UN-Habitat Highlights Need For Indigenous Peoples' Role In Housing Decisions

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 22. The fundamental right to adequate housing for indigenous populations cannot be evaluated in isolation from their distinct ancestral lands, unique cultural heritages, and traditional knowledge bases, Omar Siddique, Head of the UN-Habitat Office in Canada, said, Trend reports.

The official made the remark during a high-level roundtable discussion on "Indigenous Peoples," held within the framework of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku.

According to him, systemic violations of indigenous housing rights represent far more than individual human rights structural breaches, operating simultaneously as a severe blow to collective communal rights, time-honored traditions, distinct lifestyles, and grassroots community values.

"The core bottlenecks that indigenous peoples face regarding access to adequate housing are deeply rooted in historical injustices, colonial legacies, and the systematic dispossession of their sovereign lands and territories," Siddique emphasized.

The UN-Habitat representative noted that the socio-economic fallout of these systemic deficiencies remains visible across multiple geographic regions worldwide.

"Alarmingly high rates of homelessness among indigenous populations, forced evictions, unlawful land grabs, and poorly managed resettlement cycles serve as the most glaring indicators of this crisis. Displacements triggered by climate anomalies, localized conflicts, industrial development initiatives, or the outright refusal to legally recognize indigenous land tenure separate these communities from the environments that sustain their cultural identity," he stated.

According to Siddique, mitigating these deep-rooted challenges demands a comprehensive, rights-based approach that positions indigenous populations directly at the center of the institutional decision-making pipeline.

"In strict alignment with the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adequate housing frameworks must undergo co-design and preparation with the direct, active participation of indigenous communities. Structural housing solutions must map precisely to the unique spatial needs, cultural expectations, and daily lived experiences of these populations," he pointed out.

He added that securing universal housing rights requires an unyielding, inclusive planning paradigm engineered to guarantee that no individual and no territory undergoes institutional neglect.

Siddique concurrently noted that the active attendance of numerous indigenous leaders spanning Latin America, Africa, and Asia at the Baku roundtable establishes a critical global platform to cross-examine data, draft policy recommendations, and share localized best practices.

The UN-Habitat official announced that the strategic outcomes of these roundtable debates will directly enrich the drafting of the Baku Call to Action at WUF13, alongside shaping the mid-term review processes of the New Urban Agenda.

"The preservation of indigenous housing rights stands as a core pillars of UN-Habitat's global operations. This priority will maintain sharp institutional focus, anchoring our workflows from the Baku Call to Action through to the comprehensive review of the New Urban Agenda and all subsequent international urban initiatives," Siddique concluded.

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