India has been elected as the UN-Habitat President for third time after a gap of 10 years. It was elected as UN-Habitat President first time in the year 1998 and second time in the year 2007.
Brief About UN-Habitat
UN-Habitat is a part of the United Nations’ Organisation (UNO) which reports to the United Nations General Assembly. It promotes environmentally and socially sustainable human settlements across the globe.
The UN-Habitat was established in back in 1978. The UN-Habitat’s Governing Council is an inter-governmental decision making and policy making body that aims to promote comprehensive and integral approach to human settlements, as well as assist the regions and countries in addressing human settlement problems and to strengthen cooperation over the human settlement issue across the world.
UN-Habitat has been working in over 70 countries in five continents with a focus on seven areas, including Urban Economy, Risk Reduction & Rehabilitation, Urban Legislation, Urban Planning & Design, Land & Governance, Urban Basic Services, Housing & Slum Upgrading, and Urban Research & Capacity Development.
Three Main Bodies of UN-Habitat:
1.Governing Council (GC)
The role of Governing Council is to set the key strategic and policy directions for the UN-Habitat. It also approves UN-Habitat’s budget and programmes. GC comprises of 58 member states, which are elected by the Economic & Social Council (ECOSOC) of the UN General Assembly. This council meets every two years.
2.UN-Habitat Secretariat
The Secretariat is execution body of the UN-Habitat that ensures the execution of the decisions of the Governing Council and to translate them into specific initiatives, programmes and strategies. It is headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, and deals with all matters related to human and urban settlement within the United Nations system.
3.Committee of Permanent Representatives (CPR):
The CPR is the supervising body of the UN-Habitat which ensures that the decisions of the Governing Council are enacted by the UN-Habitat Secretariat within the set framework. It represents the Governing Council at the Secretariat for addressing issues arising between the biennial meetings of the Governing Council. The CPR is comprises ambassadors accredited to UN-Habitat.
