Rights to the city

Connecting across Habitat Rights and the Right to the City

“We are convinced that only through strong partnerships between civil society and the closest spheres of government to the people, we will be able to achieve access to the right to the city.”

“The discussion of the particular stories of people from the LGBTIQ+ community reveals a set of cultures and communities for whom the city has not only been the location of struggle but it has been the essence of that struggle.”

“We need to integrate hygiene, including the sphere relating to menstrual health and the obligation to include sanitation in the concept of the human right to water and sanitation.”

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Background

The Habitat Rights and the Rights to the City does not only concern a unique aspect, but englobes a wide variety of different challenges related to the population’s living conditions. In this sense, we must consider those rights related to safe drinking water and sanitation; to migrant’s conditions; to protection against violence and discrimination for sexual orientation and gender identity; and the right to adequate housing.

Concerning access to water and sanitation, this one constitutes a cross-cutting issue, especially for the most vulnerable and marginalized groups, including indigenous peoples, informal settlement dwellers, migrants and refugees. According to the latest published information on access to clean water by the World Health Organization, in 2017, more than 785 million people did not have access to basic water services and more than 884 million people did not have safe water to drink.

With regard to migrant’s conditions, some of them suffer a lack of access to public services such as health, education, justice, and housing. Likewise, some of them suffer from discrimination due to reasons related to ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation, among others. Concerning the protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, the COVID-19 has exacerbated the fragility in the protection of rights of vulnerable groups, who can suffer exclusion and abuse in public spaces.

In order to overcome these challenges, tolerance and pluralism, as well as access to housing and social services are elements that should be ensured in cities.

785

million people do not have access to basic water services

884

million people do not have safe water to drink

Challenges

In order to respond to current problems, we must take into account that it is key to adopt an intersectional approach, engaging all the aspects related to the right to the city and respecting the feminist agenda.

Continuous work and coordination between civil society, local and regional governments and other stakeholders (such as universities, experts, etc.) are critical to ensure the right to safe drinking water and sanitation.
With regard to the right of migrants, it is key to establish a connection between public services and migratory agencies and ensure a permanent representation to follow up the Global Compact on Migration. In order to ensure that migrants do not avoid seeking support due to fear of being detained or deported, migrants’ conditions also need to be regularized.
Concerning the right to protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, those laws that can be used to criminalise the presence of these groups should be condemned in order to provide safe public spaces.
Regarding the right to adequate housing, the interrelation between displacement and climate change should be addressed. Additionally, in order to guarantee tenure security, land governance and economic alternative measures based on solidarity economy approaches should be promoted.

Learn more about the challenges being faced by cities and regions

Responses

All the responses that have been proposed imply a cooperative approach.
Collaboration between local authorities to set recommendations in main areas is proposed.
A joint alliance between civil society organizations, local governments and academic networks has been established to promote cooperation.
One of the decisions made by local and regional governments that have had a direct impact on Habitat Rights has been the experiences between CSIPDHR and cities what has led to the remunicipalisation of water, citizenship for migrants in cities, as well as on measures for tackling spatial segregation.
Some responses that have been suggested are the possibility of reactivating an advisory group to UN-Habitat focused on forced evictions and of working jointly with mandate holders on guidelines on particular themes, such as the Right to the City.

Learn more about other responses and initiatives in terms of Migration:

Towards the Pact

Access to safe drinking water and hygiene goes hand in hand with access to public services such as health, education, justice, and housing.
Decriminalization of LGBTIQ+ populations and the promotion of tolerance must be a priority of urban policymaking.
With political will and lessons learned from COVID-19, government actions play a key role to make a tangible difference through innovative actions.
Need to have special rapporteurs engaging in dialogue amongst themselves and with local and regional governments and civil society.
Need to ensure that migrants do not avoid seeking support due to fear of being detained or deported. To this end, strong connections between public services and the enforcement of migratory agencies should be ensured.
Even if collaboration has been put into practice, it is not enough: we require advancing towards more permanent forms of dialogue with civil society organizations and local governments.

Resources

Connecting across Habitat Rights and the Right to the City: 1st round table con el relator

For further information on the topic of Public Service Delivery and its impact on cities and regions, please refer to the related resources included below.