A/HRC/13/20 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted in accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 6/27, and constitutes the second annual report submitted to the Council since the current Special Rapporteur, Raquel Rolnik, assumed her functions on 1 April 2008.1 It focuses on the impact of sporting mega-events on the realization of the right to adequate housing. In the first part, the Special Rapporteur discusses the positive and negative legacies of the Olympic Games and World Football Cup on host cities and host countries, from the point of view of the right to adequate housing. In the second part, she outlines the relevant international human rights framework and obligations. The third contains an overview of the procedures and regulations of these events relevant to the right to housing. Lastly, the Special Rapporteur presents some preliminary recommendations to protect the right to adequate housing in all stages of the mega-event process, from the initial bid phase through to the planning and preparation phases and the staging of the event to the post-event legacy. The report draws on information provided by a range of sources, including the reports of previous mandate holders and the findings of a workshop organized in June 2007 by the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions with the participation of the previous mandate holder, Miloon Kothari, as well as remarks on earlier drafts from the International Olympic Committee. II. Mega-events and their impact on city transformation 2. Until the 1930s, the Olympic Games and other international sporting events left few traces on the urban landscape. In 1932, the city of Los Angeles used the games as an opportunity to uplift the local economy, and built the first Olympic Village with characteristics of permanent housing.2 After the Second World War, the Olympic movement gathered unprecedented force, attracting Government support under the framework of sport as a social goal, which included the construction of public sports infrastructure and promotion of sports activities. In the 1970s, the combination of staging international sporting events and processes of urban transformation became more evident, with a policy of building sports infrastructure in central areas as a strategy for urban renewal in city centres.3 3. In 1980, the International Olympic Committee adopted a philosophy of progressive incorporation of the private sector in the promotion of the Games. In the 1990s, organizing mega-events as a component of cities’ strategic planning, with a view to repositioning them in a globalized economy, became the hegemonic practice. Staging international games as an economic development strategy, which includes urban infrastructure renewal and real estate investments, became the contemporary approach by cities and states to mega-events.4 1 2 3 4 The first annual report presented by the Special Rapporteur focused on the impact of the financial crisis on the right to adequate housing (A/HRC/10/XX). Muñoz, F. “Historic evolution and urban planning typology of Olympic Villages”, Centre d’Estudis Olímpics i de l’Esport, Barcelona, 1996. Mascarenhas, Gilmar, “Globalização e governo urbano nos megaeventos olímpicos: os Jogos Panamericanos de Santo Domingo-2003. Diez años de cambios en el Mundo, en la Geografía y en las Ciencias Sociales, 1999–2008”, Universidad de Barcelona, 2008. See “Labor, economy and transparency in large urban projects”, Alberto de Oliveira (UFRRJ), 2009, Congress of LASA Brazil, 2009; and "From managerialism to entrepeneurialism: the transformation in urban governance in late capitalism", and Harvey D, 1989,Geografiska Annaler, series B 71(1) 3. 3