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HUMAN RIGHTS HANDBOOK FOR LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES VOL.1 FIGHTING AGAINST DISCRIMINATION French edition: Manuel sur les droits de l’homme pour les élus locaux et régionaux. Vol.1 Reproduction of the texts in this publication is authorized provided that the full title of the source, namely the Council of Europe, is cited. If they are intended to be used for commercial purposes or translated into one of the non-official languages of the Council of Europe, please contact [email protected]. Printing and graphic design: OPTEMIS Photos: Council of Europe – Shutterstock Edition: February 2019 HUMAN RIGHTS HANDBOOK FOR LOCAL AND REGIONAL AUTHORITIES VOL.1 FIGHTING AGAINST DISCRIMINATION Page 1 Human rights handbook for Local and regional authorities All these contents are available on the following website which is regularly updated with initiatives developed by European local and regional authorities in the field of Human rights. www.coe.int/congress-human-rights For more information: Council of Europe Congress of Local and regional Authorities Monitoring Committee [email protected] Tel: +33 3 88 41 21 10 Page 2 Contents Gudrun MOSLER-TÖRNSTRÖM, President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe 5 Harald BERGMANN, Congress Spokesperson on Human Rights 7 Foreword 9 WHY PUBLISH A HUMAN RIGHTS HANDBOOK? 13 Why engage with human rights? 14 How can you make use of the handbook on human rights? 15 What are human rights? 16 The role of local and regional authorities: what do human rights provisions mean for your city or region in practice? 17 How can you respond to local challenges with human rights? 19 Why is the issue of non-discrimination at the centre of human rights at local level? 21 REFUGEES - ASYLUM SEEKERS - MIGRANTS INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS (IDPs) 25 PART I Definitions 26 PART II What are their rights? 31 PART III Challenges in practice 33 PART IV Responses 35 Facilitating integration into your community 35 Providing adequate housing 46 Enhancing integration in the labour market and economy 51 Protecting vulnerable groups (women, unaccompanied minors) 59 Providing better access to education 63 Countering hate speech and acts of violent extremism 68 PART V Recommendations 74 PART VI Reference texts and further reading 77 ROMA - TRAVELLERS 79 PART I Definitions 80 PART II What are their rights? 82 PART III Challenges in practice 85 Page 3 Human rights handbook for Local and regional authorities PART IV Responses 88 Council of Europe support programmes for local authorities 88 Integration in local community life (including housing and political participation) 91 Integration and protection of Roma children 97 Access to education 102 Health service 106 Integration into the labour market 109 Fight against anti-gypsyism and awareness-raising of Roma culture/identity 111 PART V Recommendations 117 PART VI Reference texts and further reading 120 LGBTI 123 PART I Definitions 124 PART II What are their rights? 128 PART III Challenges in practice 130 PART IV Responses 132 Access to social rights and services (including employment, healthcare and housing) 132 Developments in local and regional legislation 136 Awareness-raising, education, visibility and mainstreaming in policy-making processes 139 Co-operation between authorities 146 Safety and security 148 PART V Recommendations 151 PART VI Reference texts and further reading 153 REFERENCES TO CITED INITIATIVES 155 Page 4 Gudrun MOSLER-TÖRNSTRÖM President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (2016 - 2018) Nobody questions any longer the role of local and regional authorities as important actors at the forefront of human rights protection. I have been able to witness, through my experience as regional and European representative, the progress achieved in the field of promoting human rights in our municipalities and regions. As a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities since 2009, I remember how challenging it was for us, at the very beginning, to advocate human rights protection as not solely a prerogative of national governments; to us, local and regional authorities must share responsibility for implementing human rights at the grass-roots level. Today, as the first female President of the Congress, I am proud of the direction in which ideas have evolved owing to the commitment and tireless work of Congress members and our partners in the area of human rights. Congress members in their different functions as mayors, councillors and governors are responsible for a variety of public services such as education, health and housing which go hand in hand with human rights implementation. The question now is how to better secure human rights while implementing the local policies that most closely affect the citizens in our communities. Fulfilling this responsibility is in no way an easy task. We must comply with our human rights duties against the backdrop of an economic crisis, unprecedented migrant flows and the rise of extremism. Every day we face the competing interests of various social groups and we need to tackle conflicting situations in a non-discriminatory, transparent and inclusive manner, all the while observing human rights. International human rights standards are constantly developing and new international treaties come into force covering new generations of human rights. This makes it crucial for all policy makers to keep up with the pace. Page 5 Human rights handbook for Local and regional authorities What do we, as local and regional representatives, need to know in order to respect human rights in our everyday activities? What opportunities do human rights open to us? What responsibilities do they entail? And what are the challenges we must face? I felt that contributing to finding solutions to these issues is not only my duty as President of a Congress that brings together over 150 000 local and regional authorities in 47 European States, but also my passion as Vice-President of the Regional Parliament of Salzburg. Harald Bergmann, the Congress Spokesperson on Human Rights and Mayor of Middelburg (Netherlands), and I believe that solutions may be found through exploring a wide variety of successful examples of human rights promotion and protection at grass-roots level, implemented by various local authorities in the Council of Europe member States. That is how the idea of this handbook was born. In the course of its preparation we received precious support from the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Agency for Fundamental Rights of the European Union and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. I extend my warmest thanks to them for their excellent work and co-operation. We decided to make the right to non-discrimination the main focus of this handbook, dedicating it to specific groups of people who need our particular attention, such as refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and IDPs, Roma and Travellers and LGBTI people. It is our firm conviction that solidarity should guide our policies at all levels of government in order to ensure stability and social progress in the whole of Europe. To achieve this goal, we encourage the local and regional representatives as well as the personnel of territorial administrations to make use of this handbook in their everyday work and in the interest of the welfare of their citizens and the strengthening of grassroots democracy. Let’s make today’s challenges tomorrow’s opportunities! Page 6 Harald BERGMANN Congress Spokesperson on Human Rights As Spokesperson on Human Rights of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Mayor of the city of Middelburg in the Netherlands and, most importantly, as a citizen with a firm commitment to the fundamental values and rights upon which Europe was built, I am proud to present the Human Rights Handbook for Local and Regional Authorities. Under the umbrella of the Congress Human Rights Action Plan 2016-2017, this Handbook is a hands- on guide, prepared for local and regional decision-makers, which aims at raising awareness, presenting best practice examples and providing concrete guidance on how to shape a human rights approach in our municipalities and regions. The Congress is the only international body so far to develop such an instrument for the promotion of human rights at local and regional level. After an introduction on the application of human rights in grassroots policies, the handbook analyses the challenges for local and regional authorities and presents best practices. The focus of this edition of the handbook is on the right to non-discrimination, in particular, towards three target groups: refugees, asylum seekers, migrants and IDPs; Roma and Travellers and LGBTI people. The choice of these focus groups was endorsed by the Monitoring Committee of the Congress, after extensive consultations with its members, when the Congress Human Rights Action Plan was discussed at one of its meetings in 2016. Since then, the work on this Handbook has been a regular item on the Committee’s agenda, and the Committee will soon be invited to discuss the choice of themes for the next edition. I would underline that this Handbook is not intended to be and will never be exhaustive, either with regard to the choice of themes, or with regard to examples of best practice. It has rather been designed as a work in progress, which will continue to develop, as it is enriched by new suggestions and experiences. Page 7 Human rights handbook for Local and regional authorities The thematic analysis for these three groups is structured in six sections: a short definition of the respective group, a description of their rights, the challenges they face in practice, a collection of best practices implemented with success in European cities and regions, and finally, reference texts and further readings.
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