The UCLG World Council held last 11 December 2011 in Florence (Italy) decided to adopt the Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City at the proposal of the Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights.
The Charter-Agenda was adopted the day after the International Day on Human Rights, which the Committee celebrated organizing a round table on "Local Governments and Right to the City" on 9 December. More than 40 local government representatives participated in the debate to discuss about how to foster local policies aiming to take forward the recognition, respect and fulfilment of human rights in cities.
The Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City is an initiative that emerged from the Local Authorities Forum (FAL) for Social Inclusion and Participatory Democracy that took place in Caracas in 2006. Based on the discussions between local governments from around the world that took place in this Forum, a group of experts from various countries wrote a first draft (2007-2008), which was then discussed and amended by elected representatives, experts and representatives of civil society from all over the world (2009-2010). Under the leadership initially of Barcelona Provincial Council and subsequently of the city of Nantes and the Pays de la Loire Region, the initiative has been collectively discussed at several international events, including the last three FALs and World Social Forums (Nairobi, 2007; Belém do Pará, 2009; and Dakar, 2011), the 5th World Urban Forum of UN HABITAT (Rio de Janeiro, 2010), the 4th World Forum on Human Rights in Nantes (2010) and the 3rd UCLG World Congress (Mexico City, 2010). All this advocacy work and the collective drawing up of the Charter-Agenda has made possible building strategic links with social movements, with United Nations agencies (particularly HABITAT and UNESCO) and within our organisation, UCLG. In the current situation of economic crisis and a possible reduction in rights, the Charter-Agenda is a tool for local governments to build more inclusive, democratic and solidarity-based societies in dialogue with urban dwellers. Please, click on the following link to read the last version of the Charter-Agenda: