Having regard to the fact:

  * that in the fast growing urban sector there is a proliferation of poor hawkers and vendors including  those who are children;

  *  that because of poverty,  unemployment and forced  migration and immigration, despite the useful  service they render to society,  they are looked  upon as a hindrance to  the planned  development  of  cities both by the elite urbanites  and the town  planners alike;

 *  that hawkers and vendors are subjected to constant  mental and  physical torture by the local officials and  are harassed in many other ways which at times leads to riotous situations, loss of property rights,  or monetary loss;

 *  that there is hardly any publicity consistent with the  needs of street vendors throughout the world.

 We urge governments  to  form a National Policy for  hawkers and vendors  by making  them a part of the broader structural  policies aimed at improving their standards of living, by having regard to the following:

    * Give vendors legal status by issuing licenses, enacting laws and providing appropriate hawking zones  in urban plans;

    * Provide legal access to the use of appropriate and available space in  urban areas;

   * Protect and expand vendors’ existing livelihood,  make street vendors a special component of  the plans for urban development  by treating  them as an integral part of the urban distribution  system;

   * Issue guidelines for supportive services at local levels;

   * Enforce  regulations and promote  self-governance;

    * Set up  appropriate,  participatory,  non-formal mechanisms with  representation by street vendors  and hawkers, NGOs, local authorities, the police and others;

   * Provide street vendors with relief measures in situations of disasters and natural calamities.