Forum Background and Outline
- WHRCF 2015 is the fifth World Human Right Cities Forum, which has been annually held by human rights activists and stakeholders engaged in building human rights cities, in order to implement the vision of a human rights city, as articulated in the Gwangju Declaration on Human Rights City adopted on May 17, 2011 at the first WHRCF.
- The Forum, to be held during May 15-18, 2015 at the Kimdaejung Convention Center, Gwangju, the Republic of Korea, under the theme of “Towards a Global Alliance of Human Rights Cities for All, Part 2” will become a platform for the human rights cities to enhance the human rights of citizens through participation and sharing beyond the traditional level of resistance to the authoritarianism while including those who used to be marginalized.
- The Forum is co-hosted by the Gwangju Metropolitan City and the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education, organized by the Gwangju International Center, and collaboratively organized by the Korea Human Rights Foundation, the United Cities and Local Governments Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights, United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific, the Gwangju Trauma Center, Gwangju Federation of Environmental Movement, the May 18 Institute of Chonnam National University, the Korea Senior Citizen's Phone at Gwangju, the Education Center for Democracy and Human Rights of Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education, the Center for Public Interest and Human Rights Law of Chonnam National University, the Research Institute of the Differently Abled Person’s Right in Gwangju, the Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination, the Gwangju WomenLink, the Gwangju-Jeonnam Women's Association United, the Institute of Women's Studies of Chonnam National University, the Gwangju Migrant Workers' Center, the Research Institute for Christian Missions and Education as Life and Justice, the Welfare Society for Migrant Families, the Emergency Support Center for Migrant Women, the Honam Multicultural Mission, the Gwangju NGO Foundation Social Enterprise Center, the Gwangju Network Social Enterprise Stakeholders Network, the Gwangju Cooperative Council, the Gwangju Social Enterprise Council, the Gwangju Village-Based Companies Council, the Gwangju Social Enterprise Network, the Social Enterprise Activation Gwangju Network, the iCOOP Gwangju Council, the Regional Development Institutue of Chonnam National University, the Hansalim Gwangju and the Happy Bridge of Mondragon. And the Forum will be supported by the Asian Pacific Center for Education for International Understanding (APCEIU), the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Justice, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, the Korea Foundation, the Korean National Commission for UNESCO.
- More than 500 participants from Korea and abroad, mainly representatives from “human rights cities,” including members of the UCLG-CISDP and UCLG-ASPAC, human rights NGOs, grassroots community-based organizations, local parliamentarians and academics, as well as UN human rights experts, are expected to take part in the Forum.
Theme and Concepts of “Human Rights City” and “the Right to the City”
- The Theme “Towards a Global Alliance of Human Rights Cities for All, Part 2” was chosen again to highlight the importance of expanding the human rights cities’ movement worldwide and to promote solidarity and mutual cooperation. Human rights mainstreaming through the human rights-based approach can and must be a key to successful innovation to make a city a common space for solidarity, for all beyond the local and national boundaries if correctly and fully implemented at all stages of a human rights city, including budgeting, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
- The Theme is in line with the concept of “Human Rights City” as defined during the WHRCF 2011 which was “both a local community and a socio-political process in the local context where human rights play a key role as the fundamental values and guiding principles.” This statement is based on the understanding of a “human rights city as human rights governance in the local context where local governments, local parliaments, civil society, private sector organizations and other stakeholders work together to improve the quality of life for all inhabitants in the spirit of partnership, based on human rights standards and norms.”
- However, further progress is still needed to make human rights a reality in our cities. According to the Gwangju Declaration on Human Rights City of 2011, human rights mainstreaming emphasizes the human rights-based approach, where all inhabitants, regardless of race, gender, skin color, nationality, ethnic background, social status in particular, minorities and any other vulnerable groups who socially tend to be marginalized. All citizens are meant to participate fully in the decision-making, policy-implementation and monitoring processes that affect their lives, in accordance with human rights principles, such as non-discrimination, rules of law, participation, empowerment, transparency and accountability.
Agenda and Program Structure
- The meeting will have several types of sessions and activities: Opening Ceremony, two Plenary Sessions, Thematic Workshops, a Human Rights Culture Tour and Closing Ceremony. GOs, NGOs or Academic organizations may use this Forum as one of their platforms to expose their own agenda to the like-minded individuals and organizations. Simultaneous interpretation in English and Korean will be available to all planned sessions and to official meetings with significant participants. Sign language interpretation will be additionally provided at both Opening and Closing Ceremonies.
- The Forum will consist of several types of sessions and activities. The opening ceremony will be followed by keynote speeches and roundtable among the speakers. There are three special sessions: human rights cities policy sessions, expert workshops on local government and human rights, and an international conference on state violence and trauma. The eight thematic sessions will be held and followed by a general discussion session. A concluding session will present a declaration created from this Forum.
- The Opening Ceremony will convene with opening performances, keynote speeches by mayors and governors of local governments from Korea and around the world, followed by round-table discussions with the purpose of drawing more lessons about human rights policy-making, monitoring and evaluation.
- The “Human Rights Cities Policy Session” will invite representatives of local governments, human rights activists, and researchers to discuss what cities and local government face challenges, such as inequality, discrimination, poverty, job shortages, increasing number of immigrants, social exclusion of minority groups, environmental pollution, climate changes, privatization of public spaces, and accessibility to the public information in addition to the global alliance of human rights cities.
- The experts’ workshop on “Local Government and Human Rights” will be held with a number of UN Human Rights experts, including members of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee (HRCAC), city representatives and human rights practitioners to provide input for the research according to the UN Human Rights Council’s resolution (A/HRC/27/L.6) adopted on September 19, 2014, which has requested “to submit a final report on the role of local government in the promotion and protection of human rights to the Human Rights Council at its thirtieth session” in 2015. This workshop will also discuss the future direction of the WHRCF. It will be organized by the KHRF.
- Thematic workshops will be organized from May 15 through 17, 2015, simultaneously by local civil society organizations in Gwangju. Simultaneous translation in English and Korean will be provided at all workshops. Additional languages, including Sign Language, may be available when needed. The themes for each workshop will be as follows:
1) State Violence and Human Rights: State Violence, Memory and the Politics of Everyday
2) The Elderly and Human Rights: Roles of Local and Central Governments in Ensuring the Protection of Human Rights in Elderly Facilities
3) City and Child/Youth: A City's Encounter with Education: Conceptions of the Village-Based Education Community
4) City and Gender: Safety for Women
5) City and Disability: The Cases of People with Developmental Disabilities: How Should We Handle These Cases and What Actions Should We Take?
6) Social Economy and Human Rights: Human Rights Enhancement through Social Economy
7) Migrants Human Rights Protection Policy: Human Rights from the Perspectives of Migrants
8) Environment and Human Rights: Sustainable Water and Sustainable Human Rights by Preventing the Thoughtless Development of Rivers
- A special session will be held under the theme of “Human Rights in Asia and Vision of Human Rights Cities” to discuss preparations of the Asian Human Rights Charter 2018 and development of the human rights-oriented local governments in Asia.
- The third International Conference on “State Violence and Trauma” will be organized on “Psychological support for torture victims participating in legal proceedings” by the Gwangju Trauma Center.
- The Forum will be over with the declaration of the concluding statement at the Closing Ceremony.
- There will also be several special events throughout the Forum, which are as follows:
The participants can enjoy diverse forms of human rights posters from around the world.
Citizens’ Rally on the eve of the May 18 Democratization Movement on May 17
Human Rights Culture Tour including the Visit of the May 18 National Cemetery on May 18
Gwangju Spirit and Commitment to Human Rights
- WHRCF 2015 is a sign of continued commitment of the Gwangju Metropolitan City as well as an invitation to all like-minded local government officials and human rights advocates to the vision of a Human Rights City for promoting solidarity and cooperation towards a universal culture of human rights beyond national and city boundaries among all urban residents and inhabitants. Gwangju is firmly committed to this vision as it is consistent with the Spirit of Gwangju for the 21st century.
References
1) Gwangju Declaration on a Human Rights City (May 17, 2011). Gwangju Metropolitan City
2) Gwangju Statement (May 17, 2012). Gwangju Metropolitan City
3) Gwangju Statement (May 17, 2013). Gwangju Metropolitan City
4) Gwangju Guiding Principles for a Human Rights City (May 17, 2013). Gwangju Metropolitan City
5) Gwangju Statement (May 17, 2014). Gwangju Metropolitan City
6) Ten Principles for the Implementation of Gwangju as a Human Rights City (August 1, 2014). Gwangju Metropolitan City
7) Progress Report of the Advisory Committee on the role of local government in the promotion and protection of human rights, including human rights mainstreaming in local administration and public services. (September 4, 2014) from the UN Human Rights Council’s 27th Session
