News (50)
|
Coastal Cities Sinking Faster than Predicted |
By :HIC-HLRN |
29 October 2019 |
Facing a flooded future, the world’s vulnerable coastal cities will undergo sea-level rise worse than previously understood, according to a new corrective report by Climate Central.
As a result of heat-trapping pollution from human activities, rising sea levels could within three decades will push chronic floods higher than land currently home More...
|
HIC-HLRN Joins Partners on Israel`s CERD Review |
By :HIC-HLRN |
09 September 2019 |
Habitat International Coalition (HIC) – Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) has partnered with HIC Member organizations Al-Haq and BADIL Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights (Palestine), as well as with Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) in submitting a joint report to the UN Committee on More...
|
IPCC Agrees with Indigenous Peoples |
By :Indigenous peoples |
12 August 2019 |
A statement on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Climate Change and Land from Indigenous Peoples and local communities* from 42 countries spanning 76% of the world’s tropical forests
Finally, the world’s top scientists recognize what we have always known.
We—Indigenous Peoples and local communities—play a critical role More...
|
IPCC Report on Land Use: Seven Things to Know |
By :Frances Seymour, World Resources Institute |
08 August 2019 |
Frances Seymour of World Resources Institute explains how the UN report confirms the importance of protecting forests in global strategies to fight climate change
The IPCC’s Special Report on Climate Change, Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse Gas Fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems has just been released. One thing you More...
|
Indonesian Women Fight Land Grabbing |
By :Civita Patriana, Forestpeople.com |
17 July 2019 |
One night in 2013, in East Borneo, the family of Lusang Arang was surprised by an unexpected visitor at their home. The visitor’s arrival at midnight was not the only thing that surprised the family; what he brought was even more startling: a large bag full of cash. Lusang Arang’s More...
|
HIConcern over Treaty System Neglect |
By :HIC-HLRN |
21 June 2019 |
The Human Rights Treaty System has long been an island of depoliticized truth seeking within the UN Organization. However, over the years, participants in the UN’s Human Rights Treaty Bodies have grown accustomed to the scarcity of resources and capacity needed to maintain the robust monitoring of the treaty performance More...
|
Mexico: Minister Blames Climate Crisis on Neolibs |
By :Jon Queally, Common Dreams |
30 May 2019 |
Let`s be clear, says Mexico environment minister, “parasitic and predatory neoliberalism” to blame for climate crisis. "Human beings are not responsible for global warming," said Secretary Víctor Manuel Toledo Manzur, but elite capitalists and industry powerbrokers are.
In a scathing rebuke to the elite capitalists and politicians who largely control More...
|
"People-centered Partnership" @ 1st UNHA |
By :HIC-HLRN |
28 May 2019 |
Visions of People-centered Partnership”: HIC-HLRN at the first UN Habitat Assembly, Nairobi, 27 May 2019
NAIROBI—On 27 May 2019, Habitat International Coalition – Housing and Land Rights Network organized a side event at the first UN Habitat Assembly (Nairobi) in collaboration with UN Habitat’s stakeholder Youth Caucus. The inter-active event sought More...
|
HIC Urges Clarity on UN Habitat Civic Engagement |
By :HIC-HLRN |
17 May 2019 |
Habitat International Coalition has issued an open letter to UN Habitat Executive Director Maimunah Mohammed Sharif, calling for clarity in the intended—and indispensable—cooperation of civil society and other stakeholders with the reforming agency.
Since the UN Members States’ adoption of the “New Urban Agenda” as UN Habitat’s normative framework in 2016 More...
|
Human Right to Adequate Housing v. Blackstone L.P. |
By :HLRN |
26 March 2019 |
Today, UN Special Rapporteur on to Adequate Housing Leilani Farha held a press conference in Copenhagen to speak about letters that she and Surya Deva, Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises jointly released to governments and corporations More...
|
Vanishing Biodiversity Threatens Our Food |
By :FAO |
23 February 2019 |
The biodiversity that is crucial for our food and agriculture is disappearing by the day
FAO launches the first-ever global report on the state of biodiversity that underpins our food systems
ROME—The first-ever report of its kind presents mounting and worrying evidence that the biodiversity that underpins our food systems is disappearing More...
|
South Africa: Militarizing Repression in Durban |
By :Abahlali baseMjondolo |
03 February 2019 |
Statement of Abahlali baseMjondolo
Last week, the news was full of reports on the arrival of three of the four Casspirs (mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles) that have been ordered by the eThekwini Municipality. We first heard about the order of the Casspirs in 2017, when it was reported that the More...
|
Israel/Palestine: Tourism Accommodates War Crime |
By :HIC-HLRN |
31 January 2019 |
The Israeli colonies in occupied Palestine constitute a war crime and crime against humanity. They form elements of the serious crime of population transfer, as codified in the Rome Statue of the International Criminal Court, and which previously was prosecuted at the International Military Tribunals at Nuremburg and Tokyo. The More...
|
Eating within Planetary Proportions |
By :HLRN |
30 January 2019 |
The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health has convened 37 of the worlds’ leading scientists to reach a scientific consensus that defines a healthy and sustainable diet within the limits of our global ecosystem. Their conclusions contribute to the specificity needed to align human behavior with the goal of sustaining the human More...
|
USA: More HUD Tenants Now Living in Squalor |
By :Suzy Khimm, Laura Strickler, Hannah Rappleye and Stephanie Gosk. NBC News |
15 November 2018 |
Under Ben Carson, more families live in HUD housing that fails health and safety inspections
While HUD Secretary Ben Carson pledged to fix low-income housing, the number of properties cited for health and safety violations has been on the rise.
HARTFORD CT—The mold started in the basement. But it soon spread to More...
|
CSO Contributions Undermined at HLPF |
By :Lynn Wagner, Civicus |
03 August 2018 |
Unanswered Questions: How Civil Society’s Contributions to Sustainable Development are Undermined at the HLPF. Civil society are often on the frontlines, protecting the most vulnerable in our societies as well as our natural resources– vital work that must be protected and not attacked. Governments should be mindful of their commitments More...
|
India: Smart Cities and Forced Eviction |
By :Ankit Jha and Anand Lakhan, thewire.in |
28 May 2018 |
The demolitions in Bhuri Tekri, without prior warning, took place just a week after the announcement of ‘Swachhta Sarvekshan 2018’, with the city retaining the number one rank in the list.
To make cities beautiful, forced eviction of slum dwellers amid promises of resettlement have led to massive displacement of working More...
|
Philippine: Tension Grips Eviction of 200 Families |
By :Rey Galupo, The Philippine Star |
23 May 2018 |
MANILA, Philippines — An operation to demolish the houses of around 200 informal settlers in Intramuros, Manila nearly turned violent as the residents opposed the demolition yesterday morning.
Armed with an eviction order issued by the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 7, a demolition team along with members of the Manila More...
|
HICtionary Newly Updated |
By :HIC-HLRN |
06 May 2018 |
HIC-HLRN has just updated the HICtionary: Key Habitat Terms from A to Z. This reference work is the result of deliberation and debate across multiple specializations, regions and cultures within the membership of Habitat International Coalition (HIC). The purpose of that debate—and this reference work—have been to consolidate and harmonize More...
|
New York 1st SDG Progress-reporting City |
01 May 2018 |
New York City will become the first city in the world to report directly to the United Nations on the status of its implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during the High-Level Political Forum this July. The publication will be called a Voluntary Local Review (VLR), modeled after the More...
|
Unearthing Truths: Israel, Nakba and JNF |
By :The Editors of Moving Forward |
01 May 2018 |
The monthly Moving Forward is published with support from Jews Say No! That organization engages in community education, street theatre, and organizing to make their members’ voices heard in Jewish communities and as partners in the broader movement for justice in Palestine/Israel. The following article is the editorial to Moving More...
|
30 Cities Join Global Sur and Hasankeyf Action Day |
By :Platform No to the Destruction of Sur, Istanbul Sur Solidarity, Mesopotamia Ecology Movement, and Initiative to Keep Hasankeyf Alive |
30 April 2018 |
DIYARBAKIR / AMED—As part of the Global Sur and Hasankeyf Action Day in almost 30 cities, actions have been organized on 28 April 2018. Activists and civil organization raised awareness on the ongoing destruction of the two antique cities Sur and Hasankeyf at the Tigris River in North (Turkish) Kurdistan. More...
|
HIConcern over SDG Land Indicators |
By :Joseph Schechla, HIC-HLRN |
27 April 2018 |
Habitat International Coalition’s Housing and Land Rights Network welcomes the SDGs and their performance indicators as a complement to development efforts that uphold the integrity of the UN Charter and the UN System built on three purposeful pillars: (1) peace and security, (2) progressive development and (3) human rights. We More...
|
Right to the City in Greater Beirut |
By :HIC-HLRN and Amel Association |
14 April 2018 |
HLRN has just released its new publication Right to the City in Greater Beirut: Context Assessment in Light of the Refugee and Displacement Crisis. This assessment offers critical insight into municipal governance in Greater Beirut, a city largely formed and characterized by human migration through its history, while more recently More...
|
Myanmar: Rohingyas’ 13 Demands for Return |
By :The Star (Petaling Jaya)/AP |
13 April 2018 |
Rohingya give Myanmar official list of demands for repatriation
DHAKA—A Myanmar Cabinet minister visited a sprawling refugee camp in Bangladesh for Rohingya Muslims, who described the violence that forced them to flee Myanmar and presented a list of demands for their repatriation.
Social Welfare Minister Win Myat Aye on Wednesday met More...
|
Smallholder Farmers` Rights are Women`s Rights |
By :Barbara Adams, Global Policy Watch |
20 March 2018 |
Most farms in developing and least developed countries are small, generally plots of less than two hectares of land. Smallholder farmers manage over 80% of the world’s estimated 500 million small farms and provide over 80% of the food consumed in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, contributing significantly to poverty reduction More...
|
1st Arab Conference on Land Governance |
By :HIC-HLRN |
28 February 2018 |
Dubai Land Department announces the conclusion of the first Arab land governance conference
The conference, organized in partnership with the World Bank, the Global Land Tool Network, UN-HABITAT, the League of Arab States and the Arab Surveying Association, was attended by more than 300 participants, representing several regional and international bodies.
Dubai More...
|
USA: Tenants Say Trump Budget "Dead on arrival" |
By :NAHT |
13 February 2018 |
HUD Tenant Leaders Demand Congress Declare Trump’s 2019 Budget “Dead on Arrival”
Elected leaders of the national US tenant union today demanded immediate rejection by Congress of President Donald Trump’s 2019 budget request, released on February 12.
“Trump’s budget will push millions of people from their homes; starve seniors, children and More...
|
South Africa: Another Abahlali Comrade Fallen |
By :Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement SA |
12 January 2018 |
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Another Comrade Has Fallen in the Struggle for Land
Our movement has been facing a lot of brutality in the last three months. On 19 November our chairperson in the Sisonke Village land occupation in Lamontville, Sibonelo Mpeku, was kidnapped and murdered. On 17 December 2017 Soyiso Nkqayini More...
|
Tribute to Patterson Kuria Gathuru |
By :HLRN |
15 November 2017 |
Our colleague and friend, Patterson Kuria Gathuru, left us on 15 November 2017. He is known to us as the Habitat International Coalition’s co-member on the IPC, advocating the issues and human rights of the urban food-insecure constituency. Many of you also know him as an IPC colleague in this More...
|
Out of Africa: Human Rights Habitat Struggles |
By :Marie Huchzermeyer, CUBES/Wits Univ. and Joseph Schechla, HLRN |
07 November 2017 |
From Africa to the World: Struggling for Human Rights to Housing, Land and the City
Mid-October 2017, Nairobi was host to an intense engagement on housing rights, social justice and the right to the city. This was amid political turmoil in Kenyan towns and cities, and unrelated to this but largely More...
|
“Spotlight” on UN High-Level Forum, SDGs |
By :HIC-HLRN |
10 July 2017 |
As the UN High-Level Forum opens in New York, a global civil society report spotlights the role of big business in hindering development and deepening economic and social disparity.
Unbridled privatization, corporate capture and mass-scale tax abuse are blocking progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, argues a new report by a More...
|
Mobilization Call: 60 Years after Treaty of Rome |
By :La Via Campesina |
14 March 2017 |
For healthy and quality food, decent work, and a just and sustainable agricultural policy in a Europe of the People and of Solidarity.
We call on ECVC’s member organizations, allied groups, grassroots networks, and the whole peasant and food sovereignty movement in Europe to mobilize this 25 March – on the More...
|
Toward a UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants |
By :La via Campesina |
09 March 2017 |
The need for a UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and other People Working in Rural Areas is all the more urgent and evident in the 21st century. Despite years of campaigning for a better recognition and protection of the rights of peasants, displacements and criminalization continue affecting hundreds More...
|
Indonesia: Crisis of Bukit Duri Residents |
By :Edith Koesoemawiria, Mongabay |
13 February 2017 |
JAKARTA — Six weeks after the last of the Bukit Duri evictees moved into their new dwellings here in the Indonesian capital, the atmosphere was friendly but painful. Some tenants told jokes at the food stall in the parking lot. The cook, also a former Bukit Duri resident, had initially More...
|
Brazil: Trump Tower Will Cause Forced Evictions |
By :Clare Richardson, News.Vice |
13 February 2017 |
RIO DE JANIERO – José Paulo Simplicio de Souza was devastated when the government forced him out of his home near the commercial center of Rio to make way for a luxury waterfront property three years ago.
The 33-year-old food vendor’s sorrow later turned to disgust when he found out the More...
|
Report: Forced Evictions Fuel Land Disputes |
By :Kieran Guilbert, Rights Resources |
09 February 2017 |
DAKAR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Forced evictions of local communities from their lands by foreign companies fuel around two-thirds of land ownership disputes across Africa, often sparking strikes or violence which can prove costly to investors, activists said on Thursday.
Pushing people off their land drives more conflict over land rights More...
|
Report: Land Rights in a Turbulent World |
By :Rights and Resources Initiative |
09 February 2017 |
Acknowledgment that insecure land rights among the world’s Indigenous Peoples and local communities contribute to conflict, discourage investment, and impede progress on global goals of sustainable development, poverty reduction, and climate change mitigation is growing. In 2016, this consensus found a powerful new ally: major institutional investors are beginning to More...
|
India: Over 33K Homes Demolished in 2015–16 |
By :HIC-HLRN |
22 December 2016 |
Over 33,000 homes demolished in urban India between 2015 and 2016
New Delhi—Data collected by Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) reveals that public authorities in India, in both the central and state spheres of government, forcibly have evicted at least 33,257 families across urban centers between January 2015 and December More...
|
USA: Gullah Geechee Still Fighting for Their Land |
By :Brian Wheeler, BBC News |
05 December 2016 |
The Gullah Geechee community, descendants of West African slaves in South Carolina are fighting to prevent their land from being confiscated and auctioned. Can they save a traditional way of life that has survived for the one and half centuries since emancipation?
The first Lillian Milton knew about it was when More...
|
China: Profiting from Confiscated Tibetan Lands |
By :Radio Free Asia |
11 July 2016 |
In the eastern part of the Tibet Autonomous Region, China is confiscating lands at a low price and then reselling at a profit to Chinese developers. Newly built apartments in these lands are then sold back at high prices to the Tibetans from whom the land was first taken. The More...
|
HIC Responds to Habitat III’s Revised Zero Draft |
By :HIC-HLRN |
28 June 2016 |
The following are Habitat International Coalition`s comments on the revised zero draft of the Habitat III outcome documents, submitted to the Habitat III Secretariat on 28 June 2016:
Habitat International Coalition was born out of, and—for two generations now—has faithfully upheld the Habitat Agenda as a cornerstone of its global platform. More...
|
"Right to the City" Movement Goes Global |
By :Francesca Perry, The Guardian |
19 April 2016 |
Right to the city: can this growing social movement win over city officials?
From the Taksim Square and Nuit Debout protests to bank takeovers in Barcelona and women’s workshops in Delhi, the pressure for more inclusive cities is mounting. As the UN gears up for Habitat III, will governments listen?
On More...
|
Migration Meets Hamburg: Right to the City |
By :Plenums des Hamburger Recht auf Stadt-Netzwerks |
09 February 2016 |
As in many others cities of Europe, refugees meet both welcome and opposition. One such opposition militates against providing humane and decent housing for refugees in Hamburg. Local reports tell how the anti-refugee trend is voiced louder and louder every week, even in the middle class. A new alliance of More...
|
HLRN-India Launches Habitat III Status Report |
By :HLRN-India |
05 February 2016 |
New Delhi—On Friday, Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN) launched its first Habitat III country report titled, Housing and Land Rights in India: Status Report for Habitat III. The United Nations (UN) Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III)—the third bidecennial international conference on habitat issues—will be held More...
|
HIC-critics on Habitat III Policy Papers |
By :HIC |
05 February 2016 |
Since the very early stages of the Habitat III preparations, Habitat International Coalition (HIC) has called for the integrity of the Habitat II (1996) commitments and modalities; this demand has three related aspects:
• Processes must uphold the Habitat II-established principle to be as inclusive as possible;
• Maintain the Habitat Agenda, More...
|
COP21: Land & Water Convergence Speaks |
By :Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles |
08 December 2015 |
Parallel to the climate conference in Paris, social movements and allies within the “Global Convergence of Land and Water Struggles” stand up for climate justice and real solutions to the climate crisis. This alliance of struggles has delivered its message to the COP21 currently meeting at Paris. Their statement follows.
The More...
|
German CSO Forum Addresses Habitat III |
By :Forum on Environment & Development |
31 July 2015 |
The German Forum on Environment & Development was founded in 1992 after the UN conference in Rio on environment and development. Its purpose is to coordinate German NGOs in international political processes on sustainable development. It was strongly involved in the preparation and the civil society processes of the Habitat More...
|
HIC Reviews Habitat III Issue Papers |
By :HIC-HLRN |
31 July 2015 |
Habitat International Coalition has just issued its compilation of inputs from Members and officers following their review of the Habitat III Issue Papers. The 22 thematic contributions from technical experts selected by the UN-Habitat/Habitat III Secretariat have been drafted as a framework for the debate leading up to the Third More...
|
Pakistan: Slum Dwellers Demand Evictions End |
By :Dawn |
26 January 2004 |
ISLAMABAD—The All-Pakistan Alliance of Kutchi Abadis at a convention here on Sunday demanded of the government to implement the National Kutchi Abadi Policy 2001 and either regularize their settlements or resettle all the slum dwellers in the country.
A large number of kutchi abadi dwellers from the twin cities of Rawalpindi More...
|