Habitat-Netz e.V.
PRESSEMITTEILUNG
Witten, 04.10.2004
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Welt-Habitat-Tag 2004
Weltweit Proteste für das Recht auf Wohnen und Land
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Heute wird weltweit der Habitat-Tag der Vereinten Nationen begangen. Aus
diesem Anlass hat die Habitat International Coalition (HIC), ein
internationales Netzwerk von Basisbewegungen und
Nichtregierungsorganisationen, zu Aktionen für das „Recht auf Wohnen und
Land“ aufgerufen. Nach Angaben der Organisation stehen im Laufe des
Oktober 41 Aktionen in 28 Ländern auf allen Kontinenten in diesem
Zusammenhang.
Mit dem offiziellen Motto „Städte – Motor der ländlichen Entwicklung“
stellt die UN Habitat-Organisation erstmals das komplexe Verhältnis
zwischen rapider Verstädterung und ländlicher Armut in den Mittelpunkt.
Von den Basisbewegungen wird das Motto teilweise fundamental kritisiert.
„Die Städte erscheinen uns eher als Motoren, die die ländliche
Bevölkerung und die ländliche Wertschöpfung aussaugen“, sagt Enrique
Ortiz, Präsident des weltweiten Netzwerkes Habitat International
Coalition (HIC). „Wir können nicht akzeptieren, dass das einzige
Entwicklungsmodell heute auf den direkten Beziehungen zwischen großen
Körperschaften und den Städten beruht. Wir müssen die derzeitige
Konkurrenz der Städte um multinationale Konzerne und ausländische
Investitionen in Frage stellen. Diese erfolgen zum Nachteil der
notwendigen Investitionen in die Verbesserung des Lebensbedingungen in
den marginalisierten ländlichen und städtischen Siedlungen.“
Sowohl in der Stadt als auch auf dem Land ist HIC dem Kampf für das
Menschenrecht auf Wohnen verpflichtet. Weltweit leben 1,2 Mrd Menschen
in Slums und 100 Millionen sind obdachlos. Die Proteste der HIC
Mitgliedsorganisationen richten sich u.a. gegen Zwangsräumungen in
Afrika, Asien und Latein Amerika, gegen die Streichung von Subventionen
für den Wohnungsbau und gegen die Privatisierung öffentlicher
Daseinsvorsorge.
Ein wichtiger Aspekt der Aktionen ist auch der Protest gegen die
derzeitige Politik der US Regierung. In den USA sind Aktionen gegen die
massiven Streichungen der Bush-Administration an den sozialen
Wohnungsbauprogrammen geplant. Diese konfrontieren 60.000 Familien mit
Zwangsräumungen.
„Die Politik der US Regierung terrorisiert die Armen im eigenen Land mit
unnötigen Subventionskürzungen und erschreckenden Zwangsräumungen“,
sagte Enrique Ortiz beim World Urban Forum in Barcelona im September.
„Ihre Außenpolitik verursacht massive Wohnrechtsverletzungen im Irak und
Palästina. Wir rufen die US Regierung und alle anderen Staaten auf, das
universelle Recht aller Menschen auf ein Leben in Sicherheit und Frieden
zu respektieren und die schrittweise Verwirklichung des Menschenrechts
auf Wohnen zu realisieren.“
Statement von HIC-Präsident Enrique im Anhang.
Übersicht der Aktionen unten.
Weiter Informationen unter
www.hic-net.org.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Knut Unger
Habitat Netz e.V. - Habitat Net, Germany
MieterInnenverein Witten - Witten Tenants Association
Bahnhofstr. 46 D-58452 Witten
Postfach 1928 D-58409 Witten
Tel. ++49-(0)2302-276171
Fax. ++49-(0)2302-27320
Tel. p. ++49-(0)202-455994
unger@habitants.de
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HABITAT INTERNATIONAL COALITION
website:
www.hic-net.org
News Advisory
For release: Sunday, October 3, 2004
Contact: Ana Sugranyes, HIC General Secretary,
gs@hic-net.org, Santiago, Chile; +56-2-6641393
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International Coalition Calls for "Right to Land and Housing Now;"
Local Actions Planned on Six Continents in October
Decrying the growing gap between the Millenium Development Goals
declared by the United Nations and the realities of war, forced evictions
and spiraling slum growth experienced by the 1.2 billion slum dwellers and
more than 100 million who are homeless, the Habitat International Coalition
(HIC) today announced coordinated local actions for a "Right to Land and
Housing Now" throughout October to protest the destructive impacts of
neo-liberal development policies such as budget cuts, land speculation and
privatization of social housing and utilities on people's housing and land
rights across the planet.
Today, HIC released a list of 41 actions or events organized by
national
and local housing rights groups in 28 countries on six continents (see:
www.hic-net.org ). The Coalition released the list to coincide with World
Habitat Day, designated by the United Nations General Assembly for the first
Monday of October each year.
"Far from meeting the UN's Millenium Development Goal of reducing slum
dwellings by 100 million by 2020, the number of slum dwellers is expected to
double to more than two billion families by 2030, according to the UN's own
figures. War, forced evictions and destruction of houses have accelerated,
not declined," stated by Enrique Ortiz, HIC President at the World Urban
Forum, Barcelona 2004. "The US government in particular has adopted policies
which terrorize the poor in the USA through needless subsidy cuts and
threatened forced evictions, and in its policies abroad which have caused
massive destruction of civilian houses and violations of housing rights in
Iraq and Palestine. We call on the US and other governments to affirm the
universal right of all people to live in security and peace, and to honor
their obligations to progressively realize the Right to Housing." Ortiz also
released a statement in connection with the HIC effort (attached).
Throughout October, numerous local, national and regional
organizations,
social movements, NGO's and academic groups in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin
America, Australia and North America will carry out public actions and
events within the framework of the HIC campaign. Highlights include:
· In Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, a variety of events will
demand action on to stop forced evictions, recognize informal settlements,
support construction of housing by the poor, and realize the Right to
Housing and the Right to the City. In Paraíso, Dominican Republic, Espacio
de Coordinación Urbano Popular will organize a mass meeting on October 4
against the displacement of the poor and to support the legalization of
popular housing communities. (Contact: Pedro Franco
pedroarg@tricom.net )
They will demand compensation and relocation assistance to displaces,
promulgation of a national law on title regularization, and construction of
affordable housing for the poor. In Mexico City, the Movimiento Urbano
Popular (MUP) are organizing a series of events, including a press
conference on October 4 in front of the Senate, a forum with Senators
regarding a new proposed National Housing Law, and a debate with
representatives of public agencies involved with housing finance. (Contact:
Enrique Ortiz or Lorena Zárate, (
hic-al@hic-al.org ). In Santiago, Chile,
residents' organizations along with other community organizations will
follow denouncing the conditions of violence, overcrowding and conflictive
livelihood in the public housing stock in Chile, against the deregulated
urban sprawl in Santiago and the privatization of the seashore in
Valparaíso. (Contact: Ana Sugranyes,
gs@hic-net.org). Other events are
planned by HIC members in La Paz, Bolivia, Port au Prince, Haiti, Caracas,
Venezuela, and Buenos Aires and Córdoba in Argentina. In Lima, Peru, massive
assemblies to discuss the new Law of Urban Renewal and water and sanitation
in the District of Puente Piedra (Contact: Silvia de los Ríos,
silviadlr@terra.com.pe).
· In Dhaka, Bangladesh, Shelter for the Poor will form a Human Chain
stretching two kilometers from the National Museum to the National Press
Club to protest slum eviction activities and to demand proper rehabilitation
of housing for the urban poor on October 4. With festoons, placards and
banners, protestors will draw mass attention and support against slum
eviction activities without rehabilitation and bring pressure on
policy-makers to address the issue (Contact: Shelter for the Poor,
arab@dhaka.net) In Delhi, India, 600 housing rights activists will meet from
October 1 through 4 to share experiences and strategies under the auspices
of HIC's Housing and Land Rights Network.
· In the USA, two of HIC's member organizations, the National Alliance of
HUD Tenants and the National Coalition for the Homeless, have organized a
series of protests this fall against the Bush Administration's plans to cut
600,000 families from the federal Section 8 program by 2009 and on-going
assault on the Section 8 program. Despite Congressional support for the
program, the Administration has needlessly confronted 60,000 families with
forced evictions this year and recently launched unannounced raids to arrest
tenants for alleged underpayment of rent. Protests were held in Washington,
DC (at the US government housing agency's headquarters), Los Angeles, and
Dallas during September, and more actions are planned in Boston, Seattle,
and Minneapolis and Portland, Maine throughout October. The US has lost more
than 300,000 units of government-subsidized housing since 1996. (Contact:
Michael Kane,
naht@saveourhomes.org)
· In Beirut, Lebanon, MIRSAD is launching a "Campaign to Return to the
Center of Beirut" on October 4 with a press conference and demonstration in
the center of the city. The Campaign will be a three month effort protesting
the forced eviction of inhabitants from the center of Beirut by the real
estate company Solidere with the complicity of the Lebanese state. The
Campaign will mobilize evictees to take action to regain their homes
(Contact:
Mguimberteau@mirsad.org.lb).
· In Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, the Womens' Advancement Trust will
publicize construction of a water well with two housing cooperatives at the
Bandari housing coop in order to dramatize the need for the poor to build
their own housing in the absence of government programs. (contact: Tabitha
Siwale,
wat@raha.org). In Cairo, Egypt, HIC-HLRN and ECHR organize a round
table on housing rights conditions in the region (Contact: Joseph Schechla,
jschechla@hlrn.org).
· In Europe, activists are protesting the deregulation, privatization and
"sell-out" of social housing and the destruction of the social welfare state
as the European Union and former socialist states accelerate their drive for
neoliberal "market" policies and institutions. In London, Defend Council
Housing (DCH), which is leading the fight to preserve state-owned housing,
is organizing a demonstration on October 4 outside the Office of the Deputy
Prime Minister in charge of Council Housing to protest the government's
privatization policies. (Contact: Cathy Pound,
cathy@defendcouncilhousing.org.uk). In Brussels, Le Front Commun with RBDH
is organizing a march on October 17 to center of the city on the theme of
housing for all and especially for the homeless. Le Front Commun will
publicize the names of those who have died in the streets or have been
squatting for many years. (Contact: Jean Peeters,
frontcommunsdf@hotmail.com ). The International Union of Tenants (IUT) is
also sponsoring several events, including a children's rally for housing
rights in Eskilstuna, Sweden, and a first anniversary celebration of the IUT
's Zagreb Declaration against privatization in Eastern Europe to be held in
Ljubjana, Slovenia on October 4, hosted by the IUT's Eastern European focal
point. (Contact: Magnus Hammar,
info@iut.nu, website:
www.iut.nu) The
Association of Tenants from Serbia and Montenegro will hold a press
conference in support of the housing rights of the elderly in Belgrade on
October 4. (Contact: Marina Ragush,
ragush@EUnet.yu) DCH and HIC are also
sponsoring a panel on October 16 at the European Social Forum in London
comparing tenant struggles against privatization by national tenant unions
in England, Germany, Russia, Italy, France and the USA. Other events are
planned in Oslo, Norway, the Hague, Netherlands, and Padua, Italy. In
Berlin, Germany, more than 45.000 people participated in a protest march
against the fundamental "reform" of national labour insurance legislation
("HARTZ IV"), HIC members at the tenants associations in the Ruhr District
partly supported the local protests against mass sell out of housing and
protest against social 'deform' (Contact: Knut Unger,
unger@mvwit.de).
· In Australia, IUT member groups have organized Tenancy Week in different
cities. In Sidney, the National Association of Tenant Organizations (NATO)
is releasing a report entitled "Leaking Roofs" on October 4, comparing
tenant legislation across the country and highlighting national issues. In
Canberra, NATO has organized Tenancy Week all this week, including a tenant
luncheon with the Housing Minister and community organizations. NATO has
also run training workshops and information stalls at major shopping centers
in the area. (Contact: Deb Pippen,
Deb_Pippen@fcl.fl.asn.au ).
· In the Phillipines, the Urban Poor Associates will sponsor five Saturday
radio programs starting October 2, featuring participatory on-air
discussions of the situation of the urban poor, housing rights and forced
evictions, the Millenium Development Goals and its targets on housing, water
and sanitation, women's and children's housing rights, and extreme poverty.
National and local government agencies will participate and discuss their
plans. More than 100 cities and towns participated in a similar forum last
year. (Contact: Bimbo Fernandez,
upa@mydestiny.net ).
HIC is a world network of social movements, research centers and
non-governmental organizations (NGO's) engaged with housing and land rights.
HIC has a consultative status at ECOSOC and participated actively in the
follow-up of United Nations' Conferences on Human Settlements, known as
Habitat I (1976) and II (1996). The Coalition today comprises more than 400
national, local and regional organizations in most of the countries of the
globe.
Attachments:
- Statement by HIC President Enrique Ortiz