Excellences, distinguish Ambassadors, delegates, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
My name is Hugues Sanon and I am the special envoy/international relations to United nations for the council for justice, Equality and peace international.
Your presence here this afternoon shows that there is a shared determination and commitment to bring more attention to human rights, and to help improve social problems in the world such as: inequality, climate change, discrimination, human trafficking, wars and problem of homelessness in a more effective way.
Thanks to the United Nations for giving us this global platform to raise and discuss these most difficult issues and maintaining international peace and security and promotes sustainable development; It’s our world and our future. So, we all must have our says.
That is why, COJEP International and FOWPAL organize this very important conference during the 58th session of the commission for social development at the United Nations in New York on this February 19, 2020.
As we all know, Asia is the largest and most populous continent in the world with 4.6billion people. Yes! we know that Asian countries have strong commitment to social inclusion.
Yes! Asia has long been a land of diverse cultures and has given rise to some of the most advanced human civilisations.
Yes! Asian cultures are known for their richness, diversity, heritage and inclusiveness.
countries across Asia speak, dress and eat in different and unique ways, creating a broad spectrum of rich cultures.
But, the problem of poverty, homelessness and inequality in Asia have been topics of conversation around the world in recent years.
As we all know, homelessness is the most severe form of poverty and social exclusion in our societies. It quickly reduces a person’s physical and mental health, it imposes a high cost on our societies.The numbers of homeless in China, Japan, Indonesia and many other countries in the Asian continent may be very small compared to the European and African countries, but yet homeless in Asia are facing a devastating living condition.
Hong Kong has more 200,000 people living in coffin homes, tiny sections of subdivided apartments. China for example, in 2011 reported 2.41 million homeless adults, with at least another half million homeless children. India has approximately 1.8 million homeless people with another 73 million people living in substandard housing.
I would like to conclude by reminding you of our responsibility to protect and guarantee the basic human rights of all people who are residing within our territory.
Living in homelessness should not be penalized. Discrimination and prejudices, denial of access to even the most basic services should be combatted, including in the context of the free movement of workers and third country migration.
Thank you for your attention.