Government should address informal settlement housing backlog in the country. Addressing challenges posed by informal settlements will help government to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals such as providing access to basic water and sanitation. Underlying socio-economic causes of informal settlements should be tackled. When addressing challenges posed by informal settlements, government should provide the urban poor with cost effective access to urban environments.
Globally, the UN estimates that 1.6 billion people struggle to find adequate housing. Kenya’s Constitution Article 43(1) (b), provides that ‘every person has the right to accessible and adequate housing and reasonable standards of sanitation’. Kenyans suffer insecurity of tenure and are victims of frequent forceful evictions. This is a country that never follows up on building standards, leave alone rent controls. The current leadership is money-minded and has no interest in public housing.
This blog recapitulates the interventions made by the panelists of a recently held GODAN Action webinar on “Empowering Women for Open Data Mapping in Agriculture: Implications for Land Rights and the SDGs in Africa”, Victor Sunday, Dr. Toyin Ojo, Nathalie Sidibe and Uchechi Shirley Anaduaka.
Informal workers and desperate journeys
‘Corona lockdown’ led to one of the biggest migrations in India’s modern history. Hungry, thirsty and hapless- millions of migrant workers who form the backbone of our glittering megacities- took to the road, on desperate journeys home. These migrant workers are part of the informal economy- toiling away in construction sector and small factories, recycling waste or doing other precarious jobs. Many of them are landless or small/marginal farmers from rainfed farming areas, migrating seasonally.
India-Land and Development Conference (ILDC) – 2020 held in New Delhi from March 2 to 4 saw a lively debate on a wide range of issues relating to India’s land sector. More than 100 academicians, young researchers, activists and policy makers made their presentations in the conference spread across 34 thematic and two plenary sessions. More than 350 delegates participated in the event.
While urbanization and informal settlements are particularly pronounced problems in Africa, South Africa has had a long and difficult history with spatial segregation. The OHCHR reports that apartheid-era legislation in South Africa led to both insecure land rights and a lack of housing for the majority of South Africa’s population. Housing continues to be an issue in the country.
By 2050, two thirds of the world’s population will live in urban areas. How cities develop will determine whether we can reduce economic and racial inequality, effectively address climate change, and meet many of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development goals. The human rights movement can help move cities in the right direction, through more engagement in municipal-level policy and advocacy, and through greater attention to the growing corporate influence within our cities.
The First Arab Land Conference took place in Dubai early last week, from the 26-28 February. The first of its kind, it gathered land experts from across the region and beyond, in what was a fruitful and long overdue event in the region. For those of us just returning from the three-day event, we know that there was no lack of key and empowering messages, as well as carefully thought-out and innovative ideas for the way forward. If we take a moment, however, to get down to the fundamentals and to find one take-away, it would most likely be the following: each and every one of us has a rig
From the 26-28 of February, 2018, the First Arab Land Conference, organized by UN Habitat, the World Bank, the Global Land Tool Network, the League of Arab States, the Arabian Union for Surveying and the Dubai Land Department took place in Dubai. Taking place in one of the most quickly developed parts of the region, the palpable enthusiasm felt throughout the event was because it truly was the first of its kind. No other conference has yet brought together land experts from around the Arab world.
I have been working on issues of land rights for more than 31 years in more than 22 countries, but no country has captured my attention, focus and heart more than India.
The recent series of devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean has reminded the world, once again, that natural disasters are not equal-opportunity destroyers. The economically marginalized and those lacking secure land and property rights are often disproportionately affected for at least three reasons:
- First, without secure property rights, they typically lack the long-term incentive and access to credit to build safe, resilient houses.