731. Can U.N. Conferences Promote Poverty Reduction? A Review of the Istanbul Declaration
- Author:
- David Satterthwaite
- Publication Date:
- 07-1998
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Wilson Center
- Abstract:
- In considering how the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements and the Habitat Agenda, the two key documents agreed upon at the Habitat II Conference, deal with poverty (and with other important issues, such as sustainable development1), it is easy to point to a lack of precision in some of the language used, the repetition, and the tendency toward long lists of "problems" with little consideration of their linkages (and often their underlying causes). But this might also be an inevitable result of any document that had to be endorsed by representatives of so many different governments. Where the wording on some controversial issue appears unclear or imprecise, this may be because any greater clarity or precision prevented agreement by some representative of a government or some group of countries, such as the Group of 77 or the European Union.
- Topic:
- Security, Industrial Policy, Poverty, and United Nations