Kenya's suggestion, on behalf of the African Group, toinclude partnership, several delegates said this should be a separate principle. Brazil,supported by Australia, added 'national' to 'sound and effective internationalpolicies' as a prerequisite for international solidarity.

Government Responsibility and Civic Engagement: Delegations madeseveral suggestions regarding the responsibilities of government including: settlementplanning frameworks should be consistent with Agenda 21; mobilization of adequatefinancial and technical resources should occur within states; effective and just humansettlement management should be ensured; and property rights should be established.Israel suggested an amendment that adds children to the section enabling women andmen to participate in decisions that affect their living environment. Some delegatesquestioned whether the needs of children should be mentioned here. Australiaproposed that civic engagement include provision of effective social protectionmechanisms designed to assist the most vulnerable groups.

Sustainability: The Principle calls for all human settlements to be developedand adjusted to requirements of sustainability. The principle identifies three aspectsessential to sustainable human settlements: environmental sustainability, economicsustainability and social sustainability. Environmental sustainability requires planningthat takes into account the ecosystems' carrying capacity. Economic sustainabilitydeals with managed settlements that provide sustainable economic growth, in particularaddressing consumption, transport, economic and development activities. Socialsustainability ensures that settlements provide conditions such as, social welfare,solidarity and social cohesion in families and ethnic groups.

Substantive discussions centered on: whether to delete the actors mentioned in theprinciple; the need to replace 'social sustainability' with alternative wording becausethe concept could not be defined at the World Summit for Social Development;deletion of the reference to debt; and the need to specifically identify the relevantgovernment institutions. Several delegations, including Kenya, on behalf of the AfricanGroup, proposed additional texts. Japan, supported by the Philippines, wanted theimpact of 'natural disasters' recognized. Discussion on the economic aspect focusedon the choice between 'sustainable economic growth' or 'sustained economicgrowth.' Developing countries want the latter, arguing that it is the language used inthe Rio documents.

Croatia suggested that the resettlement of internally displaced persons and refugees becovered under the social aspect.

Equity: Turkey suggested referring to equity between settlements, not justwithin settlements and suggested additional language. Sweden stated that the specialneeds of vulnerable and disadvantaged people warranted a separate sentence, and notedthat the word 'poverty' is not mentioned. Brazil, supported by many otherdelegations, commented that the idea of good governance should not be includedbecause it is too controversial.

Benin recommended replacing 'All people should equitably share the burdens ofhuman settlements' with 'common but differentiated' responsibility. Germany,supported by several delegations, disagreed with the change noting that equitablesharing is not synonymous with equal sharing. Other suggestions included deleting allbrackets, mentioning physical and mental health needs, referring specifically tohomeless people, and providing education and training for women and children.

COMMISSION ON HUMAN SETTLEMENTS

The 15th CHS adopted the reports and resolutions of its committees inHS/C/15/L.1(Nos. 1-11) and corrigenda and concluded its session.

Committee II's conclusions on the right to housing are contained in severaldocuments. Chapter III of the draft report includes three paragraphs summarizing thedebate over whether the right to housing is an established human right and whether itshould be included in CHS documents. It notes that an informal working party draftresolution and other texts had not been accepted. Chapter VIII notes disagreement overinclusion of the right to housing in the biennial work programme, that the Committeedeferred the decision to the Plenary and cites the draft resolution adopted by theCommittee for further examination by the Executive Director. Plenary approved theUNCHS draft work programme and instructed the executive director to discharge hisresponsibilities regarding the right to housing subprogramme element, taking into fullaccount the background of discussions and the resolution. The Executive Director saidthat he would attach a rider reflecting this decision to relevant documents.

THINGS TO LOOK FOR TODAY

PLENARY: General debate will resume in Plenary at 9:30 a.m.

WORKING GROUP I: The drafting group on the state of humansettlements report will meet at 9:30 a.m.

WORKING GROUP II: Pending the translation of the texts, the informalworking group will begin consideration of the new texts on preamble, goals andobjectives, at 9:30 a.m.