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

The basic range of Human Rights on a local level

The main objective of the Global Charter-agenda of Human Rights in the city consists of achieving, in many cities as possible, the materialisation of a basic range of Human Rights applicable from the local sphere. The beneficiaries of these rights will be all the residents of the signatory city, no matter what their nationality is.

Every Human Right contained in the Charter-Agenda will have an “agenda” or a local action programme whereby city commitments which are necessary to implement that specific right shall be defined. This local action programme, to which signatory cities will commit themselves, will be made temporal and will include the results expected to be reached and, finally, some indicators for the assessment of the level of success achieved.

Each Human Right contained in the Charter-agenda would have the following structure:

1. Formulation of the right
2. Obligations derived for the signatory cities – that is to say rights/facilities for the citizens
3. Commitments assumed, progressively, by the city in a subsequent periods of time (i.e. in one year, five years, ten years… depending on the nature and content of the right)
4. Elements or indicators proving the achievement of the right

The specific aims of the Charter-agenda are the following:

• Incorporation of the Charter into the work plan of the Committee on Social Inclusion and Participative Democracy (CSIPD) of the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and development of the project within this Committee, along with the rest of the city members;
  
  
• Implication of a large and heterogeneous number of actors in the process of reflection and drawing up of the Charter-agenda: civil society, social movements, international organisations and local authorities from all over the world;
  
  
• Implementation of a workspace online in the web exchange platform that legitimises the result of the project;
  
  
• Achievement of an effective and real political commitment from the involved local authorities;
  
  
• Dissemination of the project on a global scale;
  
  
• Implementation of the Charter-Agenda on a local scale by means of adapting city regulations and the planning of inclusive local policies;
  
  
• Progress towards the creation of an international observatory for the monitoring of the Charter’s implementation.