Why is the role of local and regional authorities essential for promoting, realizing, and respecting human rights?
Local governments contribute alongside the State to the economic, social, health, educational, cultural and scientific development of populations and, more generally, to the continuous improvement of their living environment. To this end, they enjoy general jurisdiction and special powers assigned by laws and regulations.
Our States in general, and Côte d'Ivoire in particular, have enacted laws and decrees aimed at ensuring the effective transfer of several competencies to local governments. Thus, by Law No. 2003-208 of July 7, 2003, on the transfer and distribution of competencies from the State to local governments, areas such as urban planning and housing; health, public hygiene and quality; environmental protection and management of natural resources; security and civil protection; education, scientific research, and vocational and technical training; social, cultural, and human development action, to name just a few, are given to local governments. This transfer reflects the fundamental role of local governments in promoting and respecting the rights of populations in their territories and ensuring their access to basic services in the aforementioned fields. They are now responsible for implementing the mechanisms and means so that local actions contribute not only to economic development but also to the respect of human rights.
Why are human rights relevant values and a useful framework to guide local action?
As stated in the preamble to the 1948 Declaration of Human Rights: “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”
The respect and promotion of human rights are not only guarantees of peace and social cohesion, but also allow the community to feel valued and involved in the actions of local governments. Taking these values into account ensures full community participation in local actions.
Respect for human rights should be the framework for local action so that human rights “…are protected by the rule of law, so that man is not compelled, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression.” Human rights represent the deep aspiration of every human being (respect for dignity, recognition of legal personality, non-discrimination based on sex, race, wealth, freedom of religion, conscience, right to free education, access to medical care and social services, etc.).
For our municipality, this framework has guided our investments in promoting these rights through various projects such as the construction and equipment of maternity wards, schools, the annual distribution of school kits to all children in our municipality regardless of religion or social class to ease the burden on parents at the start of the school year, and the construction of a media library so that children in our municipality have access to books and can develop a passion for reading. Our desire to contribute to freedom of movement has also manifested itself in terms of infrastructure through road improvement projects in our municipality to allow our farmers to transport their products to markets, enabling them to be economically stable.
For our part, the relevance of the values embodied by human rights is constantly a compass in determining local projects.
Our municipality is located in a rural area. Literacy rates, despite our efforts, remain relatively low. For our populations, understanding certain human rights issues is not always easy. Joining this campaign will be an opportunity for our local government to benefit from the expertise of other organizations that have already carried out such programs, and to have the appropriate tools to lead our policies for improving human rights and participatory democracy, which we consider essential values in building a prosperous and resilient society.
Education, health, women's empowerment, women's access to land, and environmental protection are among the many challenges we face. This campaign represents an opportunity for us to do even more.
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Women's Empowerment: Equality and fight against poverty (training of women in the municipality to set up village savings and credit associations, establishment of an interest-free financing fund).
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Inclusivity: Participatory democracy (decentralized municipal councils).
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Right to Free Education: Construction of schools, a media library, annual free distribution of school kits not only in regular public schools but also in faith-based schools.
In addition to the actions listed above, our municipality, in line with achieving the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), has initiated several projects, including:
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Environmental Protection: Development of a botanical garden, more than 6,000 trees planted between 2013 and 2022.
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Health: Maternity and child assistance (Project for the construction of a fully equipped maternity ward in Bakayo, construction of two restrooms at the Mayo health center, donations of various equipment to the municipality’s maternity wards, donations of 3 medical ambulances).