V.Resolutions adopted on the reports of the Second Committee 99
I International Co-Operation in the Field of Human Settlements
II Commission on Human Settlements
1
Decides that the Economic and Social Council should transform the Committee on Housing, Building and Planning into a Commission on Human Settlements, which will have fifty-eight members to be elected for three-year terms on the following basis:
a
Sixteen seats for African States;
b
Thirteen seats for Asian States;
c
Six seats for Eastern European States;
d
Ten seats for Latin American States;
e
Thirteen seats for Western European and other States;
2
Decides that the Commission on Human Settlements will discharge, inter alia, the responsibilities at present exercised by the Committee on Housing, Building and Planning;
3
Decides that the Commission on Human Settlements will have the following main objectives:
a
To assist countries and regions in increasing and improving their own efforts to solve human settlements problems;
b
To promote greater international co-operation in order to increase the availability of resources of developing countries and regions;
c
To promote the integral concept of human settlements and a comprehensive approach to human settlements problems in all countries;
d
To strengthen co-operation and co-participation in this domain among all countries and regions;
4
Decides that the Commission on Human Settlements will have the following main functions and responsibilities:
5
Decides that the first session of the Commission on Human Settlements shall be held in the first half of 1978;
6
Decides that the reports of the Commission on Human Settlements will be submitted to the General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council;
III United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)
1
Decides that a small and effective secretariat shall be established in the United Nations to service the Commission on Human Settlements and to serve as a focal point for human settlements action and the co-ordination of activities within the United Nations system, to be named “United Nations Centre for Human Settlements (Habitat)”, hereinafter referred to as “the Centre”;
2
Decides that the Centre shall be headed by an Executive Director, at a level to be determined later, who shall report to the Secretary-General until such time as any relevant recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on the Restructuring of the Economic and Social Sectors of the United Nations System can be taken into account;
3
Decides that the Executive Director shall be responsible for the management of the Centre, which shall comprise the posts and budgetary resources of the following:
a
The Centre for Housing, Building and Planning of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the Secretariat;
b
The appropriate section of the Division of Economic and Social Programmes of the United Nations Environment Programme directly concerned with human settlements, with the exception of the posts required by that Programme to exercise its responsibilities for the environmental aspects and consequences of human settlements planning;
c
The United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation;
d
As appropriate, selected posts and associated resources from relevant parts of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs;
4
Decides that the United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation shall be administered by the Executive Director referred to in paragraph 2 of the present section and shall have the terms of reference set out in the annex to General Assembly resolution 3327 (XXIX), with appropriate amendments to reflect the new relationship to the Commission on Human Settlements and its secretariat;
5
Decides that the Centre, under the leadership of its Executive Director, shall be entrusted, inter alia, with the following responsibilities:
a
To ensure the harmonization at the intersecretariat level of human settlements programmes planned and carried out by the United Nations system;
b
To assist the Commission on Human Settlements in co-ordinating human settlements activities in the United Nations system, to keep them under review and to assess their effectiveness;
c
To execute human settlements projects;
d
To provide the focal point for a global exchange of information about human settlements;
e
To provide substantive support to the Commission on Human Settlements;
f
To deal with interregional human settlements matters;
g
To supplement the resources of the regions in formulating and implementing human settlements projects when so required;
h
To promote collaboration with, and involvement of, the world scientific community concerned with human settlements;
i
To establish and maintain a global directory of consultants and advisers to supplement the skills available within the United Nations system and to assist in the recruitment of experts at the global level, including those available in developing countries;
j
To initiate public information activities on human settlements in co-operation with the Office of Public Information of the Secretariat;
k
To promote the further and continued use of audio-visual material relating to human settlements;
l
To carry out the mandate and responsibilities previously assigned by the appropriate legislative bodies to the secretariat units to be absorbed in the central staff;
m
To implement programmes until they are transferred to the regional organizations;
6
Decides that the Director of the United Nations Audio-Visual Information Centre on Human Settlements shall report to the Executive Director;
V.Resolutions adopted on the reports of the Second Committee
7
Decides that there should be close links between the Centre and the United Nations Environment Programme, and that for this reason the location of the Centre should be at Nairobi;
8
Decides that during the period 1978-1980 a significant portion of all posts in the Centre will be assigned to the regions for work on regional human settlements questions;
IV Organization at the Regional Level
1
Recommends that the regional commissions should consider the establishment of regional intergovernmental committees on human settlements, comprising all members, in cases where such committees do not already exist;
2
Recommends that such regional committees should be established as soon as possible and should then co-ordinate their activities with those of the Commission on Human Settlements and report to it through the appropriate regional commissions;
3
Recommends that the responsibility for implementing regional and subregional programmes should be gradually transferred to regional organizations;
4
Recommends that each regional committee should be served by a unit of the secretariat of the parent regional commission under an executive officer, that these units should preferably be established as soon as possible and that they should be provided with the necessary resources for their operations;
5
Decides that the regional committees shall be responsible for the formulation of regional and subregional policies and programmes and for their implementation;
6
Recommends that the budgetary and personnel resources available to each regional secretariat unit should consist of those available from the regular budgetary resources and those redeployed from the aggregate posts available to the central secretariat, voluntary contributions, including those made to the United Nations Habitat and Human Settlements Foundation, as well as selected resources currently available to each region;
7
Recommends that the principal functions of the regional secretariat units should be:
a
To serve the regional committees referred to in paragraph 1 of the present section;
b
To review progress in the implementation of programmes with the regions;
c
To promote the active collaboration of governmental representatives in activities related to human settlements;
d
To assist Governments of countries in the region in the formulation of their requests for assistance from the appropriate bilateral and multilateral bodies;
e
To establish close links with the appropriate financial institutions at the regional and global levels and with regional units of the specialized agencies;
f
To formulate, implement and supervise regional and subregional programmes and projects, especially regional training programmes;
g
To execute regional human settlements projects;
8
Recommends that the regional secretariat units, with the approval of the regional committees, should identify those national and regional institutions which are best able to provide services, training and assistance in research relating to human settlements;
V Terms of Reference
1
Decides that human settlements activities and programmes at both the global and regional levels shall deal in particular with the following subject areas:
a
Settlement policies and strategies;
b
Settlement planning;
c
Institutions and management;
d
Shelter, infrastructure and services;
e
Land;
f
Public participation;
2
Decides that the formulation of global programme priorities within these broad subject areas shall be undertaken by the Commission on Human Settlements and that of regional programme priorities by the regional committees, on the basis of the needs and problems of the region and of the countries within the region;
3
Recommends that the following functions should be considered on a priority basis, in relation to the subject areas mentioned in paragraph 1 of the present section:
a
Identification of the problems and possible solutions;
b
Formulation and implementation of policies;
c
Education and training;
d
Identification, development and use of appropriate technology, as well as limitation of hazardous technology;
e
Exchange of information, including audiovisual information;
f
Implementation machinery;
g
Assistance in the mobilization of resources at the national and international levels;
h
Promotion of the establishment of an international information pool on building materials, plants and equipment;
VI Concerted Action and Co-Ordination
1
Urges, in particular, that the Executive Director of the Centre and the bureau of the Commission on Human Settlements should meet biannually with the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and the bureau of its Governing Council to review together their respective priorities and programmes for improving human settlements and to strengthen and extend co-operation between the two organizations;
2
Urges also that the Executive Director of the Centre and the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme should participate in and address the annual meetings of their governing bodies;
3
Decides that there must be a sustained and determined effort, on the part of all organizations most closely connected with human settlements, at both the regional and global levels, to concert their planned programmes and projects;
4
Decides further that the existing mechanisms of the Administrative Committee on Co-ordination must be strengthened to ensure that co-ordination in the field of human settlements is effective throughout the whole United Nations system;
VII Working Relations With Financial Institutions
1
Recommends that the Centre and the secretariats of the regional commissions should establish working relations, as regards the question of human settlements, with the principal financial institutions at the regional and global levels;
2
Recommends that special co-operation should exist at the global, regional and national levels between the United Nations Development Programme and the Centre;
VIII Co-Operation With Organizations Outside the United Nations System
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