UN-HABITAT BEGINS SURVEY OF WAR DAMAGED HOUSING STOCK IN IRAQ
(Reissued as received.)
NAIROBI, 6 May (UN-HABITAT) – United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) has opened a new office in Basra in order to begin the urgent task of certifying the state of war damaged housing stock.� This survey is being undertaken as part of UN-Habitat's Emergency Relief Response and will also be conducted in Baghdad, Mosul and other urban areas.� The team in Basra consists, at present, of one international expert and 54 national engineers, architects, and database managers.
UN-Habitat has also examined the state of sewage disposal and solid waste management in Habania, a low-income district in Basra with a population of 300,000.� According to initial findings the situation is desperate due to years of neglect and additional war damage.� UN-Habitatwill liase with United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) for the purpose of emergency repairs once the ongoing assessment reporting is finalized.
The officers in Basra are being supported by UN-Habitat's offices in Amman, Jordan and Larnaca, Cyprus.� UN-Habitat will soon re-open its offices in Baghdad and UN-Habitat's international experts are now returning to the three northern Iraqi governorates of Erbil, Dahuk and Suleimaniyah, where UN-Habitathas been working on Settlements Rehabilitation Programme for internally displaced persons and most vulnerable groups, under the "oil-for-food" programme, since 1997.
UN-Habitat has been at the forefront of post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction in many post war situations across the globe.� It has considerable experience in re-establishing institutions of local government in northern Somalia, Kosovo and Afghanistan.� In northern Somalia, UN-Habitat helped with the reconstruction and rehabilitation of Hargeisa.� This included the training and capacity building of staff in the Mayor's office.� In Kosovo, UN-Habitathelped United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) establish the Housing and Property Directorate to process property claims.� At the same time, in order to facilitate the legal resolution of property disputes, UN-Habitat continues to be involved in re-establishing local authorities. �This includes training staff to survey and computerize all land records and title deeds that were destroyed during the civil conflict.� In Afghanistan, UN-Habitathas involved local communities in post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation.� Even under the difficult years of Taliban rule, women were involved in UN-Habitat's community development programme.
Many of these projects and UN-Habitat's work in post-conflict reconstruction and disaster management will be discussed at parallel events during the nineteenth session of the Governing Council which is currently meeting at UN-Habitat's headquarters in Nairobi.
Background:
In 1997, the Secretary General called upon UN-Habitatto implement the settlement rehabilitation component of the oil-for-food programme.� As of
31 December 2002, the Settlements Rehabilitation Programme had served
191,000 beneficiaries directly, and has delivered:� 19,051 houses, 685 schools, 127 health centres; 99 agriculture and veterinary centres, 48 other social and civic buildings, 2,800 kilometres of roads and bridges, and 853 kilometres of sewage and water systems.� The Programme has further created 150,000 much-needed jobs in the private sector by engaging and training local contractors.
For further information, please contact:� Sharad Shankardass, Spokesperson, or Zahra Hassan, Press & Media Liaison, Press & Media Relations Unit; tel.:
(254 2) 623153/623151; fax: (254 2) 624060; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: www.unhabitat.org.
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