Migration to cities, when effectively managed, has proven to contribute positively to the socio-economic dynamism and sustainable development of cities. Migration policies are often developed at national level but implemented locally. By adopting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the New Urban Agenda and recent Global Compacts on Migration and for Refugees, UN Member States have acknowledged the role of local authorities in ensuring inclusivity in line with the UN principle of leaving no-one behind.

UN-Habitat supports cities facing challenges due to different types of migration flows, including rural-urban migration; voluntary migration and forced displacement; migration due to conflict, natural hazards and climate change, or due to social and economic reasons. People move to cities, within their countries, within their region and across international boundaries.

UN-Habitat's new Strategic Plan 2020-2023 (in its Domaine of Change 4) focuses on inclusive and resilient cities, promoting social cohesion, underlining the positive impact of migrants to cities. UN-Habitat aims at for reducing inequalities and advancing sustainable urbanization for all inhabitats of a city.

The lack of recognition of the right of self-determination and the large-scale dispossession and degradation of their lands, resources and territories has had a devastating effect on indigenous peoples’ livelihoods, cultures and overall socio-economic conditions. Widespread poverty and destitution flowing from this has had a significant impact on their housing. Indigenous peoples often lack security of tenure and live constantly with the threat of forced eviction from their homes and/or lands. In some countries, indigenous peoples are often found in over-crowded houses that are in poor condition and that often have neither schools nor hospitals nearby. Indigenous women and men face discrimination in most aspects of housing. Housing and development policies and programmes either discriminate against indigenous peoples directly or have discriminatory effects. The loss of traditional lands andhousing contributes to the increased migration of indigenous peoples to urban centres, where barriers to adequate housing (such as unemployment/poverty, discrimination, and lack of affordable and adequate housing) are particularly acute.

Indigenous women in particular often bear the brunt of these inadequate conditions. At the same time, they experience gender-specific problems, such as domestic violence, together with discrimination and inequality as a result of institutional and cultural factors. These often curtail or prohibit women’s access to, control over and the right to inherit land, property and housing. Indigenous peoples with disabilities, youth and children, elders and sexual minorities also experience greater adverse conditions in housing.

In Rwanda, urban development goes hand in hand with migration; urban development depends essentially on the contributions of rural populations. The low urbanization rate and low urban development place Rwanda in the margin of the demographic transition trend which characterizes developing countries.

However, this urbanization dynamic is neither well understood nor fully controlled. More than 80% of the urban population lives in slums and the majority of households live under the poverty line. According to a long-term planning, Rwanda Vision 2020, the urban population growth will reach 30% in 2020 or five times in 30 years.

The material originates from an international Expert Group Meeting on Urban Indigenous Peoples and Migration held in Santiago, Chile, March 27-29, 2007. It seeks to provide a comprehensive analysis of migration by indigenous peoples into urban areas from a human rights and a gender perspective.

In this work, particular attention is paid to the varying nature of rural-urban migration around the world, and its impact on quality of life and rights of urban indigenous peoples, particularly youth and women.