Our Co-Presidents Grigny and Seine-Saint-Denis, and members of our committee, such as Pichincha, Cologne, Nantes, the network of Young Elected Local Officials of Africa (YELO), the Swedish Association of Local and Regional Governments participated in the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) 2025 Retreat to bring to the forefront the inclusion of youth in local governance as a fundamental pillar of human rights cities and territories.
Under the theme “Local Governments and Youth Shaping the Future,” the UCLG gathering in Barcelona brought together local and regional leaders to set the annual agenda of our municipal movement towards the 2025 milestones, such as the World Social Summit, the 69th Commission on the Status of Women and the International Conference on Financing for Development.
Advancing human rights from the local and regional level: a pillar of the Post-Agenda 2030
Our coordinator Adrià Duarte moderated the session “Laying the Groundwork for the Post-Agenda 2030,” which boosted the World Global Justice Day discussion. “Human rights are the lighthouse that should guide culture and technology in this transformation we are living”.
In this discussion, our Grigny Co-Presidency, represented by Shehrazad, Director of International Relations and Culture, shared the city's drive for social justice by putting impoverished populations at the forefront of the ecological transition to be the first to benefit.
Members of our global campaign “10, 100, 1,000 Cities and Territories of Human Rights by 2030” are already contributing to the UCLG Local Social Coalition.
On the same World Social Justice Day, the session “The New Essentials: Priorities for Local and Regional Governments” was held, in which our members made visible how our global campaign has been instrumental in contributing to the Local Social Coalition, UCLG's contribution to the World Social Summit.
Andreas Wolter, Deputy Mayor of Cologne, shared that in his city they have created a Human Rights Defender Program, which currently includes 23 sister cities with whom they are fostering dialogue on social justice. For his part, Anthony Berthelot, Member of the Metropolitan Council of Nantes, reaffirmed his commitment to continue creating partnerships to return to the essentials and thus ensure human dignity for all people.
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Human rights and care as pillars of youth inclusion in local democracy
The role of local and regional governments at the forefront of democracy was also underscored, especially in highlighting the value of local democracy being built on human rights, as raised by Carola Gunnarsson, Councillor of Sala, UCLG Vice President for Europe and UCLG Special Envoy for Freedom, Solidarity and the Fight against Violence towards Political Leaders, in the first day session “From Local to Global Action: Connecting the Dots”.
At the Intergenerational Dialogue, held in the context of the WYDE program, a collaboration of UCLG with the European Union and UN Women to boost women's political participation in local democracy, Paola Pabón, Prefect of Pichincha and President of the Consortium of Autonomous Provincial Governments of Ecuador (CONGOPE), encouraged a feminist approach that connects generations and social strata. She emphasized the need to pay special attention to the inclusion of rural women, as fostering discussions on feminist approaches is more difficult in contexts where access to public services is not fully guaranteed.
Aissata Bâ, Mayor of Sebkha and member of YELO, reminded participants of the leadership capacity of young elected women like herself: “I was elected in Mauritania at the age of 25. I want to prove that young women are capable. Despite the challenges, we have managed to create this network to get involved at the local level. We are here and we want to be heard.
Overall, the participants emphasized the inexhaustible potential of care in local governance. By weaving women's networks, they feel supported and empowered to pursue their careers as local elected officials. By putting care at the center of public policy, the human rights of all people become a reality. Our commission has a lot of historical work in this area, such as the recent final seminar of the international program “Territories Caring for Women Victims of Violence,” held with the Department of Seine-Saint-Denis last November 2025.
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