We are pleased to inform you the Annual Report of the UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights is already available online. The Report includes all the activities carried out by the Committee throughout 2018.
The Annual Report 2018 includes articles on events such as: The European Workshop of Local Government and Human Rights (Barcelona, December); the eighth edition of the World Human Rights Cities Forum - WHRCF (Gwangju, October); the meeting of local governments and civil society “African perspectives and realities on the Right to the City” (Marrakech, November); various commemorative events around the 50th anniversary of Henri Lefebvre's “Right to the City” (Saint Denis, April); the launch of the Cities for Adequate Housing Declaration (New York, July); or our network participation in the process of definition and adoption of the Global Compact for Migration (which came to an end in Marrakech Conference in December). The Annual Report focuses on four main lines of action:
- Relaunching global networking around the concept of “Local Governments for Human Rights”: In 2018, and on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the policy process that led to the adoption of the European Charter for Human Rights in the City and the Asian Charter for Human Rights, the 25th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action and 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, various local authorities across the world expressed their willingness to relaunch the global movement of local governments for human rights (“Cities for Rights”). Our Committee has provided a meaningful meeting point for exchanging and promoting these initiatives at a global level;
- Promoting the right to the city in the framework of local and global agendas: In 2018, members and partners of the Committee promoted events that celebrated the 50th anniversary of Henri Lefebvre’s “Right to the City” eponymous book. Members of the Committee also participated in two spaces created by UCLG after 2016 to further develop the world organization policy agenda on the right to the city: The Policy Councils and the Waves of Action. The Committee also strengthened its alliance with the Global Platform for the Right to the City to connect the Right to the City with the 2030 Agenda and NUA.
- Promoting the Declaration “Cities for Adequate Housing” and articulation with “The Shift”: On the occasion of the New York HLPF Forum on Sustainable Development Goals (July), a group of global cities launched a pioneer document, the “Cities for Adequate Housing” Declaration, to which fifty local governments and organizations from around the world joined by the end of 2018. This process was articulated by the participation of the Committee and UCLG in “The Shift”: A global movement for the right to housing and against the financialization of cities launched by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing, Leilani Farha.
- Bringing the voice of local governments on human rights and migration at the global level: The organization of UCLG’s “Cities for Migration” Wave of Action has been a good opportunity for many local governments to contribute, within the framework of the Committee, to ongoing debates on the global governance of migration. They did so by sharing their point of view and on the basis of their local practices and aspirations. Strengthening social cohesion and citizenship rights has been identified as key. In 2018, the Committee also supported UCLG’s efforts in making the voice of local governments heard on the drafting process of the Global Compact on Migration (Marrakesh, December).
Beyond these simultaneous and interconnected processes of debate and political advocacy carried out by members, the Committee has also served as a platform for the exchange of knowledge, to give visibility to local practices carried out by members and to organize field visits and learning events. These activities have created new bridges between local governments and their global organization (UCLG), as well as with the UN human rights system and civil society.