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A/RES/47/180 



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General Assembly

Distr: General
22 December 1992
Original: English

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Forty-seventh session
Agenda item 78

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly

47/180. United Nations conference on human settlements (Habitat II)

The General Assembly,

Recalling the recommendations adopted by Habitat: United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, and its resolution 43/181 of 20 December 1988 on the Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000, as well as its resolution 46/164 of 19 December 1991, in which it expressed its conviction that a world-wide conference with broad, multidisciplinary and high-level participation could provide a suitable forum for considering the current situation in the planning, development and management of human settlements, and decided to consider at its forty-seventh session the question of convening, possibly in 1997, a United Nations conference on human settlements (Habitat II), with a view to taking a decision on the objectives, content, scope and timing of such a conference and the modalities and financial implications of holding it,

Noting the outcome of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, which recognized the proper management of human settlements as a prerequisite to the attainment of the overall goals for sustainable development, the centre-piece of which must be the human being,

Convinced of the need to reassess and systematically review the multifaceted aspects of human settlement policies and programmes in the light of important changes in the perception of human settlements problems and the solutions thereto since Habitat: United Nations Conference on Human Settlements, particularly the introduction of the concept of enabling strategies, and in the light of new developments and trends in international economic relations and population and migration patterns, as well as the recurrence of natural disasters,

Noting with concern that in many countries, especially many developing ones, the achievements in terms of policies, programmes and projects at the national level in the field of human settlements have not been sufficient to arrest or reverse the deterioration in the living environment of the people because, inter alia, of the pressure of population growth and urbanization and because the resource requirements for human settlement programmes far exceed the availability of resources in developing countries,

Cognizant of the fact that the continuing rapid rate of urbanization and population increase in the developing countries is contributing to the emergence and spread of large urban agglomerations, with adverse implications for the supply of adequate shelter, environmental infrastructure and services for the people, as well as for their employment prospects,

Recognizing the importance of giving due consideration to country-specific characteristics, such as the natural environment, the economic structure, the endogenous material base and culture, in the development and application of technology, planning and management in the area of human settlements,

Fully aware of the need for adequate resources to address the problems of human settlements and for more effective policies, programmes and projects, including public/private partnerships, as appropriate, to address those problems, and of the importance of improved management at the national and local levels,

Noting that the provision of external financial resources needed to implement the programmes set forth in chapter 7 of Agenda 21 would facilitate the mobilization of resources locally,

Stressing the need, for the implementation of Agenda 21, to promote facilitate and finance, as appropriate, access to and transfer of environmentally sound technologies and corresponding know-how, in particular to developing countries on favourable terms, including concessional and preferential terms, as mutually agreed, taking into account the need to protect intellectual property rights as well as the special needs of developing countries,

Bearing in mind the need to take into consideration the work of other recent and planned United Nations conferences on related subjects,

Having considered the report of the Secretary-General on a United Nations conference on human settlements (Habitat II),

1.Decides to convene the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) from 3 to 14 June 1996, at the highest possible level of participation;

2.Also decides that the Conference, in addressing human settlements issues in the context of sustainable development, shall have the following objectives:

  1. In the long term, to arrest the deterioration of global human settlements conditions and ultimately create conditions for achieving improvements in the living environment of all people on a sustainable basis, with special attention to the needs and contributions of women and vulnerable social groups whose quality of life and participation in development have been hampered by exclusion and inequality, which affect the poor in general;

  2. To adopt a general statement of principles and commitments and formulate a related global plan of action suitable for guiding national and international efforts through the first two decades of the next century; such a plan of action should include:

    1. A comprehensive set of programmes and subprogrammes, with realistic targets and timetables and provision for monitoring and evaluation of performance;

    2. Guidelines for national settlement policies and strategies that can effectively contribute to the alleviation of urban and rural poverty and the promotion of a sustainable economic development process, with due consideration given to the growth and distribution of population, urban transition, natural disasters, the availability of land and other resources and the interests of women and major groups;

    3. Programmes and subprogrammes relating to new and emerging issues in the field of technology, including the impact of the current communication and informatics revolution, energy, transportation, and environmental infrastructure, that is, water-supply, sanitation and waste management;

    4. Programmes and subprogrammes that would carry forward relevant elements of Agenda 21 to promote the development of environmentally sustainable human settlements in the future;

    5. Proposals for mobilizing, nationally and internationally, the necessary human, financial and technical resources, taking into account the enabling concept and the commitment of new and additional resources, as well as funding from countries' own public and private sectors, for the implementation of Agenda 21 programmes;

    6. Measures for the reorganization and strengthening of national, metropolitan and municipal institutions and machinery to enhance the development of human settlements and operational capabilities;

    7. Recommendations on ways in which the role of the United Nations and existing institutional arrangements for international cooperation and coordination in human settlements can be strengthened;

3.Affirms that the Conference shall, inter alia:

  1. Review trends in policies and programmes undertaken by countries and international organizations to implement the recommendations adopted by Habitat: United Nations Conference on Human Settlements;

  2. Conduct a mid-term review of the implementation of the Global Strategy for Shelter to the Year 2000 and make recommendations for the attainment of its objectives by the target date;

  3. Review the contribution to the implementation of Agenda 21 of national and international action in the area of human settlements;

  4. Review current global trends in economic and social development as they affect the planning, development and management of human settlements, and make recommendations for future action at the national and international levels;

4.Decides to establish a Preparatory Committee of the General Assembly for the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II); the Preparatory Committee will be open to all States Members of the United Nations and members of the specialized agencies, with the participation of observers in accordance with the established practice of the General Assembly;

5.Invites relevant or interested organizations, organs, programmes and agencies of the United Nations system and intergovernmental, subregional and regional organizations to participate actively in the preparatory process;

6.Invites non-governmental organizations, particularly those from developing countries and including those related to major groups, to participate in and contribute to the Conference and its preparatory process, and, to this end, decides that the Preparatory Committee shall formulate and adopt modalities for the accreditation and participation of those organizations, taking into account the procedures followed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development;

7.Decides that an organizational session of the Preparatory Committee of three days' duration shall be held at United Nations Headquarters in March 1993 and that two preparatory sessions should be held, the first early in 1994 at Geneva or in New York, and the second in conjunction with the 1995 session of the Commission on Human Settlements, with the detailed arrangements for the preparatory discussions to be determined at the organizational session;

8.Also decides that, in the event of there being a clear need for further preparatory discussions, an appropriate request might be made by the Preparatory Committee to the General Assembly;

9.Further decides that the Preparatory Committee, at its organizational session, shall elect, with due regard to equitable geographical representation, a chairman, three vice-chairmen and a rapporteur;

10.Notes with appreciation the generous offer made by the Government of Turkey to act as host to the Conference, and decides that the Conference will be held in Turkey in 1996;

11.Decides that the host country shall be ex officio an officer of the Preparatory Committee;

12.Requests the Secretary-General, following the organizational session of the Preparatory Committee, in accordance with resolutions 41/213 of 19 December 1986 and 42/211 of 21 December 1987, to establish, through redeployment to the maximum extent possible and within existing resources, an ad hoc secretariat for the Conference, which shall be organizationally part of the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat);

13.Decides that the ad hoc secretariat will be headed by the Secretary-General of the Conference, who will be appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations;

14.Requests the Secretary-General of the United Nations to prepare a report for the organizational session of the Preparatory Committee containing recommendations on an adequate preparatory process, taking into account the provisions of the present resolution and the views expressed by Governments in the discussion of this matter at the forty-seventh session of the General Assembly;

15.Decides that the Preparatory Committee shall:

  1. Draft the provisional agenda of the Conference, in accordance with the provisions of the present resolution;

  2. Adopt guidelines to enable States to take a harmonized approach in their preparations and reporting;

  3. Prepare draft decisions, including the plan of action, for the Conference and submit them to the Conference for consideration and adoption;

16.Requests all organs, organizations and programmes of the United Nations system, as well as other relevant intergovernmental organizations, to cooperate with the secretariat of the Conference and contribute fully to the preparations for the Conference on the basis of guidelines and requirements to be established by the Preparatory Committee;

17.Requests the Secretary-General of the United Nations to ensure the coordination of contributions from the United Nations system, through the Administrative Committee on Coordination;

18.Invites all States to take an active part in the preparations for the Conference, to prepare national reports, as appropriate, to be submitted to the Preparatory Committee in a timely manner and to promote international cooperation and broad-based national preparatory processes involving the scientific community, industry, trade unions and non-governmental organizations concerned;

19.Recommends that regional and subregional preparatory meetings should be held in conjunction with meetings of subregional and regional intergovernmental bodies, wherever possible;

20.Decides that the preparatory process and the Conference itself shall be funded through existing United Nations budgetary resources, without negatively affecting its programmed activities, and through voluntary contributions to a trust fund established specifically for that purpose;

21.Also decides to establish a separate voluntary fund for the purpose of supporting developing countries, in particular the least developed among them, in participating fully and effectively in the Conference and in its preparatory process, and invites Governments to contribute to the fund;

22.Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its forty-ninth and fiftieth sessions on the progress of work of the Preparatory Committee;

23.Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its forty-ninth and fiftieth sessions an item entitled "United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II)".

93rd plenary meeting
22 December 1992