European Habitat - Invitation to the UN Regional Conference

In March, the Congress Centre in Prague will host the international conference European Habitat, which is a regional UN conference preceding the global HABITAT III conference held (once every 20 years) in the fall of 2016 in Ecuador. After a free registration, you will gain a unique opportunity to participate and discuss with prominent experts in urbanism and housing from around the world.

The “European Habitat,” taking place from March 16 to 18, 2016, in Prague, will be an international regional conference of the UN within the framework of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), which is one of the five regional UN commissions and brings together a total of 56 member states from Europe, the Balkans, North America, and parts of Asia. It is an official part of the preparatory process for the Third UN Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development “Habitat III,” which, based on a decision by the UN General Assembly in December 2014, will take place in Ecuador in October 2016, and whose preparations within the UN structure are managed by the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). The regional UN conferences are based on the format of individual regional economic commissions of the UN – for the aforementioned 56 member states, that is precisely the UNECE (UNECE List of States).
The theme of the conference “European Habitat” will be “Housing in Liveable Cities,” which has been approved and is highly welcomed by the UN; it considers it a well-chosen focus and expects great interest in participation from around the world.
The official output of the “European Habitat” conference will be the document “Prague Declaration,” the final draft of which will be adopted in December 2015 by the plenary of the UNECE Committee on Housing and Land Management, which is the executive body of UNECE on housing and urban development issues. The Committee on Housing and Land Management discussed and approved the “Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing” in October 2014, which was adopted by the UNECE plenary in April 2015 as the official contribution of the region to the “Habitat III” conference. The “Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing” is a foundational strategic document on which the “Prague Declaration” will build. “European Habitat” will be one of the first implementation conferences of the UN reflecting the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN agenda “Post-2015.”

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