HIC @ WUF 12

On 4–8 November 2024, Cairo hosted the 12^th World Urban Forum (WUF), which global gathering UN Habitat organizes every other year to bring together practitioners in human settlement development. For HIC, it is a space to raise collective priorities and share experiences with allies.                    

This 12^th edition of WUF took place amid increased privatization and financialization of housing and land, shrinking space for civil society, new leadership of UN-Habitat under Executive Director Anaclaúdia Rossbach, and the ongoing development of the new UN-Habitat Strategic Plan (2026–2029).

Within this context, HIC’s priority issues at WUF 12 included:

• Renewed mobilization against forced evictions for collaborative monitoring and data collection on that gross violation of human rights;
• Developing social production of habitat and states’ New Urban Agenda commitments to support its practice with policies and other enabling conditions;
• Solidarity with the peoples of Palestine, Sudan and all people and territories facing conflict, occupation and war;
• Responsible governance and sufficient resources to achieve climate justice;
• Meaningful civil society participation through self-organized mechanisms, and community/public partnerships.

HIC’s delegation of 32 Member organizations, seven HIC Friends, HIC’s President, regional and thematic Board Representatives, Regional Coordinators, and the General Secretariat. Ahead of WUF, the HIC Member meeting celebrated HIC’s food sovereignty work with host HIC Member, Nawaya, the Egyptian organization that works to preserve and promote Egyptian heritage food systems through an active network of community-based organizations, aiming to improve the socio-economic conditions of Egyptian farmers through seasonal tour programs and promote healthier, more traditional eating habits.

Attended by 45 participants from 22 countries, including 27 HIC Members, Friends, Board, HIC Reference Centers and the General Secretariat the Member meeting focused on practical solidarity with Members across specializations and regions, especially in the Middle East/North Africa region, where civil society partners and communities face displacement amid conflict, occupation and war.

HIC events, collaborations and celebrations, including side-events and the collective Habitat Village stand and program:

• The WUF Grassroots Assembly co-organised by UN Habitat, Huairou Commission, Asian Coalition for Housing Rights (ACHR), Slum Dwellers International (SDI) and HIC;
• Feminist and care approaches to housing;
• Social and feminist movement convergence to support social production of habitat [الانتاج الاجتماعي للموئل]; 
• Opposing temporary rental platforms and the commodification of housing; 
• Housing, land and property solutions for displaced persons and communities; 
• Community/public partnerships to realize the human rights to adequate housing and land;
• WUF 12 contributionsat Civil Society Roundtable, informing the outcome document, WUF 12 Call to Action.

Members also discussed HIC’s collective advocacy of food sovereignty and agroecology within the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). HIC is currently represented by Samual Ikua Thiong’o of Mazingira Institute (Kenya) and Hala Barakat of Nawaya (Egypt) on the Civil Society and Indigenous People’s Mechanism for Relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CSIPM), a platform consisting of 17 constituencies that engage with the FAO.

HIC Members from Palestine, Egypt and Sudan shared their experience their historical work with the HIC Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN), developing legal norms and findings to influence policy consistent with the human right to adequate housing, the prohibition against forced evictions, and applying the UN Remedy and Reparations Framework for victims of gross violations.

HIC Members reflected on their 30 years of solidarity with Palestine, recalling how HIC advocacy has resulted in UN Treaty Body findings that reveal how Israeli housing and land sector laws and policies have institutionalized material discrimination against the Indigenous Palestinian People, and about which HIC-HLRN has published prodigiously with HIC Members in Palestine.

These advocacy efforts underlay the long-standing HIC-HLRN proposal to re-establishing the UN Centre against Apartheid as a UN General Assembly (UNGA) body to monitor and investigate the Israeli apartheid system in Palestine, which the UNGA resolved to do very recently. In response to Palestinian HIC Members’ recommendations for further practical solidarity actions, we spoke of efforts of every individual to respect the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign and engage in solidarity actions in our home countries. HIC social movement and NGO Members present called for a joint HIC manifesto demanding the end to apartheid and genocide in Palestine.

HIC Events in WUF12:

• Social and feminist movement convergence around social production of habitat, with contributions by Massa Kone, HIC Board Representative for Social Movements, Guillermo Marzioni, HIC Vice President and HIC Africa members participating in the Women’s Spaces Project;
• Temporary rental platforms and the commodification of housing, with contributions by HIC Board Representative for Latin America Facundo di Filippo, and Maria Silvia Emanuelli, Coordinator HIC América Latina (HIC-AL);
• Housing, land and property solutions for displaced persons and communities, with contributions by Joseph Schechla, Coordinator HIC Housing and Land Rights Network (HLRN); UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing Balakrishnan Rajagopalan; Anwar Majanni (The Day After, Syria), Sultan Barakat (Hamad bin Khalifa hollow University, Doha) and Michael Cholov (The Peace Coalition, Ukraine and Canada).

Collaborations

• Grassroots Assembly with contribution by HIC President Grace Chikumo Mtonga;
• Action toward urban equality (DPU, UCLG, HIC);
• Training: Public-community partnerships to democratize and improve decision making and service delivery (GPR2C, HIC, UCLG);
• Launch of the Hub for Housing Justice, a collaborative initiative by civil society networks and research organizations to advance housing justice (details here); 
• Feminist Cities – Advancing Care, Climate Justice & Inclusive Planning with contribution by Zaida Muxi, HIC Board Representative for Women’s and Feminist Movements.

Celebrations

HIC joined Members in celebrating decades of achievements:

• 10 years of the Global Platform for the Right to the City, initiated within HIC;
  • 40 years of World Habitat Awards
  • 70 years of Development Planning Unit (DPU).

WUF 12 Outcomes

The WUF processes saw HIC Members contributing to:

• A public discussion on Multiscale & Multi-actor partnerships to advance the right to the city & the New Urban Agenda;
• Assessment of States’ progress in supporting social production of habitat and realizing the social function of land and the city, returning to accountability, core principles, binding obligations and voluntary commitments; 
• HIC’s statement on monitoring and evaluation of the New Urban Agenda, leading up to the 10^th anniversary in 2026;
• The Cairo Call to Action is the non-binding outcome document of WUF 12 and outlines key issues for consideration.

HIC will continue monitoring and advancing these collective HIC priority issues and demands as part of these various processes.