The Cities Alliance welcomes the decision of the Human Rights Council to confirm the appointment of Raquel Rolnik of Brazil as Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this regard. Raquel is well known to the Cities Alliance, in her previous role as National Secretary for Urban Programmes of the Ministry of Cities, to 2007. In this position, she was in charge of the implementation of the City Statute, Brazil's landmark urban legislation. She also represented Brazil on the Consultative Group of the Cities Alliance.

Raquel is an architect and urban planner, and holds a PhD from the New York University. She is a housing policy, urban planning and land management expert, with over 30 years of experience in the fields of planning, management, implementation and evaluation of housing and urban policies. The Cities Alliance looks forward to working with Raquel in her new mandate.