SYNTHESIS OF NATIONAL REPORTS ON

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE HABITAT AGENDA

IN THE WEST ASIA REGION*

Summary
The main objective of this synthesis is to highlight the main trends and issues of concern in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda, as identified in the national reports received so far from ESCWA Countries by UNCHS (Habitat). The commitments and strategies of the Habitat Agenda, which are the core agreements of Habitat II, provide the framework for the assessment. For each of the commitments, the synthesis highlights key issues from the 6 national reports so far analyzed. Emphasis is placed on progress made since 1996, prevailing conditions, new trends and emerging issues, policy and legislative changes since Habitat II, institutional weaknesses and obstacles encountered and lessons learnt, with emphasis on sustainability and impact. The presentation is organized in six chapters: shelter; social development and eradication of poverty; environmental management; economic development; governance; and international cooperation, as per the guidelines for country reporting issued by UNCHS (Habitat) in October 1999.
Revisiting the Istanbul commitments is a powerful reminder of the strength of the goals set at the Habitat II Conference and a way to assess the extent to which further action is required to implement them. Progress has been made in many countries, but more intensive action is needed in all areas.
The purpose of ESCWA regional meeting held on 16-18 October 2000 in Bahrain, was not only to review progress made, but also to identify and agree on concrete initiatives for extending and strengthening action to implement the Habitat Agenda commitments and achieve its goals in the ESCWA region.

* This document has not been formally edited.

01/09/ 2000

INTRODUCTION

1.  The Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), held in Istanbul, Turkey in 1996, endorsed important changes in the approach to human settlements, acknowledging the need for guiding urbanization, rather than preventing it. 171 governments adopted the Habitat Agenda - a global call to action. The Habitat Agenda highlighted that the benefits of economic growth should be spread equitably among all, and that fulfilling the basic requirement in terms of housing, employment and services for the people should rest upon a national consensus where supportive policy frameworks recognize and strengthen action by local levels of government, civil society and communities.

2.  As elaborated in the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements and the Global Plan of Action, the objectives of the Habitat Agenda, and the strategies for their implementation revolve around two main themes: (a) Adequate shelter for all and (b) Sustainable human settlements in an urbanising world. By adopting the Habitat Agenda, the international community endorsed the Agenda's key objectives of enablement, participation, partnerships, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation and international cooperation, as well as specific commitments and strategies. United Nations Member States committed themselves to implementing the Habitat Agenda through local, national, sub-regional and regional plans of action and developing policies and programmes for adequate shelter and sustainable human settlements. The overall implementation of the Habitat Agenda is thus dependent on countries implementing their local and national plans of action and monitoring progress towards achieving objectives by means of appropriate indicators.

3.  Pursuant to a recommendation of the Conference, the General Assembly in paragraph 12 of its resolution 52/190 of 18 December 1997, decided to hold a special session of the General Assembly in the year 2001 for an overall review and appraisal of the implementation of the outcome of Habitat II. The Organizational Session of the Preparatory Committee, which was held in Nairobi in May 1999, as a follow up to General Assembly resolution 53/180 of 15 December 1998, adopted the criteria on scope of the review and appraisal process to be conducted at the Special Session.

4.  To help organise in-country activities and make national reports broadly congruent and directly relevant to the Habitat Agenda, 20 key items have been identified in a consultative process (in line with resolution 17/1 of the United Nations Commission on Human settlements) as universal priorities from the commitments and strategies adopted in Istanbul in 1996. Although they vary in breadth, the commitments and strategies have a clarity of intent that would assist in keeping preparation and debate clearly focused, with priorities and specific performance objectives against which progress can be measured.

5.  Guidelines for national reporting on the implementation of the Habitat Agenda were sent out to Member States and Habitat Agenda Partners and United Nations’ agencies and organizations in October 1999. Reminders of the deadlines for submission of the national reports were also sent in December 1999, February and June 2000.

6.  The main objective of this report is to highlight the main trends and issues of concern in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda, as identified in the national reports received by UNCHS (Habitat). At present, six reports have been received from the ESCWA region: Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syrian Arab Republic, and Yemen. Therefore, the review by this regional report is by necessity limited. In order to partially overcome this limitation, an effort has been made throughout the report to link trends and solutions highlighted by individual ESCWA countries to broaden issues equally detectable in neighbouring countries or in the region as a whole.

7.  The synthesis follows the universal reporting format that was provided to national governments in the guidelines for country reporting. The commitments and strategies of the Habitat Agenda, which are the core-negotiated agreements of Habitat II, provide the framework for the deliberations. For each of the commitments covered, the report considers progress made since 1996, prevailing conditions, new trends and emerging issues, policy and legislative changes since Habitat II, institutional weaknesses and obstacles encountered and lessons learnt, with emphasis on sustainability and impact.

8.  The synthesis is organized in six chapters corresponding to the Guidelines for Country Reporting: shelter; social development and eradication of poverty; environmental management; economic development; governance; and international cooperation.

Chapter 1

Shelter

9.  Housing conditions and policies are very diverse in the West Asia region where most countries suffered a serious economic setback after the Gulf war in 1991. Housing policies were however reviewed and advanced in the majority of the countries in the region during the preparations for the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II [1]) and after the Conference in the implementation process of the Habitat Agenda with more effective strategies to provide adequate shelter for the urban poor.

10.  The new housing policies and strategies adopted/revised recently by several governments helped the public authorities being relieved from the heavy financial burdens in investment in the housing sector. This process was primarily shifted to the private sector and to other stakeholders such as housing cooperatives and banks involved in housing delivery. Adopting/revising these policies and strategies has been a part of the framework of governments’ efforts to move towards market economy. [2]

11.  The characteristics of the housing stock and demand are different in the oil producing gulf countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) from other countries in the region. The existing housing stock and the actual housing demand are influenced by a number of factors such as the considerable expatriate population of workers and employment-seekers in the GCC area and the unprecedented flow of refugees from Palestine, particularly to Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. Jordan was especially affected by the flow of refugees after the Gulf war. The destruction resulting from the Lebanon civil war and the war in Iraq (both the Iraqi-Iranian and the Gulf war) and the civil conflict in South Yemen, to a certain extent, had negative implications on the housing stock and conditions in the region.

12.  The high natural growth rates of population in Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Yemen have added to the already existing housing crisis in these respective countries. Unfortunately, some of these factors were treated as temporary and foreign problems to the countries concerned, which resulted in an acute crisis in the supply of the low cost housing. All the countries in the Western Asia region have diverse housing policies based on the Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000[3], which have been revised according to the recommendations of the Habitat Agenda. However, provision of housing to the poor has remained in all countries, a central focus common to housing strategies in all countries. It is worth noting that the demand for housing is limited and manageable in the GCC countries despite the level of refugees and expatriate populations. Housing is rather an acute problem in several other countries in the region where there is pressure of population increase and difficulties in economic growth persist.[4]

13.  Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen have strengthened their housing delivery processes by involving and increasing the role of the private sector and the various actors of the civil society. In Egypt, the current housing policy states that the government is responsible for the formulation of the housing development plans and afterwards to carry out directly only 20 per cent of this plan, where as 80 per cent is to be implemented by the private sector.[5]

14.  In Bahrain the government has achieved the goal of offering 45.500 housing units to the country since the outset of its housing program. The funding and costs of housing services totaled nearly 800 million B.D´s between 1993 and 1998.

15.  Another important development taking place in the shelter field in the region is the strengthening of the role of women in housing and urban development as stated by the national reports from both Egypt and Iraq. A regional Arab Women Network on Urban Development was created just before the Habitat II Conference and this Network was actively involved in the formulation of the housing and urban development national policies, particularly, in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Syria and Yemen.[6]

1.1 Providing Security of Tenure

16.  Security of Tenure is enshrined in the cultures, social beliefs and religious teaching in the Arab States. It is seen and treated as a fundamental right in the region.[7] In Egypt, the legislation that ensures security of tenure takes into consideration the various forms of tenure such as the situation in rental housing, free hold titles and conditional titles in housing. The overall developments of specific regions in urban centres where private investors are allowed to operate are also exceptions to this general situation.[8]

17.  The laws in Iraq ensure that every citizen has access –with symbolic affordable cost to low-income groups- to a plot of serviced land ready for construction without any kind of discrimination of ethnic origin, religion etc. Women have equal right to property as men.[9] However, the policy of distributing these plots are based on a number of priorities such as giving first incentives to the least developed cities in the country to balance population distribution and the consideration given to the low-income groups and the lower category of the civil servant beneficiaries in each project.

18.  In Jordan recent achievements include a programme offering a security package to combat poverty at the Kingdom level; amendment of the landlords and tenants law; and the Housing Support Programme.

19.  It has been widely recognized by the governments of the region that actions related to the promotion of security of tenure can not be limited to the provision of shelter only, but rather, is a part of an integrated approach to poverty alleviation and improvement of access of the urban poor to basic services and opportunities for employment. Security of tenure is considered the center piece of housing and urban development policies in the region and in this connection various legislation ensure security of tenure, right to property and to land. Many efforts were deployed to upgrade informal settlements in Yemen and Jordan [10], which aimed at granting security of tenure to the inhabitants in those respective areas. In most cases, housing units and serviced plots were distributed to beneficiaries with heavily subsidized costs.

1.2 Promote the right to adequate housing

20.  While there is common understanding among the governments of the region that housing is a basic right, it is still – in most cases - not translated into action with specific provisions in the national housing and urban development policies. The current legal instruments governing the housing sector in the region acknowledge, in general, the vital role of housing in the development of a harmonious society and in this connection, reconfirm the right for each individual and/or family to have a safe and adequate house.

21.  A number of countries in the region undertook legislative reviews in compliance with the recommendations of the Habitat Agenda and amended existing legislation and/or promulgate new legislation in favor of the poor. The relevant legislation in Egypt and Iraq for example reinforced the rights of the individual and the family for the acquisition of adequate housing, for secure tenure and the provision of infrastructure and services. Poverty reduction schemes were formulated to control the mushrooming of slums and squatter areas through the provision of equal access to serviced land in the urban centres supported by the facilitation of housing construction/maintenance loans.[11] Similar legislation is in force also in Jordan and Syria. In the GCC sub-region the legislation grants free housing for all citizens in addition to extremely low rate loans and grants to the persons/families who wish to construct their own housing.

22.  The accommodation of refugees and asylum-seekers within and/or outside of the region can provide a practical example on the challenge to which extent the right to housing can be addressed and fulfilled by various stakeholders. In Jordan, Lebanon and Syria there are legal frameworks to address the needs of the refugees and provide them with the necessary instruments to be fully integrated in the society. These include providing equal access to shelter, basic services and employment.

1.3 Provide equal access to land

23.  The policies adopted in most of the GCC sub-region secure provision of serviced land to all citizens with also some grants and loans with very low interest rates and very long repayment schemes for construction of houses.