The UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights is launching a new Human Rights Monitoring Program to make the Committee’s resources available to local governments to monitor the impact of social inclusion policies from a human rights perspective, based on the Global Charter-Agenda of Human Rights in the City. The Human Rights Monitoring Program enables cities to identify the state of human rights in their territory from a citizen-centered approach and to propose concrete actions and priorities to improve the protection of human rights at local level.
This project was set up in June 2015 by the City of Bogotá and the UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights. Bogotá was interested in monitoring the impact in terms of rights of the first axis of their development plan, “Bogotá Humana” , titled: A city that overcomes segregation and discrimination: the human being at the center of development concerns. It aims to reduce the social, economic and cultural conditions that are at the basis of economic, social, spatial and cultural segregation in Bogotá, and that contribute to the persistence of inequalities and discrimination.
In this context, the city of Bogotá implemented public policies focused on fighting multidimensional poverty, by putting people at the center of public action. Through its programs, Bogotá has focused on rights as a means to renew public action with citizen participation and prioritizing people in need.
The monitoring program has been implemented as a pilot project in Bogotá, with the District Secretariat for Social Inclusion focusing on three main policies: (1) well-being in early childhood; (2) economic security for the elderly; and (3) street dwellers.
In order to monitor the impact of these policies in terms of rights, an international team of experts from the Centre for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra and the Mexican organization Operational Center for Settlement and Housing (COPEVI) was set up – both of them are members of CSIPDHR’s network and are recognized for their expertise on local democracy and human rights. The team conducted the study through a participative action research methodology, together with civil servants, citizens and users of these public policies.
The results of the study will be presented at the International Seminar on the Right to the City to eradicate poverty, which will take place in the City of Bogotá on 19-20 November 2015. This seminar will be an open space to share concrete experiences concerning the implementation of the Right to the City, by raising approaches and tools to: (1) strengthen local governments in their fight against inequalities and poverty so that they can implement the Post-2015 Development Agenda (SDGs); (2) set up local public policies to eradicate poverty from a human rights approach; and (3) put into practice the Right to the City through local action. In this seminar, Bogotá’s Street Dwellers policy will also be officially launched, which aims to work on this growing phenomenon from a transversal and rights perspective, in order to meet the basic needs of street dwellers and to contribute to their dignity.