UNECE Forum
Supports Property Rights for the Poor
Geneva, 7 November 2003 - The
UNECE Land for Development Forum1
on financing the infrastructure for
land and property markets in transition
economies has just ended, bringing the
cooperation between the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
and many national, regional and international
bodies to a new level. The Forum was
organized by the Real Estate Advisory
Group (REAG) of the UNECE, and hosted
by Tecnoborsa, an NGO of the Rome Chamber
of Commerce, and was held at the Tempio
di Adriano in Rome on 30-31 October
2003. More than 150 experts from over
30 UNECE member States, from UN-Habitat,
World Bank, FAO, EBRD, Stability Pact,
DFID of the UK Government, the private
sector, as well as the UNECE Working
Party on Land Administration (WPLA)
attended the meeting. They held a forthright
discussion on issues of implementation,
on practical projects for bringing property
rights to economic development and to
the alleviation of poverty which is
of great concern to all member States
of the UNECE region. A two-day elaboration
resulted in important findings and concrete
recommendations on further work and
joint activities.
Addressing the Forum
in a satellite link up from Lima, Peru,
Hernando de Soto, international expert
on the role of property rights in poverty
alleviation, declared that there was
strong evidence that countries which
give priority to secure property rights,
that are registered, traded and protected,
have strongly advanced in GDP while
those that have not, have fallen behind.
He said that too many countries are
not making enough use of their assets
and that a special effort is needed
to sensitize policy makers around the
world on the role of property rights
in enhancing the position of the poor.
"Property rights", he said,"secure the
credit for the poor."
Mr. Rocco Buttiglione,
Minister for European Union Affairs
of the Italian Government supported
the vision of Hernando de Soto, arguing
that Italy's economy has grown not as
a result of markets without rules, but
within a framework of good regulation
and respect for rights of all citizens.
He declared that this vision of secure
rights open to all was the basis of
economic development and was also the
basis of the cooperation that underlies
EU integration.
Key lessons
in establishing secure property rights
regimes
Speakers from the EBRD,
the private and public sectors and from
individual governments reviewed the
weaknesses in property rights systems,
namely, the low level of mortgage banking
and finance, non-existent systems of
credit rating, legal impediments to
property rights, lack of professions
that can facilitate trading as well
as those specific issues which are holding
back the access of property rights to
the poor, e.g. effective land dispute
resolution systems (a problem being
addressed by the TPAC Programme of DFID),
the high cost of services, uncertain
ownership, restitution, power of new
elites and judicial systems that give
inadequate protection especially to
the poor and vulnerable groups. New
property rights are not sufficient by
themselves, there has to be an enabling
environment for them to be used for
wealth creation. Old State-owned condominiums,
for example, have been privatized in
many countries, but the new ownership
rights have not been accompanied with
new investments nor have been used by
the owners for self-advancement.
Many speakers thus
agreed for the need to improve and strengthen
property rights for economic development
by improving the capacity of government,
the judiciary, legal institutions and
professionals' services as well as transparent
and harmonized standards in property
valuation and banking procedures. Speakers
from the Stability Pact in addition
warned that sustainable housing and
associated rights were critical for
re-establishing security in the post-conflict
countries of South-East Europe and the
recurrence of discrimination between
and among ethnic groups over scarce
housing must be avoided at all costs.
Finally, there was strong consensus
that policy makers should give a higher
priority to integrating land and property
policy including its technical focus
on land registration and cadastres with
its role in economic development and
finance in order to increase its positive
impact on social and economic development.
Next steps
After the UN-HABITAT,
FAO and others had made a review of
the various activities in this field,
participants declared a 'shared vision'
for the next steps in the land for development
programme at two interrelated levels:
(i) To establish
a High-level Panel under the chairmanship
of Hernando de Soto to prepare a 'Toolkit
on Property Rights for the Poor'.
Such a tool kit would be the first
comprehensive inventory of tools that
would show how property rights could
promote prosperity and wealth creation;
(ii) To build the network of contacts
amongst public and private sectors
of REAG within and across countries
to implement the land for development
goals and to provide country-based
evidence to the High-level Panel.
This network would also assist in
encouraging governments in reform
and in the implementation of secure
property rights for all.
The proposal to create
the Panel will be discussed at the fifty-first
session of the Working Party on International
Legal and Commercial Practice (17-19
November) in Geneva. For further information
please contact:
Mr. Geoffrey Hamilton
Secretary to the Working Party on
International Legal and Commercial
Practices (WP.5)
UNECE Industrial Restructuring,
Energy and Enterprise Development
Division
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41(0)22 917 28 38
Fax: +41(0)22 917 01 78
E-mail: [email protected] |
Mr. Gianluca Sambucini
Economic Affairs Officer
UNECE Industrial Restructuring,
Energy and Enterprise Development
Division
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Phone: +41(0)22 917 11 75
Fax: +41(0)22 917 01 78
E-mail: [email protected] |
or:
Mr. Robert Hall
Chairman of UNECE-REAG
57 North Hill
London N6 4BS
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0) 20 8340 4566
Fax: +41 (0) 22 917 0178
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org/ie/Wp5/reag/reag.html