The World Human Rights Cities Forum (Forum of WHRCF) is an annual event held in the human rights city of Gwangju, in the Republic of Korea. This year, the Forum was held between the 07-10th of October with the theme of: ‘Human Rights in Times of Challenge: A New Social Contract’.
During the sessions, speakers exchanged experiences and challenges linked to human rights, specifically on the local level. There were 50 online and offline sessions which brought together local government officials and human rights practitioners. In total, the event hosted 3012 participants from 76 countries and 322 cities from all over the globe.
During this event, the HRCN contributed to the UNESCO session which focused on establishing a Social Inclusion / Human Rights Marker System. This session was led in partnership with the Asia Pacific Cities against Discrimination (APAC) and the Gwangju International Center, in order to scoop and discuss opportunities for such a system.
The participants of the 11th World Human Rights Cities Forum agree to implement and recommend the following five promises:
- To take action toward diverse challenges of our times in order to build upon human rights and democracy, with the collaboration of human rights cities,
- To promote communication and understanding between key actors in order to further discuss the new social contract and to implement human rights for a fair and inclusive society,
- To strive to protect vulnerable groups by identifying potential and new categories of vulnerable groups,
- To monitor the human rights situation of various socially underprivileged people and to make joint efforts to protect their human rights, particularly from violence, and
- To propose research work on the past agenda, the future direction and strategy of the human rights cities movement, as well as the expansion of the role of the World Human Rights Cities Forum.
The full version of the Final Declaration of the 11th Forum of WHRCF can be found following this link.
