Source photo: Ikhlasul Amal
The largest annual meeting of the Indonesian movement of human rights cities will take place this year in Jember Regency (East Java) on 19 – 21 November. The festival will welcome participation of hundreds of Indonesian and international participants. Jember’s Human Rights Festival will focus on “Social Justice and Human Rights-Based Local Development through Cultural Approach” and will seek to both boost knowledge exchange among Indonesian local and national stakeholders, as well as to connect the Indonesian experience with the global human rights cities movement.
Jember’s Forum will take place in the framework of Indonesia’s Human Rights Festival: An annual dialogue gathering different spheres of government aimed at envisioning innovative policies on human rights promotion and Sustainable Development Goals localization. Up until now, this festival has taken place 5 times in different locations (such as Jakarta, Bojonegoro and Wonosobo). On this year’s edition, the Festival will count with the featured participation of Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo.
The festival focus will mainly be placed over social justice and inclusion. A plenary session on child participation on human rights and eight parallel sessions on issues like “The Rights of Migrant Workers” or “Ensuring business practices that respect human rights” will take place in this framework.
The event will also address an issue that has recently acquired a major relevance for the Indonesian movement of human rights cities: The prevention of radicalization and the promotion of tolerance, diversity and peace. To that end, issues such as social media or hate speech will be addressed.
The participation of hundreds of Mayors, elected representatives, human rights directors and other local officers from Indonesia is expected throughout the conference, as well as that of various local government representatives from abroad. The Forum will also count with the featured participation of national government delegates from Indonesia, civil society groups and international organizations. Jember’s Forum is organized by the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), the National Human Rights Commission of Indonesia, the District Government of Jember and other national agencies.
The UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights Executive Secretariat will take part in this meeting as a way to present the network’s initiatives at an international level, as well as to keep on strengthening the human rights cities movement.
You can know more about Jember’s Festival by checking the concept note attached here. You can know more about Indonesia’s human rights cities movement here.
Contact the Committee Secretariat for more information on this event and how to participate.