Putting Human Rights Back Into the Habitat Agenda

At the outset of the February 1996 session of the Preparatory Committee for the U.N. Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), Human Rights Watch issued a document titled "Putting Human Rights Back into the Habitat Agenda." We expressed our concern that the draft Habitat Agenda failed to reflect the integral relationship between internationally recognized human rights and the issues of shelter and settlements. We were troubled that the major human rights treaties that recognize the right to adequate housing were not mentioned in the draft, and that the draft did not draw connections between violations of civil and political rights and the consequent threats to human shelter and life. In that February document we proposed several changes and amendments in the draft Agenda We are pleased to notice that several of the issues of concern to Human Rights Watch and other human rights, housing, and environmental NGOs have been reflected in the new draft text. Many, however, remain unresolved. In this paper, Human Rights Watch highlights those issues and reitaterates the suggested changes in the Agenda text. We urge all participants in the Habitat process to press for the incorporation of these basic issues into the Agenda, so that the Habitat Plan of Action will truly represent a step forward, building on the bedrock of existing international human rights standards.