UN meeting urged to discuss right to housing
UN meeting urged to discuss right to housing
By Sima Gunawan
ISTANBUL, Turkey (JP): Hundreds of activists, including some
Indonesians, staged a demonstration here yesterday, demanding the
UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat) II put "the right of
housing" in the Habitat agenda.
They gathered at the Galata Bridge of Istanbul to protest
points relating to the right to housing, which they claimed were
"missing" or "too weak" in the existing agenda text. Three
cyclists, members of Droit au Logement (Right to Housing) group,
who arrived from Paris, joined the protest.
Some members of the Jakarta-based Jelambar group also took
part in the demonstration. Earlier this week they told an NGO
forum about forced evictions in Jakarta and screened a video on
demolitions in Bendungan Hilir, Central Jakarta.
Yesterday, the demonstrators planned to march to the NGO
Forum building but the police stopped and dispersed them.
The existing text of the Habitat agenda says "we reaffirm our
commitment to the progressive realization of the right to
adequate housing, as set out in numerous international
instruments and we recognize the fundamental obligation of
governments to enable people to obtain shelter and to protect and
improve dwellings and neighborhoods".
The right to housing is one of the hottest issues in the UN
Conference on Human Settlements. The Non-Aligned Movement
believes that the right to housing is a basic human right. This
is supported by Europe. But some countries, particularly the
United States and Japan, disagree. The U.S. has said that the
right to adequate housing is a component of existing human
rights.
The U.S. apparently refuses to recognize the right to housing
as a basic right as it is concerned about legal suit from poor
people who demand free public housing.
Recognizing the right to housing as a human right will
apparently pressure developed countries to provide housing loans
to developing countries, activists said.
In yesterday's demonstration, NGOs demanded that the Habitat
agenda clearly affirm the right to affordable and accessible
quality housing as a legally enforced human right to be enacted
in the Constitutions and legislations of all UN member states.
They also demanded affirmation on the obligation of national
governments to commit sufficient resources to realize the right
to housing by the immediate reallocation of funds away from
weapons of war to build world habitats for peace.
Governments should be committed to the productive use of
abandoned or unused buildings and idle lands to meet people's
housing needs, especially for the poor, activists said.
The activists also demanded that governments end forced
evictions.
"Unavoidable relocations must include notification,
participation by affected populations, accessible rehousing,
basic services and employment opportunities, and due process of
law," NGOs said in a statement.
The other demands included the providing of regulations and
controls to guarantee security of tenure, combat housing and land
speculation, and fight housing discrimination. An international
funding mechanism should be set up to guarantee support for
locally-based financial institutions for poor people who need
housing. The NGOs also demanded that Habitat II adopt and submit
the International Convention on the Right to Housing.