Nairobi, 25 Oct 11
"Losing Your Home" is an important and long overdue book, which I warmly welcome and recommend to the worldwide readership that it addresses and fully deserves. This book offers us a fresh and compelling look at one of the global and still unheralded enough crisis of our times: the increasing eviction and displacement of large numbers of people – no less than tens of millions every year – who are uprooted from their houses mostly without receiving the support they need for rebuilding their lives from society as a whole. Every reader stands to benefit from studying it. Click here to read the entire review from Michael M. Cernea, Brookings Institution NR Senior Fellow, and Research Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at George Washington University
Nairobi, 24 Oct 11
More than 50 participants converged in Nairobi recently to exchange views, knowledge and ideas on the future role of UN-HABITAT with respect to preventing, monitoring and assessing the impact of forced evictions globally.
Local and international actors working on slum upgrading have emphasised the importance of understanding the wide range of views of residents when working to improve the standard of living in urban areas.
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 20 Jun 11
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Raquel Rolnik, has made an urgent plea to put an immediate stop to all forced evictions of earthquake survivors in the Caribbean Nation.
Hanoi, 16 Mar 11
UN-HABITAT and the Ministry of Construction of Vietnam organized a workshop on "Consultation and Technical Assistance to National Housing Development Strategy toward 2020, vision of 2030".
Luanda, 12 Mar 09
UN-HABITAT and the government of Angola on Thursday signed an agreement that will allow the agency to establish a national office in that country.
Nairobi, 1 Sept 08
Economic growth and attendant commercial urban development continue to contribute a lot to the problem of forced evictions, the UN-HABITAT Deputy Executive Director Ms. Inga Björk-Klevby said on Monday.
Jinja, Uganda, 30 Jul 07
Margaret Mugweri is a very happy woman because of having a better roof over her head. For years, like many languishing in the world’s urban centres, the 45 year-old had to contend with landlords ...
Antananarivo, 31 May 07
UN-HABITAT joined a group of UN agencies in Madagascar earlier this month for a seminar on housing reform and shelter needs as part of the new ‘One UN’ concept whereby all agencies working in a country pool their expertise as best they can for the benefit of all.
Nairobi, 26 Apr 07
The Governing Council of UN-HABITAT on Friday passed a resolution providing new guidelines aimed at improving women’s land and property rights and access to finance.
Santiago, 16 Apr 07
An international expert group meeting on urban indigenous peoples and migration in Santiago, Chile urged the international community to understand and better support indigenous people leading a marginalised existence in many cities around the world.
Nairobi, 22 Feb 07
UN-HABITAT was one of the several exhibitors at a colourful exhibition held to showcase innovative ways of providing affordable housing.
Nairobi, 29 May 06
India has signed a landmark agreement with UN-HABITAT to host the inaugural meeting of a new housing development forum for the rapidly urbanising Asia-Pacific region, which is home to the world’s largest number of slum dwellers.
Cape Town, 25 May 06
At the behest of the recently concluded African Ministerial Conference on Housing and Urban Development (AMCHUD), homeless people and slum dwellers from around the world gathered in Cape Town last week to engage governments in talks to improve their plight.
Washington DC, 8 May 06
UN-HABITAT’s Executive Director, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, last week told a special panel of the United States Senate that 72 percent of the urban populations in Africa still live in slums and informal settlements.
Antananarivo, 20 Apr 06
Prime Minister Jacques Sylla of Madagascar has launched a national programme to upgrade informal settlements and prepare sound urban development with the support of UN-HABITAT and the United Nations Development Programme.
Belgrade, 17 Jan 06
UN-HABITAT has received 8.5 million dollars from the Italian Government for a social and housing integration programme for tens of thousands of war refugees and other vulnerable people in Serbia.
Brussels, 16 Jan 06
UN-HABITAT and the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe signed a co-operation agreement this week paving the way for improving urban development and social housing in southeast Europe
Brussels, 25 Oct 04
UN-HABITAT and the Brussels-based African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP Group) have signed a cooperation agreement aimed at promoting sustainable urbanization and the eradication of poverty in ACP countries.
Monday, 24 May 04
In a US$14 million initiative Chad will upgrade housing for poor families in the capital, N'Djamena, and the construction and renovation work will offer job opportunities and improve livelihoods, helping reduce poverty in the central African country.
Nairobi (PANA), 24 Apr 04
The Kenya cabinet has approved a National Housing Policy and sent it to Parliament for endorsement to address the urban slum and housing shortage problems, deputy minister for roads, public works and housing, Joshua Toro said here Saturday.
Geneva, 31 Mar 04
Mr. Abdalla Abbas has been appointed as UN-HABITAT’s Coordinator for the Special Human Settlements Programme for the Palestinian People.
Nairobi, 8 Mar 04
The United Nations Human Security Trust Fund is to provide US$1,082,500 for poverty reduction and slum upgrading in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
, 7 Jan 04
As the culmination of a two years research project UN-HABITAT has published a 250 page study entitled “Rental housing: An essential option for the urban poor in developing countries”. The study notes that despite the fact that a large proportion of residents in cities and towns of developed and developing countries are tenants, the number of governments actually trying to support rental housing development is rather small. In fact, the important role played by the rental sector is barely, if at all acknowledged in many national housing policies. A major reason for this bias against rental housing is the general ideology that homeownership is essential for housing development and that owners are better citizens than renters.
, 2 Dec 03
An agreement has been reached on how to measure the state and progressive realization of the right to adequate housing, as outlined in the Habitat Agenda and other international instruments, during an expert group meeting convened in Geneva from 26-28 November 2003. The meeting was organized by UN-HABITAT and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) - through their joint initiative, the United Nations Housing Rights Programme.
, 6 Aug 03
Kenya’s Minister for Roads, Public Works and Housing, Mr. Raila Odinga, on Wednesday announced the Kenya Slum Upgrading Project, a major initiative aimed at improving the conditions of the slum dwellers in Nairobi, who make up over 60 per cent of the city's population.
