WORLD CHARTER FOR THE RIGHT TO THE CITY AND CITY CIVIL SOCIETY 
PDF DOWNLOAD WORLD CHARTER FOR THE RIGHT TO THE CITY UNDER THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF HABITAT AND EVENTS IN CHILE: "The Right to the City and Housing: Proposals and Challenges Current Reality "INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE HOUSING V and XIII SOCIAL NETWORK MEETING ULACAV (EVENT WEB
), organized by the INVI for days 10,11, 12, Oct. 13 at Valparaiso, invite you to reflect on around the "World Charter on the Right to the City."
Why a Charter for the Right to the City?
Source: Habitat International Coalition
Latin America enter this new millennium with half the world population living in cities. And the trends say that the urban population in southern countries is doubled (from 2 thousand to 4 billion people) in the next 30 years. Today as centuries ago, the cities are potentially areas of great wealth and economic, environmental, political and cultural. However, development models implemented in most countries, both north and south, are characterized by the patterns concentration of income and power that generate poverty and exclusion, contribute to environmental degradation, and accelerate the processes of migration and urbanization, social and spatial segregation and privatization of the commons and public space. Contribute to this public policy, by ignoring the contributions of popular settlement processes to the construction of city and citizenship, urban life.
This favors the emergence of urban struggles that are generating the need for recognition in the international human rights law to the City, defined as the equitable usufruct of the cities within the principles of sustainability and social justice. The Charter, more than the sum of individual and collective rights and an international treaty provides for the Right to the City as the ultimate expression of collective interests, social and economic, especially the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, respecting different cultures balancing urban and urban-rural.
Moreover, this law presupposes the interdependence between population, resources, environment, economic and quality of life for present and future generations. It involves deep structural changes in production and consumption patterns and ways of appropriation of land and natural resources. Refers finding solutions to the negative effects of globalization, privatization, scarcity of natural resources, increased global poverty, environmental fragility and their consequences for the survival of humanity and the planet.
Three fundamental principles governing the content and proposal:
• Full exercise of citizenship, understood as the realization of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, ensuring the dignity and collective well-being of the inhabitants of the city on an equal footing and justice and full respect for the social production and habitat management.
• Democratic management of the city, understood as control and participation in society through direct and representative forms in the planning and urban governance, prioritizing the strengthening and empowerment of local government and grassroots organizations.
• social function of property and the city, understood as the prevalence in the formulation and implementation of urban policies, the common interest over individual property rights, implies the socially just and environmentally sustainable urban space.
By origin and social meaning, this tool is primarily aimed at strengthening the processes, claims and urban struggles against unjustified discrimination and social and territorial cohesion.
is destined to become a platform capable of joint efforts by all actors, public and private social-interested in giving full force and effect to this new human right through its dissemination, advocacy, legal recognition, implementation, adjustment, commissioning implemented and ongoing monitoring.
An international process and collective ...
In order to work towards the realization of this right, the National Forum of Urban Reform (FNRU) Brazilian organization that brings together diverse entities (social movements, NGOs, technical, academic) with networks such as the Habitat International Coalition (HIC) and the Continental Front of Community Organizations (CFCO), which joined in recent years many others, has been discussed and promoted by the Earth Summit ECO'92 a proposal in this regard based on the principles of solidarity, freedom, equality, dignity and social justice based on respect for different urban cultures. A first product was written by Treaty cities, towns, villages just, democratic and sustainable, inspiring and document direct antecedent of today. From there he followed the Brazilian Charter on Human Rights in the City, in 1995, and the City Charter, adopted in 2001 and currently also being implemented in that country.
This experience has been revived on the occasion of the Seminar for the Right to the City against inequality and discrimination, held during the II World Social Forum (Porto Alegre, January 2002), both from HIC and other networks and an international array of popular movements, NGOs, professional associations, academics and activists from several countries. Since then the focus has been and continues to stimulate an open and democratic process of debate and proposals for the development of a Charter for the Right to the City to bring commitment and action to be undertaken by civil society, local and national governments, parliamentarians and international organizations to which all persons live with dignity in our cities.
A significant phase of this process has taken on the occasion of a seminar discussion of the contents of the Charter and a media panel on the Right to the City which involved about 3000 people, both events in the the III World Social Forum (Porto Alegre, Brazil, January 2003).
Many other relevant international and regional activities in which they discussed the content of the Charter and its dissemination strategy has been developed on the occasion of the World Social Forum (Mumbai, India, January 2004), the First Social Forum of the Americas (Quito, Ecuador, July 2004), the II World Urban Forum (Barcelona, \u200b\u200bSpain, September 2004), the V World Social Forum (Porto Alegre , January 2005), VI Polycentric World Social Forum (Caracas-Venezuela-and-Mali-Bamako, January 2006) and the European Social Forum (2005 and 2006 editions). Recently, there has been progress in the process and the text (which has versions in Portuguese, English, English, French and Arabic) among the participants of the event on Urban Policies and the Right to the City: towards good governance and local democracy organized by UNESCO within the Third World Urban Forum (Vancouver, June 2006), and during the First Social Forum of the Caribbean (Martinique, July 2006).
social agencies that have participated so far in this process have been committed, among other things, to disseminate, consult, discuss and improve the Charter, as its text is not yet final. At the same time, have been proposed to enhance the international coordination for the Right to the City and push for its inclusion and treatment in the various international fora.
The text, in the process of debate between different actors in various regions, already has the support of local and national authorities and UN agencies such as UNESCO and the Habitat Agenda.
regard to developments in Latin America, from the regional office of HIC-AL as part of our member organizations have been promoted, discussed and enriched this instrument from the early months of 2003 in numerous events with actors made in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic and Venezuela.
... with many challenges
Currently, the process has entered a new stage. Faced with the challenge of achieving a political tool, teaching, mobilization, binding and enforceability of human rights account of the situation and makes sense for people in all regions of the planet, at the request of other organizations and networks involved, HIC has assumed the role of stimulating and coordinating the international debate both about the conceptual content of the Charter World Right to the City and, particularly, as regards the strategy for the promotion and adoption.
a challenge no less if we think of diversity not only of language but of concepts that make certain features and dimensions in different cultures. Differences arising from different urban contexts and different traditions especially in relation to land and its use and usufruct of different conceptions regarding the characterization of the territories and cities, communities, towns, villages .. and therefore the definition and status of its inhabitants.
The more recent and for the immediate future include, among other things, the development and dissemination of a manifesto to the synthesis of the main points to mobilize and sensitize organizations and social movements from all regions, the joint strategic This process demands rather "urban" with other initiatives, including global, now carry on peasant and indigenous organizations, from a rather "rural" Develop and spread most popular versions of the text of the Charter, particularly for Niñ and adolescents.
is worth emphasizing that all social organizations, networks and national and international actors are invited to participate in the preparation and dissemination of the Charter. We will be waiting for your comments and contributions. Write us!
info@hic-al.org
Source: Habitat International Coalition
Latin America
(SIV image) 
