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Policy responses to tenure insecurity153Box 6.22 The Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE)The Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE) was establishedin 2004 following a resolution of UN-Habitat’s Governing Council.The AGFE reports directly to the executive director of UN-Habitat, and provides advice on alternatives to forced evictions. Inits first two biannual reports, the AGFE has documented morethan two dozen cases of imminent or ongoing unlawful evictions inseveral countries and has successfully engaged in conciliatory activitiesto propose alternatives.During the first four fact-finding and conciliatory missionsundertaken by the AGFE, it was instrumental in developing alternativesto unlawful evictions:• In Rome, the authorities set a moratorium on forcedevictions.• In the Dominican Republic, a commission was established todiscuss the enactment of an eviction law.• In Curitiba, the AGFE was requested by the municipality toassess housing rights violations, advise stakeholders onpractices in line with international human rights laws andstandards, and develop an action plan to prevent furtherevictions. The AGFE organized a public hearing on unlawfulevictions that put pressure on stakeholders to find alternativesolutions. As a consequence, the local authorities began toresettle families and provide them with alternative sites andbuilding materials.• In Ghana, the AGFE supported the government’s plan torelocate the Old Fadima slum community, which had beenthreatened with forced eviction for a long time, and to buildlow-cost housing for them based on the beneficiaries’consent. The AGFE helped pave the way for the recentlylaunched intervention of UN-Habitat’s Slum Upgrading Facilitythat will enable 1000 poor families to get better housing.Source: UN-Habitat, 2005d, 2007towards achieving security of tenure for all have to be seenin a positive light.Closely linked to the Global Campaign for SecureTenure, the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions (AGFE) wasestablished in 2004. The objective of the AGFE is to monitorforced evictions and to identify and promote alternatives,such as in-situ upgrading and other alternative options.Evictions and relocations, if unavoidable, must be undertakenin a manner that conforms to international humanrights standards and the United Nations guidelines on development-baseddisplacement 51 (i.e. such relocation shouldonly be undertaken following negotiated settlements withthe individuals and communities concerned, and shouldinclude provision of alternative land with long-term securityof tenure). The AGFE is comprised of individuals from civilsociety organizations, local authorities, central governmentand professionals in developing and developed countries. Itis supported by a network of representatives from organizationsin the fields of human settlement, law, tenure policyand human rights (see Box 6.22).Approaching the security of tenure question from aslightly different perspective, the Commission on LegalEmpowerment of the Poor was established in 2005 andseeks to promote the extension of formal legal rights andprotections to marginalized groups (see Box 6.23). Its statedaim is to ‘explore how nations can reduce poverty throughreforms that expand access to legal protection and economicopportunities for all’. 52 The commission organizes nationaland regional consultations all over the world to learn fromthe experiences of those who live and work in slums andsettlements, and is thus partnering with grassroots organizations,governments and institutions. One major goal that hasemerged through these discussions is how to transform thelegal system from an obstacle to an opportunity for poor andotherwise disempowered communities.The Cities Alliance is another institution that continuesto promote improved security of tenure conditionsacross the world. A global coalition of cities and their developmentpartners committed to scaling up successfulapproaches to poverty reduction, the alliance brings citiesThe Commission onLegal Empowermentof the Poor … seeksto promote theextension of formallegal rights andprotections tomarginalized groupsBox 6.23 The Commission on Legal Empowerment of the PoorThe Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor is the firstglobal initiative to focus specifically on the link between exclusion,poverty and law. The commission was launched in September 2005by a group of developing and industrialized countries, includingCanada, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Norway,Sweden, South Africa, Tanzania and the UK, and has a mandate tocomplete its work in 2008.The commission focuses on four thematic issues: access tojustice and the rule of law; property; labour rights; and entrepreneurship.Its working methods include:• compiling an inventory of lessons learned from those governmentsthat have sought to extend legal protection to theinformal sector;• generating political support for broad reforms that will ensurelegal inclusion and empowerment;• exploring reforms that will underpin the broadening of accessto property rights;• examining which structures can best promote economicgrowth;• identifying ways to support other development approaches;and• producing a comprehensive set of practical and adaptabletools that will guide reforms at the country level.Source: Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, 2006a, 2006b; www.undp.org/legalempowerment