UAE delegation attends first UN-HABITAT Assembly

A UAE delegation took part in the first UN-HABITAT assembly, which was held in Nairobi, Kenya’s capital city, under the theme “Innovation for a Better Quality of Life in Cities and Communities”.

In a speech during the assembly, Yousif Abdulrahman Al Nuaimi, International Coordinator for the Zayed Housing Programme, focussed on the UAE’s sustainable development objectives for 2030.

During the four-day meeting, the UAE also extended invitations to the UN HABITAT Secretary-General, ministers and heads of the delegations, to attend the Arab Ministerial Forum on Housing and Urban Development, which will be hosted in the UAE in 2020.

The special theme for the UN-Habitat Assembly, as discussed during the twenty-first meeting of the Subcommittee on Policy and Programme of Work of the Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR) held on 30 November 2018 and endorsed during the 71st Regular meeting of the CPR on 4 December 2018 is: “Innovation for Better Quality of Life in Cities and Communities”. The CPR also endorsed the Sub theme as: “Accelerated implementation of the New Urban Agenda towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals”.

During the first session, The Assembly is expected establish the Executive Board of UN-Habitat and elect its members, to review and approve the UN-Habitat Strategic Plan 2020-2025 and also review the Progress in implementation of New Urban Agenda, among other things Member States of the United Nations are expected to participate in the deliberations of the UN-Habitat Assembly. In addition, a State which is a member of a Specialized Agency, and Observer Members States of the United Nations may participate in the deliberations of the UN-Habitat Assembly in the capacity of an observer.

The Assembly will also be attended by United Nations Agencies, Local authorities and non-state actors including civil society, youth and women group representatives, the private sector and the Academia.

The secretariat hereby transmits to the UN-Habitat Assembly at its first session the report of the Committee of Permanent Representatives on its 72nd regular meeting as part of its work for the period 2017–2019.

The Committee of Permanent Representatives to UN-Habitat held its 72nd regular meeting on 10 April 2019.

At the 72nd meeting, the Executive Director briefed the Committee of Permanent Representatives on developments regarding the governance structure and internal reform of UN-Habitat, the preparations for the first session of the new governing body of UN-Habitat, the UN-Habitat Assembly, and the financial situation of the Programme.

With regard to the governance reform of UN-Habitat, she highlighted as a major milestone the adoption by the General Assembly, on 20 December 2018, of resolution 73/239, in which it had approved a new governance structure for UN-Habitat. Given that Member States had been reviewing the governance structure of UN-Habitat for 14 years, the adoption of the resolution constituted a remarkable achievement by Member States and signalled a bright future for the organisation, whose agility, efficiency, effectiveness, accountability, transparency and relevance would continue to improve under its new governance structure.

In line with resolution 73/239, the secretariat had continued with its efforts to restructure and reform UN-Habitat in order to ensure that it was fit-for-purpose and ready to implement the new strategic plan for the period 2020–2025, which the Committee had approved. The reform process was guided by a document entitled “Guiding framework for the UN-Habitat change process: changing to increase impact”, and would be completed by 31 December 2019.

In its resolution 56/206 of 21 December 2001, the General Assembly decided to transform, with effect from 1 January 2002, the United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat) into the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). The Genera l Assembly also decided to transform the Commission on Human Settlements into the Governing Council of UN-Habitat, a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly.