Is housing a human right?

U.N. holding Habitat II conference

June 2, 1996
Web posted at: 7:55 p.m. EDT (2355 GMT)

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- Is shelter a human right and, if so, who should pay for housing the poor? Those questions are likely to be debated in the coming days as the United Nations opens Habitat II, a conference drawing 15,000 delegates from around the globe. Human rights activists also hope the gathering in Istanbul will draw worldwide attention to alleged abuses by the Turkish government against rebel Kurds.

"Our objective is to achieve adequate shelter for all ... that is environmentally sound ... for the more than 1 billion people without decent living conditions," the conference said in its draft document to be debated and modified throughout the two-week conference, starting with an inaugural ceremony Sunday night.

Demographics show that today almost half of the world's population lives in urban centers. In another generation, that is expected to increase to almost two-thirds. Western and developing countries which consider housing a need, but not a right, are expected to be wary of a final document recommending individuals sue a government for not providing housing.

Kurd controversy

Both housing and human rights are sensitive subjects in Turkey. Istanbul, host city for the conference, is beset by transportation and housing problems due, in part, to a flood of migrants from the Turkish countryside.

And human rights groups, charging that nearly 3,000 villages have been forcibly emptied or burned by Turkish troops battling separatist Kurdish rebels in southeast Turkey, have protested the summit by organizing an "Alternative Habitat."

Nevertheless, Habitat II is not expected to produce the heated debates on religion, birth control and abortion that marked a 1994 U.N. conference in Cairo on population or last year's U.N. gathering in China on women's issues.

While Habitat II's final document will be non-binding, such international gatherings are useful for highlighting universal problems that will shape the U.N.'s "social agenda" for the next century, says conference spokesman Ayman Amir.

Correspondent Gayle Young and Reuters contributed to this report.

Related Stories

• Turkish forces kill 19 Kurdish rebels - April 20, 1996
• Rebel Kurd chief tells forces to lie low - April 12, 1996
• Kurds seek home of their own - March 21, 1996

Related sites

• Habitat II
• Internet town meeting on Habitat II
• Turkey (CIA World Fact Book)

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