Lana Cristina
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília - The National Urban Reform and Cities Rights March, which got underway Monday (15) in Brasília, is meant to call attention to the social inequalities caused by urbanization. Brazil has more than 7 thousand homeless families and more than 10 thousand living in precarious conditions, in areas that lack urban infrastructure and basic sanitation.

Organized by 4 groups, the march has a brief of 22 grievances that were submitted to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The movements want the government to spend more money on access to housing and the quality of urban life, which includes basic sanitation, cheap and efficient transportation, and the right to a job and leisure. For this reason they support recognition of the World Cities' Rights Charter. Another demand is the regulation of the law that established the Fund and the National Council of Housing in the Social Interest. The social movements demand a constant interplay between civil society and the National Council of Cities and want a guarantee that the Fund will receive money from the Federal Budget and the Workers' Service Guarantee Fund (FGTS).

Their agenda of demands includes government policies that will settle court suits expelling people from where they live, as well as promoting social inclusion and the end of segregation. Other items include approval of the national sewage policy, promotion of policies that make water available to all families, as well as sewers and garbage collection, policies that assure cheap and quality public transportion, protection of the residential rights of people who live the outskirts and poor neighborhoods, and safety policies that assure social inclusion as a means of combatting urban violence.

Translation: David Silberstein