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The National Federation of Tunisian Cities (FNVT) is organizing, jointly with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and the Province of Barcelona, with the support of Cities Alliance, an international conference on "Support to decentralisation in ...
The National Federation of Tunisian Cities (FNVT) is organizing, jointly with United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and the Province of Barcelona, with the support of Cities Alliance, an international conference on "Support to decentralisation in Tunisia: Urban realities and future prospects", to be held in Tunis on 28-29 May 2012.
The opening plenary session of the Conference will introduce current problems and issues and will be followed by three workshops for a more thorough analysis of the situation and to suggest possible solutions.
The topic of Workshop 1 will be "City, State and Citizen: entering into a new contract".
Workshop 2 will focus on "The City: taking action for its development".
Workshop 3 will analyze "Tunisia´s legal and regulatory framework".
The conference should gather mayors, urban managers, representatives of the ministries concerned and member citizens of the constituent assembly.
It aims to provide a platform for exchanging experiences between cities in the North and South and to promote more coordinated efforts for the implementation of the most adequate recommendations that will enable setting up an appropriate decentralization system for cities.
Source: UCLG Mediterranean Committee.
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A High-level Local and Regional Authorities’ delegation is to meet the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon on 23 April at UN Headquarters in New York.
"With half of ...
A High-level Local and Regional Authorities’ delegation is to meet the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon on 23 April at UN Headquarters in New York.
"With half of humanity living in cities today, urbanization is a critical issue for Rio+20 - the United Nations Conference on the Sustainable Development - which takes place on 20-22 June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Cities are where the pressures of migration, globalization, economic development, social inequality, environmental pollution and climate change are most directly felt. (...). We expect world leaders to come up with concrete action plans to realize sustainable cities for the future we want." said Sha Zukang, Secretary-General of Rio+20.
Local and regional governments are key stakeholders in the development of a sustainable society. Their role is likely to increase in the current urban era. As the closest sphere of government to the citizen, UCLG believes that local and regional authorities are to bring issues such as governance, accountability, inclusion and culture as key to address many of the burning issues.
United Cities and Local Governments and UN-Habitat with the support of Cities Alliance, are calling all local and regional governments networks together to a meeting in New York where they will present the key messages of these groups for Rio+20 to both United Nations officials and representatives of national delegations.
Special role will be played by the Group of Friends of Sustainable Cities, a group of around 25 States formed in the Rio+20 process in support to the key role of local authorities role to achieve a sustainable development. The session will also provide the opportunity to start examining the road from Rio+20 to the Habitat III Conference.
Local and regional Leaders from all continents have confirmed their participation, including the President of UCLG and Mayor of Istanbul (Turkey), the city host of the Earth Summit Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Mayor of Lisbon (Portugal) and UCLG Co-President, Mayor of Kazan (Russia) and UCLG Co-President, Mayor of Dakar (Senegal) and UCLG Vice-President, Mayor of Stuttgart (Germany) and UCLG Vice-President, Mayor of Montreal (Canada) and UCLG Vice-President, the Vice President of FOGAR, the President of the Region of Tuscany (Italy), the Ministry of Territory and Sustainability of the Catalonia Region (Spain) and Co-Chair of NRG4SD, as well as Councillor of Vancouver (Canada) and President of ICLEI. Representatives of UN Agencies, World Bank and Cities Alliance will also be in attendance.
Read the Joint Messages from Local and Subnational Governments
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The "Serie Derechos Humanos Emergentes" (Emerging Human Rights Series) collection of the Human Rights Institute of Catalonia includes a new publication devoted to “The ...
The "Serie Derechos Humanos Emergentes" (Emerging Human Rights Series) collection of the Human Rights Institute of Catalonia includes a new publication devoted to “The right to the City”. The series, which makes an in-depth analysis of the rights stated in the Universal Declaration of Emerging Human Rights focuses this seventh publication on this right given in article 7, which concerns participative democracy: "Right to the city, which assures that all human beings and the whole of the community find suitable conditions in the city for their political, economic, social, cultural and ecological realisation".
This publication has received the support of the Observatory of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a platform of entities and people defending the right to a decent home and to inclusive cities as a fundamental right of all people. The latest works of the Observatory have focused on claiming and defending the right to a decent home in the city, in the face of present discussions regarding the dwelling and the city being considered investment goods.
To deal with such a broad concept as "right to the city ", the text is divided into three large sections: the first defines what the right to the city is; a second section talks about the dimensions of this right, which includes the right to security, to access to public places and reflections concerning the rights of women; and finally the right to the city in practice, which mentions the European Charter of Safeguard of Human Rights in the City, which is also promoted by the UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participative Democracy and Human Rights.
The UCLG has long promoted the Right to the City through the Committee on Social Inclusion, which has drawn up and promoted the Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City, formally adopted by the whole of the organisation as part of the Florence UCLG World Council held from 9 to 11 December 2011.
More information at:
http://www.idhc.org/
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On the occasion of the 6th World Water Forum, held in Marseille from 12 to 17 March 2012, 350 local and regional elected officials from across the 5 continents have met to increase international the mobilization of local and regional authorities on the issues of water ...
On the occasion of the 6th World Water Forum, held in Marseille from 12 to 17 March 2012, 350 local and regional elected officials from across the 5 continents have met to increase international the mobilization of local and regional authorities on the issues of water and sanitation and to reinforce the commitments agreed upon in the Istanbul Water Consensus.
In the framework of the Forum’s political process, United Cities and Local Governments organized jointly, with the World Water Council, the 3rd International Conference of Local and Regional Authorities. With 12 thematic sessions, this International Conference presented the advances realized under the Istanbul Consensus since its adoption during the 5th World Water Forum in 2009, and allowed participants to exchange on key issues such as water and urbanization, cooperation and solidarity, as well as regional governance.
On behalf of UCLG and before the 1,450 participants in the political process, Co-President Muchadeyi Masunda, Mayor of Harare (Zimbabwe), reminded all of the constant commitment of UCLG toward water issues, as well the support of the World Organization to the United Nations resolution on universal access to water. He also affirmed the need to reinforce the Istanbul Water Consensus and to fully integrate the issue of water in the climate change negotiations that will take place during Rio+20.
During the General Assembly of Local and Regional Authorities, local and regional elected officials decided to strengthen the political dimension of the Istanbul Water Consensus, developing in particular projects of decentralized cooperation, fostering the development of innovative financing based on solidarity, and ensuring the implementation of universal access to water and sanitation.
Throughout the days dedicated the local and regional authorities, the elected officials presented the concrete solutions they have implemented in the framework of the Istanbul Consensus.
Mr. Joan Clos, Executive Director of UN Habitat, highlighted the importance of increasing urbanization in developing countries, particularly in Asia and Africa. “Local authorities must organize themselves to ensure universal access to basic services for all citizens, particularly those living in peripheral cities and informal settlements.” He called for a more human urbanization, and put the emphasis on the need to develop alternative models of urbanization, independent of city size.
Mr. Loïc Fauchon, President of the World Water Council, expressed his wish to follow local and regional authorities in the implementation of the Istanbul Consensus. He added that he was ready to personally follow up on the implementation of the Consensus: “The best governance for water is the one that is defined close to the citizens.”
Mr. Serge Lepeltier, President of the Political Committee of the 6th Forum, Mayor of Bourges (France) and Ambassador, highlighted the importance of placing water at the core of the Rio+20 debates, in particular in the Ministerial Declaration, and he reminded the essential implementation of the right to water and sanitation.
In the framework of the 12 roundtables of the International Conference of Local and Regional Authorities, several local and regional elected officials shared their experiences and solutions on the key current issues: governance of water and sanitation services, management of water in megalopolises, prevention of conflicts linked to the water resources, culture of water in local governance, international cooperation and solidarity.
During this 6th World Water Forum, entitled “Time for Solutions”, local and regional authorities showed their commitment to bring their solutions to the essential global issues of water and to reaffirm their key role in improving access to water and to sanitation.
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´Cities are us´ is a series of events culminating in an international conference that will be held between 28 and 30 June 2012 in the Portuguese city of Coimbra, and a summer school ...
´Cities are us´ is a series of events culminating in an international conference that will be held between 28 and 30 June 2012 in the Portuguese city of Coimbra, and a summer school taking place in Lisbon during the first week of July. This programme is organized by the Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra, in collaboration with the UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights.
These events aim to create a dialogue between the academic community, social movements and political institutions in order to help rethink basic concepts related to the emergence of social inequalities in cities.
´Cities are us´ is based on the work done by the CES and the Committee on Social Inclusion to expand the Inclusive Cities Observatory.
For more information:
http://www.ces.uc.pt/eventos/citiesareus/pages/pt/home.php
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The first Porto Alegre International Film Festival (Democracine) will take place in the Brazilian city from 13th to June 16, 2012.
This festival aims to raise the profile of audiovisual productions related to participatory democracy and citizenship. There will be two categories - a competitive programme for short and medium-length films, and another non-competitive informative programme. The specific issues covered at the event this year will be collective action in everyday democracy, elections, revolutions, democracy and work, the environment as a democratic battlefield, and memories of fights, great fighters and unsung heroes.
The deadline for those wishing to send their audiovisual works related to these issues to the event is 30 March.
Democracine is an initiative of the Municipality of Porto Alegre, the Ministry of Culture of the State of Rio Grande do Sul, the International Observatory for Participatory Democracy (IOPD) and the Centre for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra.
For information and the rules of the competition:
http://www2.portoalegre.rs.gov.br/democracine-ing/ (English)
We are pleased to announce that the 1st 2012 half-yearly meeting of the UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights will take place in Aubagne on 12 March, on the occasion of the World Water Forum (Marseilles, 12 - 17 March). The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the Committee´s strategy in the coming years and to determine the working methodology to follow.
We take this opportunity to invite you to take part in the international seminar on 13 March on "Water, a common asset for Humanity. An issue at stake for the right to the city". The meeting is being organised by the Vice-President of the Commission and President of the Pays d´Aubagne et de l´Étoile (France), Ms. Magali Giovannangeli, in close collaboration with the Forum of Peripheral Local Authorities (FALP), the Forum of Local Authorities for Social Inclusion and Participative Democracy (FAL), the UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion and a number of cities from around the world.
Please, click on the links below to access to the invitation letter from the Committee´s President and to additional information about both activities:
Please do not hesitate to contact the Committee´s executive secretariat should you require any further information, (e.chueca@uclg.org; +34 93 342 87 70).
The Fifty-Sixth Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) of the United Nations will be held on 27 February-9 March 2012 in New York.
Due to the thematic topic of this Session "The empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty eradication", UCLG has not envisaged a wide participation in the formal meetings of the Commission.
The Standing Committee on Gender Equality has however taken this opportunity to establish contacts and identify synergies with UN Women. Anne Hidalgo, Chair of the UCLG Committee on Gender Equality and Deputy-Mayor of Paris, will be leading the delegation.
UCLG has also arranged meetings with the main grassroots women organization partner Huairou Commission, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and envisaged participation in several side events.
As the World Water Forum is approaching, a preparatory meeting took place in Barcelona on 15th February. Many cities and international organizations from different world regions took part in the meeting. The gathering was organized by UCLG and the World Water Council on the invitation of the City of Barcelona and was aimed at discussing the format and agenda of the Local and Regional Authorities Day and the political messages of the LRAs during the 6th World Water Forum.
After a discussion between the participants, a political message was agreed. This message will be adopted during the General Assembly of the Local and Regional Assembly on 15th March.
You can send your amendments to Céline Dubreuil (c.dubreuil@worldwatercouncil.org) and Mohamed Boussraoui (m.boussraoui@uclg.org) before 2 March 2012 at the latest.
To read the political message and the Istanbul Water Consensus, please click here:
Text of the political message of the LRAs
http://www.worldwaterforum6.org/en/commissions/political/local-and-regional-authorities-political-process/?id=220
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SECRETARIADO TÉCNICO EJECUTIVO
COMISIÓN DE INCLUSIÓN SOCIAL Y DEMOCRACIA PARTICIPATIVA
Ciudades y Gobiernos Locales Unidos
Avinyó, 15 - 08002 Barcelona (España)
Tel. +34 93 342 87 70 - Fax +34 93 342 87 60
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