Statement on Human Settlements

New York, 26 October 2006:  In a statement to the Second Committee’s debate on Human Settlements, the Group of 77 and China addressed issues regarding finance, regional consultative forums, disasters and UN reform.

Regarding financing of UN-HABITAT, the Group said the continued inadequacy and unpredictability of funding to the Foundation that is attributed to the imbalance between earmarked contributions as well as dependency on a small number of donors, lessens the ability of the Programme to function as expected. The Group said that for the implementation of the Programme to be efficient and effective, there is still a need for the international community to consider increasing their voluntary non-earmarked contributions to the Foundation, preferably on a multi-year basis. They called upon the international donor community and financial institutions to support the Water and Sanitation Trust Fund and the Slum Upgrading Facility for the UN-HABITAT. The Group also requested the Secretary-General to consider increasing the regular budget of UN-HABITAT.

In the statement the Group underscored the importance of UN-HABITAT's regional consultative forums, for instance those involving Ministers of Housing and Urban Development. These fora provide opportunities for sharing knowledge, experience and best practices. We therefore call upon UN-HABITAT to promote these fora and, where possible, to support developing countries, especially those countries that have insufficient financial, human and technical resources. On disasters, the Group said it was in favour of more involvement of UN-HABITAT in the activities of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee for Disaster and Humanitarian Affairs. Furthermore, to mitigate the impacts of disasters, the Group urges the international donor community to assist governments with the requisite financial resources and technical expertise in establishing early warning systems. Regarding UN reform processes, the Groups emphasized that programmes like UN-Habitat, which have a clear and unique mandate, should not be sacrificed or diluted. Instead such pro-poor programmes, which are so intricately linked to sustainable development in a rapidly globalizing world, should be bolstered and strengthened, with access to more core predictable funding for their important work, including at country level.

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Source: G-77, 2006