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The Bellagio International Declaration of Street Vendors
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.
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