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The Third Forum on Real Estate Markets - Land for Development

Property Rights for the Poor: A Global Perspective


Note of the Secretariat:

The following document presents the programme for the above-mentioned event. The Forum is organised under the auspices of the Real Estate Advisory Group (REAG), which is a subgroup of Experts under the UNECE Working Party on International Legal and Commercial Practice (WP.5) of the Committee for Trade, Industry and Enterprise Development (CTIED). The Land for Development Programme and Forum is promoted in cooperation with Tecnoborsa.

Background

  1. New approaches will be needed in order to reach the Millennium Development Goal on poverty reduction in many countries across the world. One possible new approach, which can make a contribution to poverty reduction by improving domestic resource mobilisation among the poor is the widespread provision of property rights for the poor. This approach emphasises the ' empowerment ' of the poor by extending to them the rights and protection of the law, which for various reasons, is often denied to them. The few assets held by the poor - land, dwellings, different types of small-scale economic activities -are often not securely in their possession. They have houses but not titles, crops but not deeds, businesses but not statues of incorporation. By extending property rights to the poor and giving them legal protection over their houses, land and economic activities, they can turn these assets into a legal form which can leverage capital and credit.
  2. Providing property rights and access to justice for the poor is a global concept and it faces a global challenge to implement effectively. Kofi Annan in an address to the General Assembly of the UN in 2004 described the challenge thus: "Yes, the rule of law starts at home. But in too many places it remains elusive. The vulnerable lack effective recourse and the powerful manipulate laws to retain power and accumulate wealth".
  3. Moreover, while property right are a critical missing link in the chain of development, there are other links, which need to be integrated with property rights to have the desired effect. These other links include access to financing as well as to programmes, which support the poor to make use of their property rights. All this has to take account of the different forms of property that exist such as agricultural and urban land, the differences in poverty between the poor in urban communities, rural workers and indigenous peoples, as well as the differences between the physical (land and housing) and the non-physical (economic activities, ideas etc.) forms of property.
  4. To address the challenge of designing and implementing an action-oriented programme to give meaningful property rights to the poor, the UNECE, with the support of governments, NGOs and the private sector, has proposed setting up a High Level Commission to prepare a toolkit for policy makers. This toolkit will help practitioners to implement a strategy of legal empowerment of the poor that would contribute directly and indirectly to poverty alleviation. Mindful of the great differences that exist in addressing the issue around the world, the UNECE has proposed that the "Third UNECE/ REAG Land for Development Programme Forum" (13-14 December, 2004, Rome, Italy) will focus on the global experience of making property rights accessible to the poor.
Purpose

The objectives of the Third UNECE/REAG Land for Development Forum are:

UNECE REAG and The Land for Development Process

The Third Land for Development Forum is held under the auspices of UNECE Real Estate Advisory Group and follows two previous Forums on the subject of land and property markets and development. The goals of the UNECE Land for Development process are the following:
  • Advise governments on the requirements for the development of viable, real estate markets;
  • Build awareness amongst governments on the importance of properly functioning property markets for long term economic prosperity;
  • Help governments to create partnerships between the public and private sector to achieve development objectives in cooperation with key partners and UN agencies.
The recommendation of the Second UNECE/REAG Land for Development Forum (October 30-31, 2003) were the following:

Final Declaration - Property Rights for the Poor: A Global Perspective (176 kb)

Programme - The Third Forum on Real Estate Markets (316 kb)

IPREO Presentation of Giampiero Bambagioni, Vice President Tecnoborsa (559 kb)

Giampiero Bambagioni's address, Vice President Tecnoborsa - "Ethics, economic policies and mico-finance for property rights" (610 kb)

  

Survey about European Real Estate




   SUMMARY 2nd SUMMIT - Rome, 30 - 31 October 2003
   SUMMARY 1st SUMMIT - Roma, 19 - 20 September 2002


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