Secrétariat International Permanent, Droits de l'Homme et gouvernements Locaux Nantes Pays de la Loire, France

The Nantes Forum is open to the general public, free of charge. Its objective is to bring together all categories of actors in the area of human rights and provide an environment where they can cooperate on an equal footing.

As in the past, the 4^th Nantes Forum featured discussions on current human rights issues with:

• Public authorities at the local, national, regional and international levels, representatives of governments, parliaments, cities, inter-governmental organisations, as well as national human rights commissions and national institutions for the defence of human rights.
  
  
• Representatives of civil society, non-governmental organisations, associations, trade unions, foundations, defenders of fundamental rights and the media.
  
  
• Human rights institutions and specialists, lawyers and experts working with national, regional and international organisations, and educators and researchers in the field of human rights.
  
  
• Representatives of the business community, and in particular multinational corporations and economic development agencies.

All of the above are invited to help prepare the programme for the Forum and participate in its organisation, for example, by proposing round tables or conferences.