"The New Urban Agenda" -- Opening remarks at a press conference by UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kate Gilmore at the Habitat III Conference in Ecuador

Quito, 20 October 2016

Good morning.

The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is the lead UN agency advocating for, and working on, human rights in all contexts – including in urban settings – and it is that responsibility which brings us here to the beautiful city of Quito and Habitat III.

Globally, urbanization is expanding at unprecedented rates, bringing with it the potential to contribute positively to the lives of billions worldwide.  Yet, today – more often – rapid urbanization goes hand in hand with the creation of more slums; of more people in inadequate living conditions and lacking secure tenure of their housing and land; and greater disparities, inequalities and discrimination.

There is no city without people and there are no people without rights.   In and for the city, human rights are at home – and there they must be protected, respected and upheld.

Rights in the city are core assets.  Not invented standards for temporary convenience.  No.  Upheld in law, tested in courts the world over, rights are the implementable details of that simple enduring truth – that we all are born equal in dignity and rights. 

Rights are for tough times and prosperous times.  They empower both the duty bearer and rights holder so that risks of absolute sovereign power are diminished, and instead the State is supported to be an instrument of human dignity, answerable ultimately not to its elites but rather to those who have the least. This must be the foundation for implementation of the New Urban Agenda, which in turn must be framed by the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, whose core promise is to leave no one behind.  To leave no one behind means leaving no one out.   And upholding this dignity of its inhabitants is the city’s very raison d’etre.

Yet today, through forced evictions, lack of tenure, absence of access to essential services, tolerance for intolerance, disregard for the informal sector, failure to uphold indigenous rights and the promulgation of regulations that curtail the fundamental freedoms of assembly, expression and association, the city is – in so many instances – dehumanizing. 

By contrast, the bricks and mortar of humanising cities are non-discrimination, participation, and accountability.

The slum dwellers with whom we met – from Indonesia to the Philippines, to Uganda and Kenya, to Honduras and Peru – told us that State authorities just need to engage them directly, constructively and enable them – without intimidation or discrimination – to deploy their talents, innovation, and enterprise to invest in their own futures. 

The indigenous leaders we met said of the State: “Invite us into public policy-making and to its implementation as dialogue, listen to our wisdom and understand that to protect and respect our connection to land, to culture and to heritage is not only honourable but right for the planet and a requirement under international law.”

Women working with victims of sexual and domestic violence emphasised that city dwellers must be approached by national and sub-national authorities as partners not problems, as agents of change not impediments to progress.  Regard the dignity of women and girls as the core of the city’s raison d’etre. 

The young people with whom we met demanded simply to be included, to be consulted, and urged city authorities to uphold the rule of law and be accountable when promises are not kept.  Only through transparent and participatory accountable systems – backed up by the rule of law – will we construct urban settings that truly humanise.

People living with disabilities pointed out that the city with its intimate proximity to daily life can enable and empower them – or just rigidly entrench the discrimination to which they are subjected.  Universal standards for the built environment, so that the urban landscape becomes accessible, can be enjoyed and can underpin materially our common humanity – these are the reasonable and achievable demands of people with diverse abilities.

Those representing refugees and migrants in the city reminded us that you might be homeless, you might be stateless but never are you rights-less.  You may be living in informal settlements, but you always have formal rights.

But the reality today in many cities is that people are left behind – left behind when the cities in which they live impede their access to quality health care, schools and decent work opportunities, leaves them in poor quality housing or without access to adequate sanitation.  Poor urban and spatial planning, gentrification, speculation in housing and land, these preventable factors are driving the growth of urban inequality, poverty, informal settlements and homelessness

Participation, inclusion, and the protection and expansion of civil society space is what the city must provide.

For cities to flourish public space is essential – space to peacefully assemble, to associate, to express, space to organise.  For this, a free, pluralistic and vibrant civil society is critical. The exercise of freedoms of the press, assembly, association, expression and information are stimuli of responsible governance and strengthen the feedback loops on which good policy-making depends. 

The city must bring rights home – from the courtroom, to the boardroom, to the bathroom, to the bedroom – particularly so for the sake of women’s rights.

Cities are not mere bricks and mortar. Cities are people.  And people are rights holders.  With more people on the move than ever before in human history, moving into urban settings, cities are the most transformative spaces of our time – for better or for worse.

For the better, the city must bring rights home.

ENDS

For more information about Deputy High COmmmisioner's visit to Habitat III : Maria Jeannette Moya +56979996907 / mmoya@ohchr.org

More information on Urbanization and Human Rights: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Urbanization/Pages/UrbanizationHRIndex.aspx

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