Global Parliamentarians on Habitat

 

Global Parliamentarians on Habitat (GPH) functions as the only international parliamentary group that is exclusively committed to promote the sustainable human settlements development. It was founded in 1987 in Yokohama, in the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless and it has maintained close cooperation with the UN-HABITAT, culminating in its participation both at the second UN Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), in June 1996 and at the Istanbul+5 Meeting in New York in 2001.

 

The GPH is currently headed by President Hon. Eloy Cantu Segovia (Mexican Senate), has five regional councils for Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean and for Oceana, which ensure its programme of work reflects the realities and aspirations of each region. The councils also promote inter-regional cooperation especially in the development and application of relevant legislation to enhance the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. Individual parliaments adopt proactive polices to pressure national governments to support international collaboration in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda in close cooperation with UN-HABITAT located in Nairobi/ Kenya (www.un-habitat.org).

 

Global Forums

 

The Global Forums usually attract over 200 parliamentarians and about 300 other participants from over 50 countries the world over. The Forums review the achievements of parliamentarians and plot new strategies and programmes for the implementation of the Habitat Agenda at the global regional and national levels. They are organized every two or three years by the GPH in cooperation with parliamentarians of the hosting countries.

 

The Global Forums after Istanbul (1996) took place in Cancun/ Mexico (1998), Manila/ Philippines (200), Berlin/ Germany (2003) und Rabat/ Morocco (2005).

 

European Forums

 

Within the last ten years, Forums by the European GPH were held in Bonn/ Germany (1997), Zagreb/ Croatia (1999), Helsinki/ Finland (2000), Berlin/ Germany (2003) und Den Haag/ Netherlands (2006). From 23 to 24 April 2008, the European GPH hold the Sixth European Forum on the premises of the Romanian Parliament.

 

Fifth Global Forum of GPH was held in Rabat, Morocco in November 2005. Fifth Regional Forum of the Global Parliamentarians on Habitat for the European Continent in close co-operation with other Habitat stakeholders was held in The Hague, The Netherlands, from 12-13 May 2006 and adopted the Hague declaration.

 

Senator Eloy Cantu Segovia, the President of the Global Parliamentarian on Habitat was one on the panelist in the political segment of the Dialogue on 18 April 2007 from 3:00to 6:00 PM during this Governing Council. The Global Parliamentarians on Habitat had their meeting on 17 April 2007 in the afternoon from 2:00 PM followed by their meeting with the Young Parliamentarians from Kenya and Easter Africa at the same venue.

 

In Monterrey, Mexico, on 4th October 2007 the Global Parliamentarians on Habitat adopted a Monterrey Declaration as a fresh commitment for their support in implementation of the Habitat Agenda and handed over to the Executive Director by the President of GPH. In response the Executive Director challenged the parliamentarians to play proactive role in passing suitable legislations for achieving the MDG’s and the Habitat Agenda. They were invited by the Executive Director to the WUF IV in Nanjing, China.

 

The Global Parliamentarians on Habitat is holding the next World Conference including the re-election of the Board of Directors on 23 and 24 April 2008 in Bucharest, Romania together with the European conference of the GPH. They have invited the Executive Director to attend their conference.

 

World Urban Forums and GPH

 

At the Third Session of the World Urban Forum in Vancouver, the Parliamentarians Roundtable was hosted by the Canadian parliamentarians in collaboration with the Global Parliamentarians on Habitat.

 

The round table was entitled, “Parliamentarian Roundtable Human Settlement Legislation Developments + 30: Good Laws for a Better Habitat”. Almost twenty years after the formal inauguration of the Global Parliamentarians on Habitat in 1987, this session provided parliamentarians an opportunity to take stock of key milestones, successes and challenges in their contribution to human settlements, urban development and affordable housing around the world. The European president of the GPH, Peter Götz, Deputy of the German Parliament, and Dr. Anneke Assen (Netherlands) presented the comparative study “Implementing the Goals and Principles of the Habitat Agenda, adopted in Istanbul in 1996, in the legislation of the Federal Republic of Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, Romania and Turkey during the period 1996-2005”. Looking to the future, new priorities for supporting urban sustainability were identified at both global and domestic levels and opportunities for collaboration on legislative initiatives explored.

 

2008 will be the eighth year since the adoption of the MDGs. The challenges before us are enormous and with out the active and catalytic role of parliamentarians, the targets set by MDGs cannot be realized.

WUF IV can provide an important platform for the parliamentarians to show case and discuss some of the success stories, good practices and policy approaches for Parliamentarians in the North and the south aiming at promoting the right policies to achieve the Millennium Goals and urban poverty reduction. The parliamentarians will participate actively in the WUF IV. They are going to organize a parliamentarians’ roundtable discussing the topic “City and Climate Change and the Role of Parliamentarians”.