UN General Assembly
1954

29. I should mention in addition to the foregoing my Government’s ratification of six international instruments in the social field originating from meetings of the International Labour Organisation and the decree prohibiting the possession by any property owner of more than one hectare of vacant land in an urban area and providing for the expropriation at a fair valuation of land in excess of 10,000 square metres except where it is the property of an industrial enterprise which needs a larger area of land. This decree, which marks the institution of urban reform in Bolivia, was enacted to protect the middle and working classes by providing them with the accommodation to which every human being is entitled and defeating the selfishness of those who used to acquire vast areas of urban land and keep them for purposes of speculation.