High-level Commission on the Legal
Empowerment of the Poor
06.03.03
Norway, with the support of the other Nordic
countries, has taken the initiative to establish an international commission to
strengthen the user and property rights of the poor. The commission, which has
a work schedule of approximately two and a half years, held its first working
meeting on 20-21 January 2006. The UN Secretary-General has welcomed the
initiative as an important contribution to meeting the UN Millennium
Development Goals.
Background
information
Billions of
people, especially in developing countries, have no formal rights and are thus without
legal protection. This is particularly serious in relation to the ownership of
property and businesses, where formal ownership often forms a platform for further
economic development. Formalisation is important; it will allow people in the
informal sector in developing countries to gain rights that we take for granted
and it will protect them against oppression and arbitrary treatment.
Formalisation efforts have been underway for many years, but there has not been
a holistic approach until now. If formalisation is to be a viable instrument,
these efforts must be systematised and the lessons learned must be analysed to
ensure that the next round of formalisation processes is more time- and cost-effective
for the countries involved. When properly carried out, a formalisation process
can be an important tool in the fight against poverty.
The
composition and organisation of the commission
Today the
commission is made up of 28 members, who include Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi,
the former High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, the founder and
chair of BRAC Dr Fazle Hasan Abed, former President of Tanzania Benjamín Mkapa,
and former Minister of International Development of Norway Hilde F. Johnson.
The commission is chaired jointly by former Secretary of State of the US
Madeleine Albright and the Peruvian economist Hernando de Soto. An important criterion for the
selection of members is that they have participated in major reform processes
and are in a position to draw political attention to the issue. Norway has emphasised
the importance of including representatives from the informal sector in the
commission, the board of advisers and the working groups.
The work
will be carried out by the commission itself, with its 28 members, and the
commission’s secretariat hosted by UNDP, which consists of between six and
eight persons. There is also a board of advisers, which is made up of
representatives from multilateral organisations such as UN-HABITAT, the
Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank. Representatives of the
private sector, civil society and organisations representing people in the
informal sector also sit on the board of advisers. Most of the technical work
will be carried out in the commission’s working groups. Each working group will
be composed of technical experts in addition to one or two commissioners, and
will be linked to relevant multilateral organisations. Each group will have a
clearly defined focus area, for example the effects of formalisation processes
on vulnerable groups such as indigenous peoples and women, and user rights
versus property rights. Other important areas will be the effect of
formalisation on the labour market and the access of the poor to credit.
Main
tasks and considerations
Right from
the start, Norway
has emphasised that the commission should not focus solely on private property
rights, but also take into consideration collective user and property rights.
It is especially important that the commission and its working groups focus on
the rights of vulnerable groups, particularly the rights of indigenous people
and women. Emphasis will be placed on drawing up reform programmes that can be
adapted to local conditions both at national and regional level. But success
will depend on the efforts having extensive support at the global level,
particularly among organisations in the South that represent people in the
informal sector.
One
of the commission’s tasks is to draw up an overview of and systematise the lessons
learned and tools from previous and current formalisation processes. UNECE,
which has been involved in formalisation processes in the former Soviet Union for 20 years, is an important player in
these efforts. Another important task is to find ways of mobilising resources
in the developing countries themselves that can promote more equitable
development and distribution and prevent illegitimate and unfair economic
structures from becoming entrenched. The commission will play an important part
in bringing the economic legal rights of the poor to the top of the
international development agenda.
Establishment
and support
Norway took the lead in establishing the
commission, with the support of the other Nordic countries, and the UK, Canada,
Egypt, Tanzania and Guatemala, amongst others. UNECE
and UNDP have also played an important part, both in developing the framework for
the commission’s activities and in the role as interim secretariats. Other UN
organisations have also been actively involved, and the UN Secretary-General has
welcomed the initiative as an important contribution to reaching the UN
Millennium Goal of halving poverty by 2015.
The
commission was established on the basis of consultations with relevant partner
countries and multilateral organisations. There have also been extensive rounds
of consultations with civil society at national and international level. The
members of the commission were selected by the steering group, which was
chaired by Norway.
Norway
has undertaken to bear 30 per cent of the costs of the commission’s work for
the duration of its work schedule. A significant part of these funds are to be
used to support the participation of representatives of the South in the
commission’s activities.
Civil
society
Civil
society has been an important player throughout the establishment process. From
the very beginning, Norway
has taken the view that civil society must be represented at all levels: in the
commission, on the board of advisers and in the working groups. Just as
important as giving civil society a formal place in the commission is ensuring
that constructive input from civil society is listened to and reflected in both
processes and results.
Version
in Norwegian
