World Habitat Day 2005: The Millennium Development Goals and the City
“Slums represent the worst of urban poverty and inequality.
Yet the world has the resources, know-how and power to each the target established in the Millennium Declaration."
-UN Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan.
UN Habitat paper for World Habitat Day 2005 and report of 2004 activities, including the call for nominations for 2005 Habitat Scroll of Honour Award.
Satellite images of an area of Harare before and after Operation Murambatsvina
These images show the town of Harare, Zimbabwe and the effects of President Robert Mugabe’s “clean-up campaign” that involved the razing of shantytowns to root out crime. Imagery collected April 16 and June 4, 2005 at Kubatana: the NGO Network Alliance Project - an online community for Zimbabwean activists.
The Land is for Farmers
In addition to increasing poverty among farmers, during the past period, the Egyptian government traded in lands owned to the agrarian reform corporation, as a continuance of implementing the markets liberating policies in the field of agriculture. Who will protect farmers rights in the safety of their lands?
New High-level Commission on the Legal Empowerment of the Poor
A top down process "on behalf of the poor" where the poor are excluded.
Madeline Albright and Hernando de Soto as co-chairs. !!
UN experts deplore Zimbabwe’s campaign of forced eviction
The following statement was issued on June 24, 2005 by a group of ten UN experts
UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing to Visit Iran
Mr. Kothari on mission to Iran from 19-30 July 2005 will receive testimonies and inputs from civil society.
Looking for Good Projects : 2005-2006
SELAVIP is a private foundation that supports housing projects for very poor families who lack a shelter. Our focus is on “extreme social emergency”, that is, people who dwell in very precarious and unsafe conditions, on lands easily flooded, on steep and dangerous slopes. Each year in August, SELVIUP analyzes projects that NGOs and CBOs send from all over the world. Those projects that comply with our central focus are presented to the SELAVIP Board Meeting in November, to select those that will be financed in 2005.
World Charter for the Right to the City
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Zimbabwe evictions: joint statement
A joint NGO statement on the Zimbabwe evictions was launched today at press conferences in four African cities: Harare, Johannesburg, Lagos and Windhoek. The statement was signed by 212 African and International NGOs and it calls upon the United Nations and the African Union to take effective action to prevent and redress the mass forced evictions in Zimbabwe. The call has been widely picked up by mainstream media.
U.N. Hosts Historic Session With Civil Society
UNITED NATIONS - For the first time ever, civil society has been invited to participate in interactive sessions of the U.N. General Assembly, but the guest list has irked some leading activists who wonder why they were not asked to attend.
Zimbabwe: Unprecedented call for UN and AU action over evictions by 200 rights groups
As the human rights situation in Zimbabwe steadily deteriorates, with more than 300,000 now evicted from their homes by the government and a UN Special Envoy appointed to investigate the destruction and evictions, a coalition of more than 200 African and international NGOs today issued an unprecedented Joint Appeal to the United Nations (UN) and African Union (AU) to help the people of Zimbabwe.
Challenges and Opportunities of Rural Women in China
Rural women make up 65.6% or more of the farm laborers as many men have left the rural areas and farm work. In China, like in so many other countries, rural women are never helpless victims. Since they have to survive in a physically, socially, legally and culturally hostile environment throughout their lives, they have developed particular strengths, determination and courage.