The
city of Surabaya, Indonesia, will host the Asian Meeting of GPR2C (Global Platform for the Right
to the City) on
this upcoming Sunday (December 20). The event will be held in UNTAG (Universitas 17
Augustus 1945).
The meeting organized
by GPR2C continues the debate on urban issues in the regional context, one day after the 3rd Social Urban
Forum, also held in the Indonesian university. The Global Platform will be represented by Nelson Saule Júnior and Shivani Chaudhry.
Around 50 participants
from different countries and working areas, as representatives of social
movements, academics, human rights defenders and local authorities, will be
participating in this debate.
The aim is to present
the Global Platform and disseminate its principles, goals
and actions; strengthening regional alliances and inviting new organizations to
join the Platform; discuss the meaning of the Right to the City in the Asian region; and
share information and analyze setbacks, challenges and particular regional
developments in the Habitat III process.
Right
to the City in Africa
In late November, the Global Platform for the Right to the
City also held a
major debate on the implementation of the Right to the City in the Africa region, in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The event took place at a strategic moment, when a lot of countries met in South Africa to participate
at Africities
Summit 2015, an event
that brings, one day after, several entities to discuss the inclusion of this
cornerstone theme in African countries.
Around 80 participants, coming from Angola, Botswana,
Egypt, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Malawi, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria,
Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tunisia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, as well
as Brazil, Italy, Portugal and UK, were together at the GPR2C event. The Deputy Minister of Human Settlements
in South Africa, Zou Kota-Fredericks attended the conference.
The international relations officer at the GPR2C,
Rodrigo Faria, said that for the first time, this Regional Meeting promoted the
contact between a lot of active organizations working in the urban area from different African countries .
According to Rodrigo,
“the event was a milestone for the discussion of the different meanings of the
Right to the City in Africa, where different and singular urban and rural
contexts coexist.” After the meeting, a coordination on the issue in the continent emerged as a proposal, as well as the possibility of drafting an African Charter
for the Right to the City, to be debated in the coming months.
GPR2C promotes local debate on Right to the City prior to Africities