The International Union of Tenants (IUT) is a

non-governmental organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from g ...

representing 72 tenants' organisations in 47 countries advocating for tenants' rights and defending tenants' interests. IUT's stated aims include safeguarding the interests of tenants and the promotion of affordable healthy housing throughout the world. IUT is a non-party political organisation, working along democratic lines. IUT has

consultative status The consultative status is a phrase whose use can be traced to the founding of the United Nations and is used within the UN community to refer to "Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Soc ...

with the

UN Economic and Social Council The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC; french: links=no, Conseil économique et social des Nations unies, ) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, responsible for coordinating the economic and social fields ...

and the

Economic Commission for Europe The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE or UNECE) is one of the five regional commissions under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Economic and Social Council. It was established in order to promote economic cooperation and i ...

(ECE) - Committee on Human Settlements and since 2005 has participatory status with the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...

. The Head office of IUT is located in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and Marie Linder, from the Swedish Union of Tenants, has been president since 2019. Vice presidents are Jan Laurier (the Netherlands) and Rolf Gassmann (Germany). The secretary general is Annika Wahlberg. IUT runs a liaison office in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

, where Barbra Steenbergen is the head. IUT holds an international conference once every three years.

History

International Union of Tenants (IUT) - Founding organisations

The International League of Tenants was founded in May 1926 in

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

as the International League of Tenants at the first international tenant congress in

, Switzerland, on the initiative of tenants' unions in Sweden, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The founding congress also included unions from Czechoslovakia, Danzig, Hungary, Denmark, the UK, and France. Following the election of Adolf Hitler in 1933 tensions within the League escalated, with the outbreak of WWII the organisation ceased to operate. The League was re-established in 1955 and began being referred to as the International Union of Tenants (IUT). In 1974 IUT adopted a ''Tenants' Charter'' as their primary policy document, which was superseded in 2004 by a new Tenants' Charter. The charter includes stated objectives such as security of tenure, affordability, housing quality, democratic tenant participation in housing, and the right for tenants to organise to defend their interests. In 1986 IUT established the annual International Tenants' Day to coincide with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

initiated

World Habitat Day World Habitat Day is marked on the first Monday of October each year, and is recognized by the United Nations to reflect on the state of towns and cities, and on the basic right of all to adequate shelter. The day is also intended to remind the wor ...

, taking place each year on the first Monday in October.

References

External links

* {{authority control Housing rights organizations International organisations based in Switzerland