Indonesia, the world`s fourth most populous country..."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - United Nations Special Rapporteur Raquel Rolnik ended her visit to Indonesia with some recommendations after collecting first-hand information on the progressive realization of the right to adequate housing in this country.
"Indonesia, the world`s fourth most populous country, faces a unique combination of challenges in promoting and protecting the right to adequate housing, such as rapid urbanization, a high proportion of households living in informal settlements and acute vulnerability to climate change," she said to ANTARA News here on Tuesday.
Rolnik recommended that the government of Indonesia adopted a national housing development strategy to be designed with effective public participation and based on updated, crosscutting and disaggredated data on housing situation and needs.
In her view, one of the main tasks of the strategy will be to further clarify and facilitate the responsibility of and coordination between the various government ministries, provincial and local governments and other stakeholders involved in the housing and land sectors while finalizing the implementation of the decentralization process, and providing local governments with necessary resources to carry out their responsibility.
In addition, the strong Indonesian legacy of community organization and participation should ensure meaningful and on-going participation of the public in the design, implementation and monitoring of housing and land politicies and programs, both at the national and local level including budget allocation and spatial planning.
According to her, Indonesia should bring its national and municipal legislation and regulations regarding evictions and land acquisition in line with international human rights law and standard.
However she stressed that Indonesian government had actually been committed to promoting access to adequate housing and also hoped that her visit and subsequent report would be able to assist the government in directing these efforts toward the poor and other vulnerable segments of the society.
This special rapporteur saw that the visit as a great opportunity to assess the various policies and programs the Indonesian government has been developing to address these compound challenges.
Rolnik said that she devoted specific attention to Government`s efforts to promote access to affordable housing for low income households, and to programs to increase tenure security.
The independent human rights expert, who went to Indonesia at the invitation of the Indonesian government, has visited communities in Jakarta as well as in other provinces during her two-week mission.
She also held meetings with senior Government representatives, including officials from various relevant ministries working on housing issues as well as the journalists through a press conference and special interviews.
Raquel Rolnik (Brazil) was appointed as Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context by the UN Human Rights Council in May 2008. Her mandate was renewed in 2011.
(Uu.E002/B003)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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