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A/RES/28/3128 



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General Assembly

Distr: General
12 December 1973

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Twenty-eighth session
Agenda item 50 a

Resolution adopted by the General Assembly

3128 (XXVIII). United Nations Conference-Exposition on Human Settlements

The General Assembly,

Recalling its decision, in resolution 3001 (XXVII) of 15 December 1972, to hold a United Nations Conference-Exposition on Human Settlements,

Noting the importance and priority given to the problems of human settlements by the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held at Stockholm from 5 to 16 June 1972,/38

Noting further the full support for the Conference-Exposition expressed by the Committee on Housing, Building and Planning at its eighth session, held at Geneva in October 1973, the comments of the Committee regarding the Conference-Exposition and the offer of its expertise,/39

Having considered the recommendations of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme at its first session/40 arising from the report of the Secretary-General41 prepared in response to General Assembly resolution 3001 (XXVII) and from the report of the meeting of experts held at Vancouver, Canada, from 8 to 12 May 1973,/42 as well as the comments of the Economic and Social Council thereon,/43

Stressing the urgent need for early and co-ordinated action by members of the international community to safeguard and improve the quality of life in human settlements in view of accelerating urbanization throughout the world, which is often accompanied by rural depopulation,

Bearing in mind the importance to the over-all objectives of the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade/44 of the improvement in the quality of life in human settlements in developing countries as an integral component in the process of development.

Welcoming the co-operative participation of the United Nations Environment Programme and the Centre for Housing, Building and Planning in the detailed planning for the Conference-Exposition,

Requesting that the Secretary-General take into account, in the preparations for the Conference-Exposition, the results and recommendations of other international conferences, including the World Population Conference to be held in 1974,

1.Decides that the United Nations Conference-Exposition on Human Settlements will take place in Vancouver, Canada, from 31 May to 11 June 1976;

2.Endorses in general the recommendations put forth by the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme regarding the purposes, objectives and method of financing of the Conference-Exposition;

3.Affirms that the main purpose of the Conference-Exposition should be to serve as a practical means to exchange information about solutions to problems of human settlements against a broad background of environmental and other concerns which may lead to the formation of policies and actions by Governments and international organizations;

4.Requests the Secretary-General to assume the over-all responsibility for the Conference-Exposition, bearing in mind the views expressed during the debates of the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme at its first session;

5.Establishes a Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Conference-Exposition on Human Settlements, to advise the Secretary-General, consisting of highly qualified representatives nominated by the Governments of the following Member States: Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Burundi Canada, Central African Republic, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Czechoslovakia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Gabon, German Democratic Republic, Germany (Federal Republic of), Ghana, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Libyan Arab Republic, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Romania, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Uganda, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Upper Volta, Uruguay, Yugoslavia, Zaire and Zambia;

6.Requests the Secretary-General to set up immediately a small conference secretariat, drawing upon the resources of the United Nations system, especially those of the secretariat of the United Nations Environment Programme and the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, and to appoint at an early date a Secretary-General who will report through the Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme and work in close co-operation with the Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, the executive secretaries of the regional economic commissions and the executive heads of the specialized agencies;

7.Invites the specialized agencies, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the regional economic commissions to collaborate closely with the Secretary-General in the preparations for the Conference-Exposition and to assist, as appropriate. in the work of the Preparatory Committee, in order to he fully able to share in the results of the Conference-Exposition and in the action following therefrom;

8.Urges the intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations concerned to lend every possible assistance in the preparations for the Conference-Exposition;

9.Requests the Secretary-General and the regional economic commissions, in collaboration with the Preparatory Committee, to take the necessary steps, as part of the preparations for the Conference-Exposition, to bring to global attention the nature and relative importance of the problems of human settlements;

10.Requests the Secretary-General to submit brief progress reports, through the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme, to the General Assembly at its twenty-ninth and thirtieth sessions.

2199th plenary meeting
12 December 1973




Notes:

35/ Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Fifty-fifth Session, Supplement No. 2 (E/5256 and Corr.1).

36/ Ibid., Supplement No. 2A (E/5365/Rev.1).

37/ WFP/IGC: 23/20. Transmitted to the members of the Economic and Social Council by a note of the Secretary-General (E/5318/Add.1).

38/ See Report of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (United Nations publication. Sales No.: E.73.II.A.14).

39/ See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, Fifty-sixth Session, Supplement No.2 (E/5447).

40/ Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-eighth Session, Supplement No. 25 (A/9025), annex I, decision 4 (I).

41/ UNEP GC/6 and Add.1

42/ For the Report of the Executive Director on the meeting of experts, see UNEP/GC/L.2.

43/ See Official Records of the General Assembly, Twenty-eighth Session, Supplement No.3 (A/9003 and Corr.1), chap. XIII. See also E/AC.6/SR.666.

44/ Resolution 2626 (XXV).