In 1976 A committee of civil society
organizations took on a leading role in the development of the Habitat Forum,
held in parallel with the United Nations Conference on human settlements
(Habitat I) in Vancouver. Habitat International Coalition (HIC) emerged
from this initiative and 40 years later we will celebrate HIC’s 40th
anniversary and we will bring HIC’s demands to the Third United Nations
Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development, “Habitat
III” that will be held in Quito in 2016.
We would like to celebrate this
40th anniversary with you all and we kindly request your participation in the preparations.
This anniversary celebration will reaffirm
HIC’s mission: through solidarity, networking
and support for social movements and organizations, HIC struggles for social
justice, gender equality, and environmental sustainability, and works in the
defence, promotion and realization of human rights related to housing and land
in both rural and urban areas”.
Each and every member, friend and ally of HIC
has played an essential role in the last 40 years. They have found their own
ways to defend and promote the rights to habitat in every corner of the planet.
Some ideas to celebrate HIC’s 40th Anniversary
arose during the WSF in Tunis, in March 2015, as part of the HIC’s Board
agenda:
– Collecting testimonies from members and
friends, explaining why they approached HIC, collecting experiences on the
Right to Housing, the Right to the City, the Social Production of Habitat, etc
– Identifying actors, important moments, the
connection between our history and the history of housing and other
habitat-related rights.
– Organizing demonstrations, make interviews,
videos, a book, connect new and old generations.
– Following up how a mega event such as
Habitat III can affect the people of Quito and the city itself and mapping our
local contacts in Quito and Ecuador and their struggles.
– Taking into account that anniversaries help
us seeing what we have accomplished. We must celebrate the anniversary with the
people.
– Considering this as an opportunity to show
our experiences in HIC, the experiences of people, and our commitment to
continue fighting.
– Designing a logo that identifies this
initiative and explains the content of this anniversary.
– Organizing a caravan of events to HIII using
a strategic plan.
– Making
a publication that collects 40 stories of struggles over rights to habitat told
by the people.
– Making
a documentary with 40 voices or stories, reaching all our different audiences
with different media, showing the changes and achievements in places and
populations.
– Let’s see where we are 40 years later and how
the habitat issues and struggles have changed.
– The
anniversary is an opportunity to evaluate the Coalition, and reinforce the
institutional memory.
– The
anniversary is a process, we must think collectively 40 years back and 40 years
forward. We should find the links with the official discussion towards HIII.
The World Habitat Day will be key, because it is a year just before Quito.
We kindly request you to share with all of us your ideas,
activities, campaigns and contributions for this process.
Please, send your proposals to gs@hic-net.org
hearing from you!
