Istanbul Declaration adopted

By T. Sima Gunawan

ISTANBUL, Turkey (JP): The two-week UN Conference on Human Settlements, or Habitat II, ended yesterday at dawn with the adoption of the Istanbul Declaration and the Habitat Agenda, which ensure adequate shelter for all and sustainable human settlements in an urbanizing world.

The Conference, originally scheduled to end Friday evening, was delayed until 3:30 a.m. yesterday due to the prolonged "battle" among delegates of the 171 participating countries.

Although all countries adopted the Istanbul Declaration without any reservations, the Habitat Agenda was endorsed with reservations regarding certain articles.

The Agenda is a Global Plan of Action which serves as a guideline for governments in the drafting of policies directed toward the improvement of human living conditions in the next two decades.

The United States expressed reservations on the flow of new and additional financial resources to developing countries, according to Soemadi Brotodiningrat, a member of the Indonesian delegation.

The Holy See, predominantly Catholic Latin American countries (such as Argentine and Uruguay) and Moslem countries expressed reservations on reproductive health and same-sex marriages.

"As for Indonesia, we adopted both the Istanbul Declaration and the Habitat Agenda without reservations," Soemadi told reporters.

Indonesia did not have any reservations because of the "umbrella" nature of the Agenda, which allows any country to implement it according to its laws and regulations, he said.

Unlike the previous UN conferences, Habitat II's documents had an annex which was based on the inputs from the local authorities, NGOs, academicians, parliamentarians, and eminent persons. The annex, however, was not binding.

Soemadi said there was not much conflict on the issue of human settlements itself.

The arduous debates on the improvement of human living conditions were about the same old issues. This included reproductive health and gender, which had been discussed in the UN conferences on women in Beijing and on population in Cairo.

There was also a heated debate on the issue of foreign occupation, which was not new at all, either. It was raised during the conference in anticipation of new developments in the Middle East peace process following the election of Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel's prime minister, according to Soemadi.

On foreign occupation, the delegates reached an agreement after they compromised to change the words "coercive measures" to "other unilateral measures impeding economic and social development," he said.

"Coercive measures" referred to the economic sanctions enforced by the United States against Cuba and the United Nations embargo on the export of oil from Iran.

The Istanbul Declaration calls on governments to promote decentralization through local democratic authorities in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. It also underlined the need for government transparency, accountability and responsiveness to the people's needs.

It emphasizes combating the deterioration of conditions -- particularly in developing countries -- and unsustainable consumption and production patterns, particularly in industrialized countries.

Realizing the limited resources in developing countries, the governments agreed upon the mobilization of new additional resources from all sources -- multilateral and bilateral, public and private -- as well as the facilitation of capacity building and promoting the transfer of appropriate technology and know- how.

Delegates had earlier debated on whether the right to housing was a human right. They later compromised and agreed to the language in the declaration, which said that the world's leaders affirmed their commitment to "the full and progressive realization of the right to adequate housing as provided for in international instruments."

"To that end, we shall seek the active participation of our public, private and nongovernmental partners at all levels to ensure legal security of tenure, protection from discrimination and an equal access to affordable adequate housing for all persons and their families," the declaration said.

They also agreed to expand the supply of affordable housing by enabling markets to perform efficiently and in a socially and environmentally responsible manner, enhancing access to land and credit and assisting those who are unable to participate in housing markets.