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The Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 3-14 June 1996 the 20th anniversary of the first Habitat Conference in Vancouver in 1976. Habitat II received its impetus from the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development and General Assembly resolution A/RES/47/180. The Secretary-General of the Conference is Dr. Wally N'Dow.

The objectives for Habitat II are:

  • in the long term, to arrest the deterioration of global human settlements conditions and ultimately create the conditions for achieving improvements in the living environment of all people on a sustainable basis, with special attention to the needs and contributions of women and vulnerable social groups whose quality of life and participation in development have been hampered by exclusion and inequality, affecting the poor in general;
  • to adopt a general statement of principles and commitments and formulate a related global plan of action capable of guiding national and international efforts through the first two decades of the next century.

Previous Negotiations

The Organizational Session

The organizational session of the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom) for Habitat II was held at UN Headquarters in New York from 3-5 March 1993. Delegates elected the Bureau and took decisions regarding the organization and timing of the process.

The First Substantive Session of the Preparatory Committee

The first substantive session of the PrepCom was held in Geneva from 11-22 April 1994. Delegates agreed that the overriding objective of the Conference should be to increase world awareness of the problems and potentials of human settlements as important inputs to social progress and economic growth, and to commit the world's leaders to making cities, towns and villages healthy, safe, just and sustainable.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin has prepared a comprehensive report on the first session of the PrepCom .

The PrepCom took decisions on the organization of the Conference and financing, in addition to the areas of:

The 49th United Nations General Assembly

The Second Committee of the UN General Assembly addressed Habitat II from 8 - 16 November 1994.

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin prepared a year-end update report on Habitat II preparations that included a report on the General Assembly's treatment of this agenda item.

A draft resolution on the "United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II)" (A/C.2/49/L.27) was first tabled by the co-sponsors, Algeria, on behalf of the G-77 and China, and Turkey. After informal consultations by members of the Second Committee, the Vice Chair, Raiko Raichev (Bulgaria) submitted a new draft resolution (A/C.2/49/L.61). This resolution was adopted as orally amended by the Committee on Friday, 9 December 1994. The operative part of the resolution, as contained in L.61, takes note of the reports of the PrepCom on its organizational session and first substantive session and endorses the decisions contained therein. The resolution approves the PrepCom's recommendation that a third substantive session of the PrepCom be held at UN Headquarters early in 1996 to complete the preparatory work for the Conference.

The Second Session of the PrepCom

The Second Substantive Session of the PrepCom has recently finishing in Nairobi, Kenya. The documentation for this meeting is available (from Information Habitat).

The Earth Negotiations Bulletin has published our summary of the meeting and during the meeting we published daily issues: