Terms of Reference
COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND LAND MANAGEMENT
- Under the general supervision and relevant decisions of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, the Committee provides policy advice and expert assistance. It develops recommendations, methodologies and guidelines for sustainable housing development, land administration and spatial planning. The Committee acts in full conformity with the principles, commitments and global plan of action of the Habitat Agenda, adopted at the second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in 1996, and the Declaration on Cities and other Human Settlements in the New Millennium, adopted by the General Assembly in June 2001.
- As was decided by the Ministerial Meetings in 2000 and 2006, The Committee, guided by the Ministerial Declaration, is implementing the ECE Strategy for a Sustainable Quality of Life in Human Settlements in the 21st Century (ECE/HBP/120), the Committee endeavours to:
- Promote efficient and democratic governance that responds to the needs of local communities, by helping UNECE member countries to prepare, improve and implement housing, land administration and spatial planning policies;
- Promote better urban environmental performance;
- Strengthen social cohesion and security in cities through focused programmes and actions in urban areas;
- Encourage consistent legal, economic and institutional reforms to promote housing and land-use development;
- Improve land administration and land management, in particular through its Working Party on Land Administration;
- Improve policy performance by emphasizing the close links between the different sectors related to housing;
- Raise awareness of gender-related and demographic challenges in housing and urban development.
- Bearing in mind the pertinent decisions of the Economic Commission for Europe, the Committee ensures that close cooperation is maintained on matters of mutual interest with other UNECE sectoral committees and with international institutions and organizations in the UNECE region, in particular with the European Community, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Council of Europe, as well as with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other United Nations bodies.
- In the implementation of its programme of work, the Committee cooperates with the private sector, with non-governmental organizations and with local authorities, supported in particular by its Housing and Urban Management Advisory Network.
