What is a Human Rights City?
“A Human Rights city is both a local community and a socio-political process in a local context where human rights play a key role as fundamental values and guiding principles."
Gwangju Declaration on Human Rights City
World Human Rights Cities Forum, 2011
Milestones events for the recognition of Human Rights Cities
Human Rights Cities promote dialogue, solidarity, and collaboration to promote and share local solutions to common global challenges; amplifying the impact of their local actions and contributing to the international human rights agenda.
Indeed, the global movement of human rights cities contributes to highlighting the pivotal role of local and regional governments in advancing human rights within the multilateral system. Local and regional governments, whether through traditional competencies like housing and education or innovative agendas such as anti-racism and addressing the needs of specific groups (women, LGBTI individuals, people with disabilities), hold a privileged position for pioneering public policies to promote the dignity of all. Furthermore, their diverse contexts allow them to enrich the multilateral system by contributing new experiences, approaches, and features grounded in local realities.
Understanding the Global Campaign: context and objectives
The global campaign "10, 100, 1,000 Human Rights Cities and Territories by 2030" revolves around an ambitious goal: to bring together 10, then 100, and ultimately 1,000 local and regional governments worldwide by 2030, all dedicated to making human rights a reality for everyone, everywhere—from the smallest rural communities to the largest metropolises.
Building on the nearly 20 years of experience of the United Cities and Local Governments’ Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy, and Human Rights (UCLG-CSIPDHR) in nurturing the global dialogue of Human Rights Cities, the Global Campaign was launched in 2022 by six leading cities from the Committee —Barcelona, Grigny, Gwangju, Mexico City, Utrecht, and Vienna—to strengthen the movement of Human Rights Cities and make a global call to action.
The Campaign aims at scaling up local actions on human rights to foster recognition and participation of local and regional governments in human rights global agendas and mechanisms, including at UN level. Moreover, it encourages local and regional governments to initiate processes for adopting and recognizing local human rights frameworks to guide their action. This implies local and regional governments commit to embedding human rights principles into their policies, fostering cities and territories that prioritize dignity, equality, and safety for all. By promoting inclusive, rights-based policies and active citizen participation, the campaign encourages local and regional governments (LRGs) to lead efforts in tackling social inequalities, combatting discrimination, and ensuring that everyone can live in democratic spaces and a sustainable environment, taking care of future generations.
Main results and achievements: 2022-2024
Two years since its launch in 2024, the two waves of the Global Campaign (the first one in 2022 and the second one in 2023) have united nearly 120 local and regional governments in an active community working to enhance human rights implementation and champion a new generation of rights at the local level.
The powerful outreach of this unique Campaign was further strengthened by the cooperation agreement between UCLG and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which represented a key step towards the global recognition of LRGs for the promotion of Human Rights. More specifically, the Campaign was recognized by the OHCHR as a powerful tool to enhance capacity-building for Local Governments to incorporate Human Rights into all their work.
The Global Campaign also highlighted key priorities for the future of the Human Rights Cities movement; as well as the need to build common frameworks on Human Rights at the local level to address systemic economic, social, political and ecological crises through more localized discussions, taking into account the diversity of contexts and the needs of local communities. This was further highlighted by the Report of the expert meeting on enhancing capacity-building presented by the OHCHR at the 56st session of the Human Rights Council in 2024.
In this context, the UCLG and its CSIPDHR have kicked-off a participatory process to update the narrative, vision and content of the Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City of UCLG: a key document aimed at outlining an international framework for the implementation of Human Rights in the city from the perspective of LRGs, especially those part of the Global Campaign “10,100,1000 Human Rights Cities and Territories by 2030”. The document will be presented at the next UCLG Congress.
Furthermore, the Campaign has promoted international projects, initiatives, and learning opportunities to learn more about specific human rights issues. For example, the City of Grenoble promoted participatory democracy; the Region of Valparaíso and the Municipality of Quilmes defended the right to water; Banjul promoted women’s rights; while Bogotá and Gwangju advocated for rights and peacebuilding.
Last but not least, the Campaign has contributed to feeding and implementing the UCLG broader agenda: some of the Cities and Territories of the Campaign have contributed to UCLG’s Policy Council on “The Right to the City: Reclaiming the Commons” to support the defence of local public services, with human rights at the center. The results of the Campaign have also fed other international processes, in which Cities and Territories of the Campaign took part in the UCLG-led events in preparation for the United Nations Summit of the Future; while contributing to multilateral dialogues at key events, such as the UN High-Level Political Forum 2024 - focused, among others, on poverty and peace - and the 68th Commission on the Status of Women.
Over the past two years, the members of the Campaign have had the opportunity to share and showcase their local human rights initiatives and expand their networks on international platforms such as the Gwangju World Human Rights Cities Forum, the International Observatory on Participatory Democracy and the multiple events held on World Human Rights Day, December 10th. Such occasions represented key opportunities to foster international visibility and recognition: by being part of the campaign, local governments will be able to showcase their efforts and achievements at international events. Their successful practices highlighted in global reports and campaigns, raising their profile and attracting strategic partnerships.
Focus on the third wave: “Pioneering Local Public Policies to Uphold Dignity for All”
The third wave of the Global Campaign, launched in 2024, will focus on consolidating and strengthening the results of the first two years; but will also have a specific focus on leveraging the global movement of Human Rights Cities and Territories to call local and regional governments to reflect on a new generation of human rights. The third wave aims to provoke a collective reflection on better promoting international solidarity and dialogue to ensure dignity for all and fight inequalities through caring policies grounded on local public service provision.
This is particularly relevant to nurture the Local Social Covenant, a multistakeholder mechanism led by UCLG for the preparation of the "Second World Summit for Social Development" (also known as the “World Social Summit”), convened by the United Nations General Assembly and to be held in 2025. The Summit will set out an ambitious common vision of social development aimed at social justice, solidarity, harmony and equality within and among countries, which will be a key step towards the next UCLG Congress, to be held in Tangiers, in 2026.
This will consist of strengthening dialogue between the Cities of the Campaign and the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on specific issues; fostering participation in UCLG Policy Councils; and the events linked to the preparation of the World Social Summit. All these actions will focus - among others - on the following priority themes: right to the city, food, housing, culture, health, informalities, gender, antidiscrimination and climate justice
This process will contribute to enhancing peer learning; strengthening local capacities; and will lay the ground for joint international advocacy actions for the development of a new generation of human rights, influencing the international agenda, and facilitating the creation of transformative multilateral partnerships to amplify the effectiveness of local policies.
Moreover, at the operational level, the UCLG-CSSIPDHR Secretariat will also set up mechanisms to foster access to common resources and tools; and will facilitate communication activities to promote cities’ actions on HR, by linking them to UN international days or by promoting them on the UCLG-CSIPDHR website, X and LinkedIn accounts.
How to join our Global Campaign?
Local or regional governments wishing to join the campaign are invited to fill out the attached form and send it to the UCLG-CSIPDHR Secretariat at: [email protected]
The campaign is open to local and regional governments worldwide of all sizes, from all types of jurisdictions and with previous experience or willingness to commit to human rights.