Annual Dialogue on Multilevel Protection and Promotion of Fundamental Rights, Session II: Fundamental rights monitoring at the local and regional level

Vienna, Austria, 26 November 2010

Introduction by Secretary General Andreas Kiefer, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, Council of Europe

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is a privilege for me to moderate this session on human rights monitoring at local and regional level, and I wish to thank the organisers of this meeting, the Fundamental Rights Agency and the CIVEX Commission of the Committee of the Regions, for giving me this opportunity.

I am pleased to see that co-operation of the Council of Europe Congress is gaining momentum with both the Agency and CIVEX, in particular in the areas where our work could be of direct mutual benefit. In June, the Agency invited the Congress to the meeting of stakeholders in human rights implementation, where our Rapporteur Lars O. Molin presented his report on the role of local and regional authorities in the delivery of human rights – which was met with great interest. In September, Congress Rapporteurs met with their counterparts in CIVEX to compare their work on the countries of the East European Partnership. I can only welcome that our institutions are developing close working relations and practical approaches to common issues, and I am pleased to be able to contribute to this process today.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The objective of this session is to have an exchange of best practices in how the delivery of human rights, and their exercise in our local and regional communities, can be effectively monitored. For us in the Congress, the monitoring process itself is the best tool to identify such best practices on the ground. Monitoring missions represent the most concrete action – first, because we can pinpoint and examine the problem first-hand in the very community where it exists; but also, because we can see on the ground the best practices in trying to solve this problem. Monitoring gives us an opportunity to enter into a dialogue with all the relevant stakeholders in the country that may have concrete proposals and possible solutions, knowing best the needs of their communities. In the long run, this will also help us to develop country-specific and targeted indicators for human rights implementation.

For example, only last week, the Congress carried out a monitoring mission to Slovenia where we were informed of good practices with regard to Roma integration in municipalities – the practices which we can then share with other stakeholders and recommend to other local communities.

The Congress has been monitoring the situation of local and regional democracy in European countries since 1995, in particular the compliance with the European Charter of Local Self-Government, which is our core mission. In March this year, we decided to add a new element to our assessment of this situation – the local and regional dimension of human rights. We are convinced that local and regional authorities are already playing a key role in providing access to human rights, from housing to health care to schooling and even higher education in certain regions. However, many of them are not fully aware of their important contribution to safeguarding human rights by a large variety of activities they are performing. We need to raise awareness of these issues, and to make sure that the conditions exist in our communities for the full exercise of these rights.

This was the main emphasis of the report by Lars O. Molin which the Congress discussed in March, and which was presented at the Agency meeting here in Vienna in June. Based on the report, the Congress adopted a resolution and a recommendation stressing that promoting and protecting human rights is a responsibility shared by all the tiers of governance, but it is in regions and cities that human rights need to be nurtured, and local and regional authorities have a key role to play in their day-to-day application. We therefore recommended setting up appropriate structures and developing procedures at local and regional level to monitor and improve human rights situations, in particular in providing public services.

First and foremost, we need to elaborate indicators to gauge the fulfilment of human rights. We also need to provide the necessary budgeting and training for human rights implementation, establish independent complaints mechanisms at local level, and enforce guarantees of equal access to public services, and a system of their quality control.

The same Congress Rapporteur, Mr Molin, is currently preparing a follow-up report which will focus on human rights indicators. We must of course know what we are planning to monitor – mostly social and economic rights, such as housing, health care, education and employment, but also some cultural and even civil and political rights which are within the competence of local and regional authorities – for example, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly. I hope that our discussions today will be mutually enriching and will contribute to our common work in this area. 

It is a pleasure for me to introduce today’s speakers:

Ms Rosa BADA, Director of the Civil Rights Department in the City of Barcelona, Spain,

Mr Klaus STARL, Executive Secretary of the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Graz, Austria, who is also advisor to the European Coalition of Cities against Racism,

Mr Pablo ESPINELLA from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,

and Mr Arnoldas ABRAMAVICIUS, Mayor of the Zarasai District Municipality in Lithuania, member of the Committee of the Regions and Rapporteur on the opinion on children’s rights, and the related study on indicators.

Before giving the floor to Ms Rosa BADA, I must say that Barcelona has done tremendous work in raising awareness and mobilising cities for the delivery of human rights – by organising the network of Cities for Human Rights, and by promoting the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City, among other things.

It is only symbolic that Rapporteur Molin made the very first presentation of his draft report in Barcelona, at the Forum of Cities for Human Rights in May 2009, before it was discussed by the Congress. We are also currently working with Mr Rafael RIBO, Catalan Ombudsman on Human Rights, on the idea to set up a European network of local human rights ombudsmen, so your city, and your region, have a prominent place in the work of the Congress.