A/HRC/22/61 hampers their ability to influence policies that could improve their lives, hold Government officials accountable and contribute their valuable knowledge to development efforts. 69 This exclusion is even greater for non-citizens and migrant and undocumented workers, who also have access to very few legal rights and services. 33. Several factors conspire to marginalize political voice and civic participation among the urban poor. Firstly, the lack of responsiveness of Governments to their needs, as reflected by gaps in basic services, undermine the contract with the Government and reinforce the idea that the urban poor are not full citizens of the cities they inhabit. 70 Secondly, there is a demonstrated reluctance to incorporate the needs of poor urban citizens into larger city policies, sometimes from a limited understanding of the extent of urban poverty, other times from a misunderstanding of how to address it. 71 Finally, though some cities have adopted ways to incorporate the political voice of poor urban-dwellers into decision-making, they are still the exception and not the rule in a context where votes alone are not enough to ensure sustained and structural change for the urban poor. 72 34. Political marginalization also means that the poor often face greater insecurity and violence, as policing and the rule of law often do not extend into settlements where the poor are concentrated;73 violence and criminality in poor urban communities therefore tend to be higher. Here, too, the effects of globalization disproportionately affects the urban poor, as international networks of drugs and other illicit economies are thought to flourish where governance is weak.74 35. The right to political participation is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives” and “the will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.” For poor city-dwellers, the right to political participation is closely related to urban governance practices. The Habitat Agenda defines governance as “the mechanisms, processes and institutions through which citizens and groups articulate their interests, exercise their legal rights, meet their obligations and mediate their differences” and good urban governance as “characterized by the principles of sustainability, subsidiarity, equity, efficiency, transparency and accountability, civic engagement and citizenship, and security”.75 These characteristics do not apply to the political reality of most poor urban communities, who have yet to realize their rights fully or to enjoy a relationship with decision makers that is accountable, transparent or inclusive. 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 12 UNFPA, State of World Population 2007, pp. 30–31. See Loren B. Landau, “Shaping Urban Futures: Reflections on Human Mobility and Poverty in Africa‟s Globalizing Cities” in Allison M. Garland, Mejgan Massoumi, and Blair A. Ruble, eds., Global Urban Poverty: Setting the Agenda (Washington, D.C., Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, 2007). For instance, forced evictions or other policies designed to halt the flow of rural-urban migration. Research among poor urban communities does reflect a high rate of electoral participation (see John Harriss, “Political Participation, Representation, and the Urban Poor: Findings from Research in Delhi”, Economic and Political Weekly (March 2005)). However, there are also indications of the voting process being co-opted by client-patron relationships and short-term material promises that do not affect structural changes for the urban poor. Ibid. UN-Habitat. UN-Habitat, “The Global Campaign on Urban Governance: Concept Paper”, 2nd ed. (Nairobi, 2002) p. 12.