10th World Urban Forum - Side Event on "How inclusive is your city?"

UNESCO and the European Training Center for Human Rights and Democracy (ETC-Graz) are jointly organizing a side event entitled “How inclusive is your city? Guide to public participation, access to information, youth inclusion through sports, and citizenship and human rights education in cities”. This session will take place from 14:45 – 16:15 on 9 February 2020, in the context of the 10th World Urban Forum (Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 8-13 February 2020). The session will bring together a group of international experts, scholars and city officials to debate opportunities and challenges faced by local governments involved in building inclusive cities. The session will also be an opportunity to launch the UNESCO-ETC “Toolkit for Urban Inclusion in Arab Cities” and the study "Implementing Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the Local Level".

The session “How inclusive is you city?” addresses city officials and local administrators to take concrete actions toward building inclusive and sustainable cities. It brings together a group of international experts, scholars and city officials, such as, Cairo Governor, Mayor of Amman and UNESCO Chair in Human Rights and Human Security to debate opportunities and challenges local governments face in building inclusive cities. The panelists will reflect from academic and practical perspectives on possible actions local authorities can take in cooperation with other stakeholders in the society to make their city more inclusive.

The session will be an opportunity to launch two publications:

1- The “Toolkit for Urban Inclusion in Arab Cities”, prepared with the support of UNESCO and the European Training Centre for Democracy and Human Rights, under the umbrella of the Coalition of Arab Cities against Racism, Discrimination, Xenophobia and Intolerance, member of UNESCO’s International Coalition of Inclusive and Sustainable Cities – ICCAR. The toolkit presents policy models and hands-on guidance covering the full policy cycle on four topics of high relevance to the Arab cities; namely, public participation, access to information, sport for youth inclusion, and citizenship and human rights education.

2- The study "Implementing Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the Local Level", is the first volume of the Human Rights Go Local Publication Series that is jointly edited by the UNESCO Centre for the Promotion of Human Rights at the Local and Regional Levels (Graz, Austria) and the UNESCO Chair in Human Rights and Human Security at the University of Graz.

Additionally, the joint policy brief on Local inclusion of migrants and refugees – A gateway to existing ideas, resources and capacities for cities across the world to include newcomers” will be presented during the session.

Speakers:

• Khaled Abdel Al, Cairo Governor, Egypt.
• Youssef El Shawarba, Mayor of Greater Amman Municipality, Jordan.
• Gerd Oberleitner, UNESCO Chair in Human Rights and Human Security, Austria.