Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World’s Water
The world's water supply is fast falling prey to corporate desire for the bottom line.
UN to boost its support for human rights protection in numerous countries
Initiative to strengthen UN in promoting and protecting human rights in countries around the world.
A Radical Vision For The Future Of The UN
Doubts and analysis about the organization’s ability to play a substantial and meaningful role in the 21st century.
Reports focus on human rights
Miloon Kothari said on Saturday after a four-day consultation with representatives from nine regional countries very little was being done at national level to raise the status of women.
Dalit rights forum attends housing rights campaign
Demands for providing housing facilities to the displaced people from the slums and for reviewing the demolition policy.
Are the Cities “Engines of Rural Development”?
On Monday, October 4, the theme chosen by the UN to mark World Habitat Day 2004 is Cities - Engines of Rural Development. Looking at the world as it is now because of the unequal development model, we feel that the cities still are machines that suck in the rural population and its economic surplus. The good intentions expressed by the International Organizations are not sufficient to give solution to the social, economic, cultural and housing problems of nearly half the world’s population living in rural areas in increasing abandonment.
World Habitat Day versus Housing and Land Rights Now!
The theme chosen by the UN to mark World Habitat Day 2004 is ‘Cities - Engines of Rural Development’. Looking at the world as it is now because of the unequal development model the good intentions expressed by the International Organizations are not sufficient to give solution to the social, economic, cultural and housing problems of nearly half the world’s population living in rural areas in increasing abandonment.
Statement by the Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing on World Habitat Day 2004.
The Special Rapporteur urges that the following four key concerns be taken into account: (1) the manifold violations of human rights, including housing and land rights, that characterize the urban landscape across the world today; (2) that unchecked urbanization has, in fact, been one of the engines of destruction of the lives and livelihoods of rural populations; (3) the urban bias that has driven development policies across the world and which, if left unchallenged, will lead to further lop-sided investment in urban areas at the expense of rural poverty alleviation; and (4) the viability of rural livelihoods, including those of small farmers, fisherfolk, and indigenous and tribal peoples, independent of processes of urbanization.
The State of Housing Rights
World Habitat Day 2004 in the Middle East/North Africa.
The State of Housing Rights in MENA Region
World Habitat Day 2004 in the Middle East/North Africa more...
The State of Housing Rights. World Habitat Day 2004 in the Middle East/North Africa
Today, half the world's population lives in towns and cities. Of these, more than one billion people are in urban slums. The Millennium Development Goal (MDG) No. 7 seeks substantial improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020. During the next decade, however, we will have to add another 500 million to today’s one billion slum dwellers, meaning that the reality far outstrips the goal. In the Middle East, as elsewhere, many of the development challenges lie in the rural areas, where 37.5% of the population lives and where 70% of the region’s poverty is found. However, urbanization and urban migration are regional facts. The urban bias of governments and international development efforts are a major source of this pull factor.
HIC at European Social Forum in London
Program of events at the occasion of the 3rd ESF in London