Why are local and regional governments essential for promoting, fulfilling, and respecting human rights?
As the level of government closest to the people, local governments have a key responsibility to raise awareness, promote, and defend human rights. They must also respond to the needs and concerns of their communities, who naturally turn to municipal authorities first.
If we also understand that the development of the necessary skills to promote equality, dignity, and respect, not only among the local community but also among people worldwide, must arise from the educational sphere, it is undeniable that the local entity, with the support of associations and citizens, is the competent authority for it.
Education is a human right in itself, and from schools and institutes in each municipality, as well as from actions carried out directly for the population, we must teach and internalize humanitarian values, raising awareness among students, teachers, families, and society in the defense of their own rights and those of others, especially the most needy populations globally.
Therefore, it is local and regional governments that must promote broad, cross-cutting, and inclusive educational actions of visibility and awareness that guarantee the development of social cohesion in the protection of Human Rights.
Why are human rights relevant values and a useful framework for guiding local action?
Since 1948, when the United Nations published the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the fundamental standard for basic equality and human dignity, and local and regional governments began to play a more significant role as autonomous territorial entities, the responsibilities acquired by the latter had to direct all their efforts towards strengthening a free, dynamic, and intelligent society that guarantees a development based on fair values, not only for the closest citizens but for the entire world population.
An example of this is the strong commitment of this Municipality of Móstoles in:
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Developing strategies for the defense of Human Rights, mainly through the training and awareness of Móstoles citizens
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Programs with solidarity-based, egalitarian, and inclusive content, such as advocacy and denunciation of Human Rights violations affecting refugee and migrant populations, and humanitarian aid provided to the most disadvantaged populations
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As well as the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda, aiming to reduce global poverty, improve citizens’ health and well-being, and provide education in equality, among other goals.
Being able to participate in a global network as broad as the one proposed by UCLG, of organizational entities at the global level that direct their actions towards the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda for the promotion and defense of Human Rights, to which we have been so committed in recent years, constitutes for this Municipality of Móstoles an opportunity for dialogue in order to seek joint analyses and find future solutions and proposals in the field of international cooperation.
The experience of recent years within the Southern Municipalities Alliance, to which we belong along with the municipalities of Alcorcón, Fuenlabrada, Getafe, and Leganés—a network in which we work by sharing knowledge and experiences, and implementing training programs and humanitarian aid—drives us to request the inclusion of our Municipality in a larger network where the diversity of its members can guarantee greater resources for all in the pursuit of a more equal and just world.
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Program of activities for the International Human Rights Day to raise visibility and awareness in its defense (solidarity market, exhibitions, conferences), and Violet Points providing information on the eradication of gender-based violence.
- Agreements with different associations coordinating:
- Training in schools and institutes on the defense of Human Rights
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Humanitarian aid programs in refugee population camps
- As a member of the Southern Municipalities Alliance, among other actions, training-of-trainers workshops with Macará (Ecuador) on the following topics: equality, youth, drug prevention, fire extinguishing.