Sunday, October 16, 2016.
The Habitat International Coalition (HIC), a global
network for rights related to habitat and social justice, emerged 40 years ago
from the committee of organizations formed to help organize and coordinate the
contributions of NGOs in the United Nations Conference on human settlements –
Habitat I – in Vancouver on 1976. Since then, HIC has fought for the
construction and defense of human settlements by, for and with people, as
promised in Vancouver.
20 years later, the Habitat II Agenda affirmed the
centrality of good governance and human rights, particularly the right to
adequate housing, and reaffirmed the importance of balanced urban and rural
development, as agreed at Habitat I.
Now, HIC is at Habitat III to assess progress and
setbacks of the “New Urban Agenda” compared to previous commitments and the
current situation; to share proposals and strategies to implement, monitor and
evaluate the new Agenda based on human rights and existing international laws;
and to claim the participation of organized civil society, which has been
gradually excluded from the process.
As it has been repeatedly mentioned by Lorena Zarate,
President of HIC: “the real paradigm shift is to put human beings at the
center, promoting, respecting and guaranteeing human rights for all; to promote
social participation in decision making and implementation processes of public
policies; and to strengthen democracy, transparency and accountability”.
40 years after Vancouver, HIC’s members, friends and allies
meet on Sunday October 16 at the Hostel Solera to celebrate the General Assembly and 40 years
of struggle for social justice, gender equality and
environmental sustainability, and of work for the defense, promotion and
realization of human rights related to housing and land, both in rural and
urban areas.
In this spirit, more than 120 members, friends and allies
of HIC from different work fields, including social movements, academics, human
rights activists, public authorities and NGOs, will participate in numerous events
at the Third United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban
Development, Habitat III, from 17th to 20th October in Quito, Ecuador. In
addition, HIC organizes and will actively participate in forums and alternative
spaces that publicly express the demands and expectations of civil society: the
seminars “Urban Alternatives
and Subjects Transformation” and “Towards an
Alternative Habitat III“, organized by FLACSO; the Social Forum of
resistance to Habitat III; and PUCE
Forum to Habitat III.
* For more information on activities and
documents of HIC on Habitat III, click here.
Contact: General Secretariat of HIC: gs@hic-net.org