Download our Message on World Habitat Day here!

On World Habitat Day, October 1, Lily Hutjes of the International Council of Women and Monika Jaeckel, head of the Mother Center International Network for Empowerment, participated in the Global Observance of World Habitat Day: A Safe City is a Just City, in The Hague. They carried the Huairou Commission statement recognizing the work that women do all over the world to prevent insecurity and build safe and inclusive cities. The statement (which can be read below) also highlights the importance of on-going partnerships with local and national government and international agencies and in particular, UN-Habitat.

This year - 2007 - marks the first year in the history of mankind that half of the world's population is living in cities, with an estimated 1 billion people living in slums. This formed the context for World Habitat Day and motivated the selection of its theme: A Safe City is a Just City

In her message given in The Hague, Mrs. Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director off UN Habitat, introduced a new strategy based on efforts by UN-Habitat to work closely with its partners. Mrs. Tibaijuka remarked that women around the world agree that public spaces in cities, which are taken over by gangs or abandoned because of fear, result in a loss of social capital. She called for a new approach in addressing urban safety, which needs to be built locally, from street level up and incorporated into local and national planning resulting in a holistic approach.

Simultaneously, in Monterrey, Mexico at the International Conference on the State of Safety in World Cities 2007, Carmen Griffiths represented the Huairou Commission as a leading civil society partner to UN-Habitat in the 'Partners Plenary Session on Preventing Crime and Violence from a Sustainable Urban Development Perspective.' Again, Carmen emphasized the importance of recognizing women's work in making cities safe and inclusive for all citizens as well as bridging to international partners to ensure women are included at the table from the international to the local levels in the discussion, design, and planning of how we manage and develop our cities and communities.

In the afternoon, Lucy Cardona and Olga Segovia of the Latin American Women and Habitat Network (a Member Network of the Huairou Commission), led a workshop sponsored by UNIFEM, 'Paths to Safety: Cities without gender violence.' They discussed the first year of their three-year program (in Rosario, Argentina; Bogota, Columbia; and Santiago, Chile) on Women's Safety in Cities. Their program, while unique in each context, focuses on building the capacity of women to influence government policies and city programs, promoting a gender and equal opportunity perspective and advocating for the inclusion of the priorities and voices of women. By bridging the gaps between women who experience the effects of insecurity in their communities and those who design city plans and policies, they are working to build safe, responsive and inclusive cities.

Meanwhile, at United Nations Headquarters in New York City, the Huairou Commission attended the commemoration of World Habitat Day - aimed to raise awareness and encourage reflection on mounting threats to urban safety and social justice, particularly urban crime and violence, forced eviction and insecurity of tenure, as well as natural and human-made disaster. The event included speakers from local government, academia, the non profit sector and UN representatives.

The presentation by Ms. Carolyn Silver, Esq, Director of Legal Advocacy & Organizing Department Lenox Hill Neighborhood House, on Trends in housing evictions in New York City - the problem and new solutions, revealed some disconcerting facts:

• In New York City, on average, a person is only one emergency away from a housing crisis.
• Rents are increasing at 20% whereas income is only increasing at 6%, which leads to forced eviction of tenants who can no longer afford the places where they used to live.
• In 2006, there were 300 000 eviction cases, 50% of them went to court, and 7% of these cases involved seniors.
• In addition, there has been a constant loss of affordable housing. 27% of affordable housing has disappeared, as well as there has been a loss of 40% of rent regulated housing, which is partly due to a weakened laws put forward by the Bloomberg administration concerning rent regulation in the city.

• changes in the legislation, such as the provision of right to council in the housing court
• a rent freeze for seniors and disabled people,
• more tax incentives for landlords who offer subsidized housing, a tax abandonment in form of a credit to the landlord,
• tenant organizing and community involvement, such as the tenants of a building get together and purchase the property

October 2nd, 2007

The following day, in partnership with UN-HABITAT, the Huairou Commission led a workshop with the Women and Cities International Network (WICI) and the Latin American Women and Habitat Network - HIC (both Member Networks of the Huairou Commission) to present the preliminary results of the Global Women's Survey on Safety. Cecilia Andersson of the UN-HABITAT Safer Cities Program described the origins of the partnership, and Margaret Shaw of WICI presented the survey results.

To provide concrete examples of what women are doing to make their cities safer, Arlene Bailey from the Fletchersland Parenting Association, Lucy Cardona from the Associacion para la Vivienda Popular (AVP) and Olenka Ochoa of FEMUM presented their experiences living and working in poor urban communities. Each woman highlighted both the successes and challenges of working to prevent violence in their communities within cultural and resource constraints. Strategies included community action and education to prevent violence, to encouraging the inclusion of women's voices in public planning and decision-making, and local government prevention initiatives.

Most importantly, this session was held to present the assessment project's working document and solicit feedback and participation. Participants expressed that the survey must include other countries and regions, namely Mexico where the results were presented, as well as explore definitions, practices and successes in-depth to really see what is new and innovative in the area, who we can learn from and how we can amplify these successes. There was much excitement and interest in carrying the initiative further, not only by widely disseminating the report but also to continue to be in contact and keep this important issue on the frontlines of the local, national and international agendas.

Click here to visit our Governance Campaign page to learn more about the safety assessment, download the survey and draft report, and participate!

October 3rd, 2007

The third day in Monterrey brought us to plenary debates and discussions. One of the key events for the Huairou Commission in this period was the Plenary Discussion on Women and Public Space organized with the Commonwealth Association of Planners. The session was facilitated by Lucia Kiwala of the UN-HABITAT Gender Team. Speakers included Anne Michaud and Carol Archer, both friends of the Huairou Commission, who discussed how women take public space, insert their voices in the planning and policy circles, and turn conventional approaches to urban planning and policy design on their heads.

Anne Michaud, Founder of Women and Cities International Network, demonstrated that "women's safety is everyone's priority which takes community solidarity," through the practical approaches developed in Montreal, Canada. From safety audits to active partnership with women's groups to design criteria for researchers and planners, Anne presented practical tools that have been used and adapted worldwide, (visit www.femmesetville.org for more information). Carol Archer of Jamaica challenged traditional planning approaches developed in the West with examples in the Caribbean, namely Jamaica, where women face heightened insecurity, blurred lines between public and private space and insecurity of livelihoods due to disaster-prone environments, poverty and insecurity of tenure.

October 4-5th, 2007

On the last two days of the World Habitat Week, World Habitat Day will be officially commemorated in Monterrey with the presentation of the Global Report on Human Settlements 2007 on Enhancing Urban Safety and Security, the World Habitat Day Awards, and presentation of the UN-HABITAT Scroll of Honour Awards.

For more information on the Huairou Commission's work on Women's Safety in Cities, or on our participation in the Monterrey Conference on the State of Safety in Cities, contact Sarah Silliman: sarah.silliman@huairou.org.