General Assembly Second Committee
Topic A: Implementation of the Outcome of the United Nations Conference on Human
Settlements (Habitat-II) and Strengthening of the United Nations Human Settlements
Programme (UN-Habitat)
“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when,
they are created by everybody.”1
–Jane Jacobs
Over half of the world’s population currently lives in cities and by 2050 it is estimated that 66%
of the global population will be urbanized.2 This reality has brought new international focus on
providing assistance and capacity building for the management of cities. The United Nations
(UN) has addressed issues related to cities and economic development since its inception and the
UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is an embodiment of that effort. In many
ways, improving city management helps to fulfil one of the basic premises established in the
Charter of the United Nations, which states that the UN is determined “to promote social
progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.”3 While there are a multitude of methods
to promote sustainable human settlements, the General Assembly Second Committee often
addresses issues related to energy, water, employment, and the environment.
Background
The roots of what is now UN-Habitat come from the creation of the United Nations Habitat and
Human Settlements Foundation (UNHHSF) in 1975.4 Although its mandate was very limited,
the UNHHSF was the first body dedicated to urbanization and helped developing countries by
providing financial and technical support.5 In 1976, the first UN Conference on Human
Settlements (Habitat-I) was held in Vancouver, Canada, and resulted in the creation of the direct
predecessors to UN-Habitat, the United Nations Commission on Human Settlements and the
United Nations Centre for Human Settlements.6 Given that most of the global population at that
time was rural, it is unsurprising that these institutions were weak, poorly funded, and would
remain that way for nearly twenty years.7
Zetland, David. “The Death and Life of... Cities -- The Review.” <http://www.aguanomics.com/2012/04/deathand-life-of-cities-review.html>.
2
United Nations. “World’s population increasingly urban with more than half living in urban areas.”
<http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/population/world-urbanization-prospects-2014.html>.
3
United Nations. Charter of the United Nations. <http://www.un.org/en/documents/charter/preamble.shtml>.
4
UN-Habitat. “History, mandate & role in the UN system.” <http://unhabitat.org/history-mandate-role-in-the-unsystem/>.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid.
1
1
The Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat-II) was held in Istanbul,
Turkey in June of 1996.8 The international community was faced with a rapidly-changing reality
that included much higher rates of urbanization – this led to the conference having two themes,
"adequate shelter for all" and "sustainable human settlements development in an urbanizing
world."9 The outcome of the conference, the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements,
redefined the global outlook on addressing issues related to cities. The Istanbul Declaration
recognized that not only are cities centers for culture and science, but that they also generate
economic development and are intrinsically linked to rural areas.10 It also committed the
international community to addressing issues related to the right to adequate and affordable
housing, homelessness, unemployment, and the root causes of some of these issues, including a
lack of adequate planning and infrastructure development.11 Included with the declaration was
the Habitat Agenda, the framework for implementation that is still in place today, which includes
international commitments on providing adequate shelter for all and creating sustainable human
settlements.12
After Habitat-II, the international community was galvanized around addressing these issues as
never before. The Istanbul Declaration had strengthened the UN’s existing initiatives and
allowed for major adjustments to take place after 1997.13 On January 1st, 2002, the UN General
Assembly (UNGA) adopted A/RES/56/206, which for the first time established an independent
program for addressing cities and urbanization, UN-Habitat.14 As UN-Habitat’s role was
expanded, it began to partner with a huge variety of non-governmental organizations, civil
society organizations, and other UN bodies as part of its broader effort to provide adequate
housing for all.15
Current Issues
Today, UN-Habitat is the principal body in the UN system for shelter, cities, and urbanization,
and operates within its mandate is to “promote socially and environmentally sustainable towns
and cities.”16 As cities grow in size and complexity, UN-Habitat has established numerous
programs and initiatives in themes ranging from water and sanitation, energy, and mobility to
legislation, governance, and planning and design.17 In spite of this, there are clear opportunities
United Nations. “Outcomes on Human Settlements.” <http://un.org/en/development/devagenda/habitat.shtml>.
Ibid.
10
United Nations. Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements. <http://www.un-documents.net/ist-dec.htm>.
11
Ibid.
12
United Nations. The Habitat Agenda. <http://www.un-documents.net/ha-3.htm>.
13
UN-Habitat. “History, mandate & role in the UN system.” <http://unhabitat.org/history-mandate-role-in-the-unsystem/>.
14
Ibid.
15
Ibid.
16
Ibid.
17
UN-Habitat. “Urban Themes.” <http://unhabitat.org/urban-themes/>.
8
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for improvement in Member States and UN-Habitat, especially in addressing environmental and
economic issues.
Sustainable Human Settlements
As climate change and sustainable development have become core focus areas of the
international community, the concept of sustainable human settlements has come to the fore.
Chapter 7 of Agenda 21, a voluntary framework for sustainable development adopted at the 1992
UN Conference on Environment and Development, calls for “promoting sustainable human
settlements development.”18 Agenda 21 outlines that sustainable human settlements must
provide adequate shelter for all, use land effectively, have effective sanitation and drainage
systems, and use sustainable energy.19 In emerging economies, UN-Habitat has worked to
promote sustainable cities through its Urban Low Emission Development Strategies project,
which offers capacity building to local governments so that they can implement green
initiatives.20 Additionally, the negative environmental impact of slums, which often lack any
sanitation infrastructure or proper housing, makes the Participatory Slum Upgrading Facility
(PSUP) one of UN-Habitat’s most important initiatives.21 The PSUP is a partnership with the
African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States, the European Commission, and UN-Habitat that
seeks to improve the lives of millions of slum dwellers in over 160 cities by providing policy and
budgetary support to cities and helping with training and education.22 While these efforts have
been effective, they come nowhere near addressing the whole environmental impact of cities.
Infrastructure, including transportation, energy, and water infrastructure, remain a key challenge,
especially in developing countries that often lack the capacity to develop effective infrastructure
systems.
Employment, Education, and Income Inequality
In spite of many States struggling to providing housing and employment to all of the citizens
flowing into their cities, the trend of urbanization shows no signs of stopping. Employment is
among the most important concerns, but is also one of the hardest to address. Some cities, in
partnership with the UN Capital Development Fund, have turned to microfinance, which consists
of small loans made to individuals, as a way to provide economic opportunity that also increases
the role of women in the economy.23 This has had mixed results however, and some States now
18
United Nations. Agenda 21. <https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf>.
Ibid.
20
UN-Habitat. “Urban low emission development strategies.” <http://unhabitat.org/urban-low-emissiondevelopment-strategies/>.
21
UN-Habitat. “Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme (PSUP).” <http://unhabitat.org/initiativesprogrammes/participatory-slum-upgrading/>.
22
Ibid.
23
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. “Microfinance as a Poverty Reduction Tool—A
critical Assessment.” <http://www.un.org/esa/desa/papers/2009/wp89_2009.pdf>.
19
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consider microfinance to be an ineffective tool.24 Education has proven to be a consistent
method for providing long-term economic opportunity and the UN Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization has increasingly worked with cities to provide quality learning
environments in urban areas.25 Still, both national and local authorities in many Member States
struggle to handle and ever-growing and increasingly diverse base of students, which has caused
educational quality to suffer and, in some cases, for students to not have access to higher-levels
of education.26 Too often, this lack of economic opportunity causes disparity in wealth, which
has caused most cities to have increases in income inequality since the 1980s.27 This fact,
combined with an increasing urban-rural divide, has become a major concern of the international
community, and many consider new methods of city management to be the way to address
income inequality and ensure employment.28
Future Outlook
The Post-2015 Development Agenda
Since 2000, the international community has been focused on accomplishing the Millennium
Development Goals, which included such lofty aspirations as eradicating extreme poverty and
hunger and achieving universal primary education.29 These goals, accomplished or not, will
expire at the end of 2015, and the international community has all but settled on the framework
for the post-2015 development agenda. The Report of the Open Working Group of the General
Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals listed what are likely to be adopted in September as
the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including several items related to human
settlements.30 The 12th goal is the most directly applicable, however, and calls for the
international community to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and
sustainable.”31 There are seven proposed targets within this goal, including everything from
access to adequate, safe, and affordable housing to reducing the environmental impact of cities
and creating more green and public spaces.32 The SDGs will represent a huge step forward in
how the international community addresses cities, but they have already come under scrutiny as
24
Ibid.
UNESCO. “Sustainable Urbanization.” <http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-theinternational-agenda/education-for-sustainable-development/sustainable-urbanisation/>.
26
Ibid.
27
United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. “Cities for a sustainable future.”
<http://www.un.org/en/development/desa/news/ecosoc/cities-for-a-sustainable-future.html>.
28
Ibid.
29
UN Department of Public Information. “The Millennium Development Goals: Overview.”
<http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/newsroom/MDG%20Overview%20FINAL.pdf>.
30
United Nations General Assembly. “Report of the Open Working Group of the General Assembly
on Sustainable Development Goals.” <http://www.undocs.org/a/68/970>.
31
Ibid.
32
Ibid.
25
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the financial, technical, and logistical means of implementation for the SDGs have largely not
been negotiated or agreed to.33 Without effective means of implementation, it is likely that the
international community will struggle to make progress on the huge number of goals and targets
proposed.34
The Third United Nations Conference on Human Settlements
In A/RES/66/207 the UNGA called for the third United Nations Conference on Housing and
Sustainable Development (Habitat III) to be held in line with the conference’s bi-decennial
cycle.35 Habitat III will take place in Quito, Ecuador in October of 2016, likely making it the
first major international conference to take place after the adoptions of the SDGs. Member
States were invited to submit national reports at the beginning of the planning process for the
conference, and preparatory committees have begun meeting to establish the agenda and base
documents for negotiation.36 Some of the major themes of the conference have already been
selected, including the effects of urbanization on development, addressing cities’ impact on
climate change, and how urbanization can address social integration and equality.37 More
importantly, in A/RES/67/216 the UNGA decided that the outcome of the conference would be a
“concise, focused, forward-looking and action-oriented outcome document, which shall
reinvigorate the global commitment to and support for housing and sustainable urban
development” and be called the New Urban Agenda.38 It is important that Member States
wishing to influence the New Urban Agenda work to do so now, in the lead-up to Habitat III.
Focus Questions
1. What near-universal urban problems can the UN help to address?
2. What aspects of city management are likely to garner general international agreement?
3. What problems do cities in your country have? Do you have a high rate of urbanization?
4. In that type of urban infrastructure does your country need the most improvement?
5. How has your country promoted sustainable human settlements?
Third World Network. “SDG negotiations reveal the hard fight for means of implementation.”
<https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/252-the-millenium-development-goals/52671-means-ofimplementation-nearly-toppled-process-of-sdgs-agenda.html>.
34
Ibid.
35
United Nations General Assembly. A/RES/66/207. <http://www.undocs.org/a/res/66/207>.
36
UN-Habitat. “The Process.” <https://www.habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda/preparatory-committee>.
37
UN-Habitat. “Towards a New Urban Agenda.” <http://unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/BrochureHabitat-III-.pdf>.
38
United Nations General Assembly. A/RES/67/216. <http://www.undocs.org/a/res/67/216>.
33
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6. Are there any problems that you share with most of your region or bloc?
7. How should the international community address implementation of the SDGs and what
should be included in the New Urban Agenda?
6
Works Cited
Third World Network. “SDG negotiations reveal the hard fight for means of implementation.” 24
July 2014. <globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/252-the-millenium-developmentgoals/52671-means-of-implementation-nearly-toppled-process-of-sdgs-agenda.html>.
United Nations. Agenda 21. 14 June 1992.
<https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/Agenda21.pdf>.
United Nations. Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements. 14 June 1996. < http://www.undocuments.net/ist-dec.htm>.
United Nations. Habitat Agenda. 14 June 1996. <http://www.un-documents.net/ha-3.htm>.
United Nations. “Outcomes on Human Settlements.”
<http://un.org/en/development/devagenda/habitat.shtml>.
United Nations Department of Public Information. “The Millennium Development Goals:
Overview.” 25 September 2008.
<http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/2008highlevel/pdf/newsroom/MDG%20Overview%20
FINAL.pdf>.
United Nations General Assembly. “Implementation of the outcome of the United Nations
Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and strengthening of the United Nations
Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat)” A/RES/66/207. 14 March 2012.
<http://www.undocs.org/a/res/66/207>.
United Nations General Assembly. “Implementation of the outcome of the United Nations
Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) and strengthening of the United Nations
Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).” A/RES/67/216. 20 March 2013.
<http://www.undocs.org/a/res/67/216>.
United Nations General Assembly. “Report of the Open Working Group of the General
Assembly on Sustainable Development Goals.” A/68/970. 12 August 2014.
<http://www.undocs.org/a/68/970>.
UN-Habitat. “History, mandate & role in the UN system.” <http://unhabitat.org/history-mandaterole-in-the-un-system/>.
UN-Habitat. “The Process.” <habitat3.org/the-new-urban-agenda/preparatory-committee>.
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