Last December 13-14, 2010, 11 cities from all the world gathered at the Palace of Aiete - House of Peace and Human Rights of San Sebastian upon invitation of its Mayor and member of the Commission, Mr. Odon Elorza. The UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights actively contributed to the organisation of this meeting by mobilizing its member cities.
The final declaration of the meeting mentions that cities are places of welcome and inclusion of people, the spaces where it is possible to build a cosmopolitan citizenry and to promote civic culture as a mechanism for citizen participation. The document highlights that "striving for peace with justice, social inclusion, interculturality, the resolution of conflicts, reason as opposed to force, education for peace and co-existence is not something foreign to our responsibilities as Mayors and Mayoresses. It is a political compromise that must extend towards all areas of local governance and must be materialised in public policies by guaranteeing rights: from town planning and housing to ecology, education and culture".
The cities that met in San Sebastian gave a very firm undertaking towards the achievement of these objectives and resolved to network in order to share information, exchange projects, good practices and experiences amongst the technicians and politicians of their cities. They also decided to follow up on the meeting with the conduct of workshops and projects aimed at promoting the culture of coexistence, protection of human rights and democratic values education.
All these activities will contribute to the preparation of the eighth edition of the Conference of the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in City that San Sebastian will host in 2012. This year, the event took place in the Bosnian city of Tuzla (7 to 9 October 2010) .