Our objectives
Embracing Human Rights at Local Level
According to the (by now classic) triptych, the States – and consequently the public authorities – have a triple obligation: to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. Public authorities must therefore not only respect human rights but they also have to ensure that human rights are fully respected, in particular in relations between individuals. They must also fulfil human rights, i.e. mobilise adequate means and resources to ensure the full force of such rights, whether they be civil and political rights (CPR), or economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR).
Cities, local governments and local authorities are among those “public authorities” which, as regards ESCR in particular, can make a difference by fostering rights in the fields of housing, health, employment, but also education and leisure, and “participation in cultural life.” This is particularly true with economic, social and cultural rights whose realization is achieved progressively. It is significant that the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights henceforth mentions systematically “the obligations of non-state actors” and, in particular, those of local authorities.
Taking such account of human rights at the local level entails the mobilisation of all actors, private and public, through initiatives of original partnerships and new types of solidarity that facilitate the “willingness to live together.” It should be possible to take stock of “good practices” that are emerging on the matter, at the institutional level or in an informal framework.
Since the second World Forum on Human Rights held in Nantes in July 2006, the focus has been on “human rights in the city” and on the role of “local governments” in human rights, acting alone or through networks such as the Conference of European Cities for Human Rights or the European Coalition of Cities against Racism. On the international scale, however, a synergy on human rights with the world federation of local authorities United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) proved indispensable.
At the last world congress of UCLG held in November 2007 in Jeju (South Korea), the International Secretariat “Human Rights and Local governments” (known by the French initials SPIDH) was entrusted with heading the working group on the World Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City, under the purview of the working group on “Human Rights and Local governments” of the Committee on Social Inclusion and Participatory Democracy (CSIPD) of UCLG, chaired by Elói Pietá, Mayor of Guarulhos, Brazil and co-chaired by Ricard Gomà, Deputy mayor of Barcelona, Spain. The task of this working group is to draw up and disseminate the World Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City.
