Dear Members and Friends:
This Habitat Day (now, World Housing and Land Rights Day), 1 October, this HRLN coordination office is joining in the plans discussed in Nairobi and the campaign outlined on the HIC-GS website. For our part, we have coordinated with HIC-GS in the annual mapping exercise and its products. Seeing no contributions from others, we have now agreed to use available time and materials to produce two electronic maps: one showing what HIC opposes, and what it proposes. The first with chart forced eviction findings with a special indication of countries where privatization of housing and services is a factor, based on all VDB entries 2004–07. The other one will depict patterns of on good “people’s” practice, including SPH and effectively opposing violations and privatization, etc. Cairo will produce the date for the FE map; Santiago will produce and map the latter cases. In Cairo, we are rushing to get all possible VDB entries in, since that work is turning out to be the product of only this office so far.
*If anyone has relevant cases to include in the mapping exercise, NOW is the time to share them.*
The maps are in addition to three documents coming out of HLRN:
The report on what the VDB data tell us overall, by region and
by phenomenon, which will be short and resemble the report of last 2 October.
A statement on the persecution of housing and land rights
defenders in a variety of countries, linking that in a converse way to this year’s debatable UN Habitat slogan: “A Safe City Is a Just City.”
A report on a phenomenon that affects housing and land rights,
incorporating also the environment theme we agreed upon in Nairobi. That will be the purpose of a report about ongoing effects of (current and
past) dam construction. This subject also provides us with the opportunity to repeat the message of organic urban-rural linkages, and highlight the effects on peasants, pastoralists and indigenous peoples of that particular type of infrastructure project, simultaneously intended to fuel the ever more-concentrated habitation and consumption patterns characterizing urban centers.
In addition, we will be producing another PPT presentation for distribution to Members, so that they can use the VDB findings and other materials in their own World Housing and Land Rights Day activities. All materials are scheduled for distribution on 27 September, in order to give Members a chance to adapt and translate materials as appropriate.
