HIC Europe Focal Point

Cesare Ottolini, european coordinator.
Padua (Italia), 1 de junio de 2001

For the kind attention of the Governmental Delegations to the UNGASS on Istanbul+5 (New York, June 6-8 2001) and of Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka Executive Director UNCHS (Habitat)

I am writing on behalf of Habitat International Coalition, whose European focal point I coordinate. I wish to underline the importance of the next UN General Assembly, summoned for examining the progresses achieved and the difficulties met in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda, for the life and the expectations of billions of people in all the world.

During these five years that have separated us from the Istanbul summit, we have participated to numerous institutional and associational initiatives, promoting the knowledge of the Habitat Agenda, controlling the respect of the commitments assumed by the governments, but also attempting to favor their application through a major involvement of the associations in partnerships with the different protagonists of the habitat and urban issues. Unfortunately, we must make evident that the balance of the Habitat Agenda is disappointing in the major part of the countries and the regions: precarious habitat conditions have increased, the gap between rich and poor countries is widening, and paradoxically, the lack of involvement of the public powers from social and urban policies is growing.

The closure clearly manifested during the Nairobi Prepcom and continuing afterwards, make us fear that the commitments made with the Habitat Agenda and, in particular, that the campaigns on «Security of Tenure», «Good Urban Governance», and the program «Cities Without Slums» will definitely be put aside. On the basis of a discussion that has witnessed the involvement of habitant associations, NGOs, public administrators, managers of social housing, researchers, cooperatives, but also the institutions of the European Union, we have therefore launched the Appeal that you will find here underneath. In very few days, utilizing only internet, we have gathered very numerous signatures, coming from representants of civil society, associations and institutions that organize tens of millions of habitants in all of Europe and not only.

We send this Appeal, with the hope that you are willing to take it into consideration, concretely implementing the housing right and the policies to achieve this right. You must be aware, in any case, that this Appeal is alive, because the solidarity without frontiers, founded upon the sharing of principles and proposal among different subjects, provides a strong impulse for change and progress. Habitat II has taught us this, even as far as the future of the cities and of its habitant, are concerned, and we are no longer willing to turn back. We wait for your kind demonstration of willingness to reopen the debate that, as of today, and not due to our willingness, seems irresponsibly blocked.

Best wishes.

Fecha de referencia: 03-12-2001