HOW DO WE MAKE EUGENE A “HUMAN RIGHTS CITY?”
. The Human Rights Commission of the City of Eugene will be exploring ways to make Eugene a landmark “Human Rights City.” Efforts in this direction have been undertaken in other cities, including San Francisco and New York. The Eugene Human Rights Commission put the “Human Rights City” project on its work plan for 2006-2008, a plan approved by the City Council.
A “Human Rights City” consciously aspires to respect, protect, and fulfill universal human rights. These rights are spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as in international human rights treaties. Such treaties include the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women; the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The resources below provide a starting point for discussion and conversations about how the City of Eugene might fruitfully incorporate international human rights principles and standards into its operations.
The New York Human Rights Initiative and Proposed New York City Ordinance:
New York Human Rights Initiative web site. See especially “About Our Work”, with links to Frequently Asked Questions and the list of testimony at city council hearings: www.nychri.org
Overview of proposed New York City ordinance:
http://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/attachments/65777.htm
Text of proposed New York City ordinance:
http://webdocs.nyccouncil.info/textfiles/Int%200512-2004.htm?CFID=240976&CFTOKEN=42921182
Information on the San Francisco Human Rights Ordinance
San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women web site, with full information about the citys ordinance, gender analysis reports on city agencies, gender analysis guidelines, five-year action plan approved in 2003: http://www.sfgov.org/site/cosw_index.asp?id=10848
Women’s Institute for Leadership Development (WILD) for Human Rights web site: www.wildforhumanrights.org. WILD took the lead in advocating for the existing San Francisco ordinance, and is now seeking to expand it. WILD has developed a workbook, Making Rights Real: A Workbook on the Local Implementation of Human Rights, available by mail from WILD for $20.
Text of 1998 San Francisco ordinance: http://www.sfgov.org/site/cosw_page.asp?id=10849
For the text of a proposed new 2006 San Francisco human rights ordinance in draft form, contact Ken Neubeck at kneubeck@comcast.net.
Other Helpful Information on San Francisco and New York Human Rights Ordinances
Stacy Laira Lozner, Diffusion of Local Regulatory Innovations: The San Francisco CEDAW Ordinance and the New York City Human Rights Initiative, Columbia Law Review (April 2004), to: http://www.twca.ca/TWCA-publications/uploads/Lozner-SF_NYC_CEDAW.pdf
Ford Foundation, Close to Home: Case Studies of Human Rights in the United States (June 2004). See chapter nine on WILD for Human Rights and the San Francisco ordinance.
http://www.fordfoundation.org/pdfs/library/close_to_home.pdf
Here, Joan Bayliss sings at the December 10, 2010 human rights event