The 13th World Human Rights Cities Forum: Interview with Key Speakers
Ms. Amanda Flety Martinez
Coordinator, UCLG-CSIPDHR
Interviewed by youth reporters KIM BeomJun, KIM Riha, LEE Taeyoung
Youth Reporter: Regarding this forum, could you tell me about the timeliness and the importance of the content that you have presented?
Ms. Amanda Flety Martinez: We have been presenting the work on having a comprehensive approach to human rights and exploring together the impact of poverty on local populations and communities. We saw that we needed to have a comprehensive approach to the solution, also. It's not only economic inequality, it's also linked to a lot of different human rights. And what we have been bringing to this forum, is this experience of local governments tackling issues through the human rights lens,
Social inclusion has been, for the last 20 years, one of the main proposals of local governments to develop public services. And this social inclusion vision deals with how to address the issue of poverty and inequality. So it's very important that we can recognize the importance of public services and that local governments should deliver public services to guarantee human dignity for all.
Youth Reporter: Could you tell me what impressed you the most when attending this forum?
Ms. Amanda Flety Martinez: I really liked the Indonesian Human Rights Cities Session. I was impressed by the fact that the national government in Indonesia adopted the resolution on human rights and business, and is trying to work with the local government on the way to implement those guiding principles. I think this is fundamental. This year the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, declared the necessity to be working on human rights economy. I think that these kinds of examples are very interesting, and very inspiring to see how we could work from a multilevel point of view - from national government to local government - on implementing human rights criteria to economy and business.
Youth Reporter: How should young people who are interested in the themes related to the forum act and what kind of mindset should young people have?
Ms. Amanda Flety Martinez: I wish young people would look at their neighbors and pay attention to the communities, to the elderly people, to the young ones, also to the families. I mean, it is very important to have a social conscience of what is happening. And, hopefully, that will help also human relations Because also, for people suffering from poverty inequalities, the worst is to be excluded. So I think young people, the younger generation, can have a strong role and look at what is happening around them, and try to bring their energy also to help with that.
