The 13th WHRCF

Human Rights Cities Responding to Poverty and Inequalities

- Cities' strategies and policies to tackle poverty and inequalities -

Gwangju, Republic of  Korea

Gwangju integrated Care programme: the programme aims at ensuring basic Human Right for residents (minimum standards). The programme is available to everyone and focuses on care services and job creation. @Roundtable

Eunpyeong-gu, Republic of  Korea

Eunpyeonggu has initiated projects for youth preparing for independent lives and carried out the 'Adding Healthcare to Caring' project, which provides comprehensive healthcare services for free to households with low income and beneficiaries of the National Basic Livelihood, for the first time in Seoul City. In addition to these selective policies, Eunpyeonggu has also implemented universal care support initiatives customized for specific groups, including households with the pregnant and infantsingle-person households, and the elderly. 

Singkawang, Indonesia

Singkawang City was selected as the most tolerant city in Indonesia in 2023. Singkawang City has received this award not only this year but four times in the last six years, and the City’s Tolerance City Index (TCI) increases every year. Singkawang's culture of tolerance is evolving into a source of economic development, poverty eradication, and human rights enforcement. The city provides equal opportunities to all residents, regardless of their background, in public services such as education, healthcare, and socio-economic activities. @Roundtable

Indonesia 2025-2045 National Development Plan: the plan includes housing and other measures to reduce poverty with an important involvement of LRGs in relation to several economic and cultural rights, including through housing and social protection, or by creating job opportunities and fostering public participation of specific groups.  @Plenary Session

Warsaw, Poland

The city of Warsaw has established a system, including an inclusive labor market, to help thousands of refugees from the war in Ukraine and other refugees become economically self-sufficient. @Roundtable 

Leipzig, Germany

Leipzig has invested in strengthening infrastructure for children and youth in poverty, enabling their integration into overall urban development projects. Through integrated approaches against social segregation and child poverty, the city is enhancing transparency and effectively addressing poverty. @Roundtable

São Paulo, Brazil

The programme is the result of the insitutionalisaiton of a short-term emergency measure implemented during the pandemic of COVID-19. It offers professional cooking courses to provide the production and distribution of daily meals for people in vulnerable situations; combinining professional training and food delivery. @Plenary Session 

Montreal, Canada

The Access without Fear policy adopted by the City aims to reassure people with no immigration status that they can access police services without fear they may be reported and ultimately detained, or deported. @Plenary Session

Marseille, France

The second largest city in France faces challenges related to inadequate housing, poor transportation systems, and migration, which are partly due to limited fiscal resources and competences of local authorities in these fields in France. Since 2020, the city has been implementing policies to improve dignity and foster the participation of the most vulnerable, leveraging a diverse dynamic population with a strong sense of local community, grassroots movements and important opportunities of employment due to its attractiveness to tourists. More specifically, the city has reinforced partnerships with grassroots movements and civil servants in order to better identify target groups - such as migrants and women - with limited access to services and rights, promoting active outreach to these groups and making administrative procedures more open and accessible. @Human Rights in the City 

San Antonio, Chile

The municipality focuses on access to justice by promoting free legal support services (online or in person) for specific groups such as women, victims of violence, and persons with disabilities, to address the lack of Human Rights education in the territory. The Office of the Ombudsman also undertakes training and capacity building activities on human rights for civil servants at the local level by coordinating with the justice system, other city departments and other levels of governments, as well as information initiatives for the general public, which encourage the use of simple and accessible language. @Human Rights in the City

Ciudad Juárez, Mexico

The municipality is championing bottom-up and participatory approaches (especially with children and women) to foster human rights and people-based human security approaches and enhance the Right to the City, in light of Ciudad Juárez’s complex situation in terms of violence and migration given its position close to the Mexican-US border. More specifically, the city is working on a local Charter on the Right to the City to be launched in December, which is being developed through community engagement to integrate a strategic piece that guides public policy and collective action for the long-term development of the city focused on human rights. Built in a participatory manner and ensuring its legitimacy, this strategy is both a guide for long-term action and a legacy for the people of Juárez in the future. The Charter focuses on six pillars: prosperity and innovation; culture and education; dignity and solidarity; democracy and participation; safety and no violence; livability and sustainability. @Human Rights in the City

Barcelona, Spain

The city has been working on the notion of “financial inclusion”, to avoid the increasing digitalization of public services exacerbating the marginalization and social exclusion of specific groups from service provision and access to rights – especially economic rights - due to the digital divide. This includes raising awareness and training activities on financial management, which encompasses digital education and basic legal training, to address the lack of accessibility of several private and banking instruments. The city also launched the Cuenta de Pago Básico (basic payment account), a type of account that allows Barcelona’s inhabitants to perform all basic banking services and ensures that everyone can lead a normal economic and social life, no matter their nationality or legal status. Furthermore, the city has been working with the private sector to promote the notion of “extraterritorial rights”, referring to the idea that local governments can have a positive environmental impact – or positive externalities – on surrounding territories, going far beyond legal obligations or geographical borders. Both Barcelona (Spain) and Grenoble (France) promoted the city of Barcelona, drawing attention to the issue of public investments and procurement, and warning that many local governments tend to forget the human and environmental-rights violations related to polluting industries and to global supply chains that they are part of and invest in. @Human Rights in the City

Kisumu, Kenya

l  Kisumu County: the county has developed policies for disability, localizing the national Constitution and the UN Convention of Rights of People with Disabilities by fostering public participation and political representation of people with disabilities, with the objectives to protect their rights, to create a development fund, and to set up a County Disability Board. This has translated into tangible measures for more accessible urban planning, to foster intersectionality (persons with disabilities, but also women, children, caregivers, etc.), as well as to innovative partnership with the business sector to foster inclusive digitalization and human rights-based public procurement, also in partnership with UCLG. @Human Rights in the City

Kilifi, Kenya

The government open data in Kilifi (Kenya) Leveraging Data and Technology for Transparency and Accountability in Government. @Human Rights and Corruption

Nikolaev, Ukriane

the Geoportal-Service, a central component of Mykolaiv's Spatial Information Infrastructure (Ukraine) Leveraging Data and Technology for Transparency and Accountability in Government. @Human Rights and Corruption

Scotland

Scotland introduced the “Fairer Scotland duty” which obliges public bodies in Scotland to pay due regard on the impact of poverty and inequalities of the decisions they make. For example, one city in Scotland wanted to move a hospital from the downtown area to the periphery of the city, making it more difficult for people in poverty to reach the hospital. To avoid such negative impacts, the city established a healthcare centre in the downtown area.  @Eradication of Poverty through Human Rights Economy

Makueni, Kenya

Through collaboration with the Human Rights Commission of Kenya, the Makueni county in Kenya has enhanced capacity building in the area of participatory budgeting, which has assisted in addressing inequalities and gaps in meeting the needs of the most marginalized. A participatory approach has also improved access to information for those left behind.