The Committee´s Working Group on "Human Rights and Local Governments" has recently been strengthened with the incorporation of the cities working on the European Charter on Human Rights in the City, drafted in Saint-Denis in 2000 and currently signed by over 400 cities.
The mayors of the cities promoting the European Charter (Barcelona, Geneva, Lyon and Saint-Denis) recently invited all signatory cities to participate actively in this new stage of work within the Committee. Around 50 European cities have already answered to this call and a meeting is to be held shortly in Barcelona to establish together the future working goals.
Since the year 2000, signatory cities meet once every two years to exchange experiences and lessons learnt, as well as to promote a political reflection on the role of local governments in implementing human rights. After Saint-Denis, Venice, Nuremberg and Lyon, in 2008 the city of Geneva hosted the 6th Conference on the European Charter on Human Rights in the City. The next conference is due to take place during the autumn of 2010.