20/10/2010

Tuzla Statement: Human Rights City

The city of Tuzla, in Bosnia-Herzegovina, hosted the 7th Conference on the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City in early October, which was attended by more than 100 people representing 21 towns: Banja Luka, Bihač, Foča, Gračanica and Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Koprivnica, Osijek, Rijeka, Šibenik and Vukovar (Croatia), Barcelona, Gavà and San Sebastián (Spain), Bobigny, Lyon, Nanterre, Nantes, the Plaine Commune intercommunality, Saint-Denis and Toulouse (Francia). The Moroccan town of Tiznit also took part in the event due to its twinning with Saint-Denis.

Between 7 and 9 October 2010, the Conference brought together elected representatives, heads of international organisations, experts and members of civil society to discuss the right to non-discrimination, peace and tolerance, the right to high quality public services and the right to a healthy and human environment. The event, which was held in a country in south-eastern Europe for the first time, emphasised that local governments are playing an important role in the area of human rights and that the current recession must not be a pretext for any retrenchments.

The cities meeting in Tuzla also stressed that European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City has enabled local governments all over Europe to come together around the commitment to reconcile the development of cities with safeguarding human rights. They also emphasised the need to reinforce networking between conferences, and entrusted the UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion and Participative Democracy (CSIPD) with the coordination of this task.

By signing the Tuzla Declaration, the participating cities called on the national governments and international institutions to promote real processes of decentralisation leading to greater empowerment of the inhabitants of cities and to adopt measures preventing the privatisation of natural, cultural and historical heritage.

They also called on the European authorities to make rights as basic as the right to vote for foreigners, the right to high quality public services and the right to sustainable development to finally be recognised in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and in the European Union's Lisbon Treaty.

At the closing session of the Conference, the Mayor of San Sebastián, Mr. Odón Elorza, announced that his city would host the next Conference European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City in 2012.

The CSIPD and the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City

After the VI Conference held in Geneva in late 2008, the Committee on Social Inclusion and Participative Democracy (CSIPD) of UCLG assumed responsibility for the promotion of the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City. This is not the first time that the CSIPD has had the opportunity to coordinate tasks linked to human rights: since 2007, supported by Nantes – Pays de la Loire, it has led the way in the production of the Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City, an initiative inspired by the European Charter which will be formally presented to all the members of UCLG at the organisation's next World Congress (Mexico City, 17-20 November 2010)

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