BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 21. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is working with Azerbaijan on linking housing with livelihoods, Deputy Director-General of the IOM Ugochi Daniels said in an exclusive interview with Trend on the sidelines of the 13th session of the World Urban Forum (WUF13) in Baku.
“We help cities and governments with long-term solutions to displacement. Our work supports dealing with the immediate issue of the displacement, but how do you go from being displaced to having a long-term solution. What does that look like? We know that it has to do with housing and with livelihoods. These two things are particularly important for IDPs, for migrants, to have long-term solutions, so that the cities as well as the migrants and IDPs themselves, can deal with the impacts of climate.
Here in Azerbaijan, we're doing a lot of work in cooperation with the government around housing and the services needed for housing and linking housing with livelihoods and planning for the impact of climate. We have a big project that IOM and UN Habitat are doing here with the government on adaptation. Azerbaijan is a country that is dealing with the impacts of climate and needs to be able to adapt. In partnership with UN Habitat, we're supporting the government with that,” she said.
Daniels recalled that the recent report from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC) showed that last year, there were a total of over 82 million people globally who were displaced due to conflict or climate.
“We know that many of them are displaced to cities. It means that displacement is fundamentally becoming an urban issue. The link between migration and urban development is very important for us as IOM. We work with governments, our partners, distributing agencies, local authorities, so that when they're planning cities, they also include migration in their urban planning. It's very important to not think of migration separate from urbanization. If cities plan for this, they can get the benefits of having migrants in their communities, because migrants bring innovation, creativity, they set up the businesses, they can contribute if they're a part of the process.
For IOM, and given the global environment, being at WUF13 was very important, not only in terms of delivering the message, but also in terms of sharing examples about how different cities in different countries are doing this,” she added.
In the mean time, today marks the fifth day of WUF13 in Baku.
The first day included a ministerial meeting dedicated to the New Urban Agenda, a ministerial roundtable, assemblies for women and civil society, business sessions, and discussions on urban prosperity. An official ceremony marking the raising of the UN and Azerbaijani flags also took place.
The second day stood out for the inaugural Leaders' Summit, featuring high-level discussions on the global housing crisis, urbanization policy, and urban resilience. Concurrently, the opening of the Mexico City pavilion took place, serving as a significant platform for expanding cooperation with the Latin American region and preparing for WUF14.
The third day of WUF13 featured a comprehensive program of events covering the global housing crisis, the formation of safe and inclusive cities, climate resilience, artificial intelligence and urban governance, green urbanization, social equity, and sustainable transport.
One of the highlights of the third day was the signing of a sister-city memorandum between the Azerbaijani city of Shusha and the Turkish city of Trabzon.
The fourth day of WUF13 featured a broad program of events dedicated to urbanization, climate change, inclusive urban development, housing policy, and sustainable governance.
One of the important events of the UN Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia (SPECA) Cities Forum, held on the fourth day, was the announcement of Almaty’s official accession to the “Declaration of Intent on the Establishment of the SPECA Smart Climate-Resilient Cities Forum.”
Also, for the first time in WUF history and at Azerbaijan’s initiative, the “WUF13 NGO Forum: Global Partnership and Decision-Making” was held.
WUF13, which has attracted more than 40,000 registered participants from 182 countries, will continue until May 22. Held under the theme “Housing the world: Safe and resilient cities and communities,” the forum brings together governments, international organizations, experts, and representatives of civil society to strengthen global cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development.
