UN urban, a first-ever international body focused on urban sustainability was proposed in August as a new approach to refor the existing UN body UN-Habitat. UN Urban was also meant to serve as a oordinating mechanism that would facilitate urban-related topics across the UN system. Finding consensus in UN meeting is usually difficult to achieve however, the proposal of UN Urban was met with criticism.
UN members, of both rich and developing countries were sceptical of the proposal, especially of the funding, the structure and of the value added through this new UN body. Many of its approaches seem redundant and wrongheaded, as the US ambassador indicates. The most striking opposition came from members of the bloc of African countries: Djibouti ambassador Mohamed Siad Doualeh said that the case introduced for creating UN Urban “is not only weak and unconvincing, but it is also not a viable institutional response to strengthening UN-Habitat”, summarizing the dismissal of other member states as well.
The secretary general said to revise the recommendations made and will be developing a concrete strategy to ensure that UN-Habitat is fit for purpose and that the reform of the development system, the peacekeeping system and the management of the United Nations incorporates a new approach to urban areas,” Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said.
Citiscope
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