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Since 1998 PDHRE is facilitating the development of Human Rights Cities. These cities pledge to create a community in which all members, from policy makers to ordinary citizens, learn about and adhere to human rights obligations. Women and men across all sections of the city learn to understand human rights as a way of life with its political, moral and legal implications. They take steps to use the holistic human rights framework to protects the sanctity of life and promote critical thinking and systemic analysis, with a gender perspective about political, civil, economic, social and cultural concerns within a human rights framework in their city. In the process they examine traditional beliefs and customs as well as current policies and contemporary life in the city. All organizations, public and private, join to monitor both the implementation and violation of human rights at every level of the society.

Since 1998 PDHRE, People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning is facilitating the development of Human Rights Cities. These cities pledge to create a community in which all members, from policy makers to ordinary citizens, learn about and adhere to human rights obligations. Women and men across all sections of the city learn to understand human rights as a way of life with its political, moral and legal implications. They take steps to use the holistic human rights framework to protects the sanctity of life and promote critical thinking and systemic analysis, with a gender perspective about political, civil, economic, social and cultural concerns within a human rights framework in their city. In the process they examine traditional beliefs and customs as well as current policies and contemporary life in the city. All organizations, public and private, join to monitor both the implementation and violation of human rights at every level of the society. They develop ways in which to ensure that all laws, policies, budgets, and relationships are bound by human rights norms and standards that their national government had made a commitment to and undertaken obligations for. This course of action takes place at all levels of the decision-making and problem-solving process, making certain that human rights serve as guiding principles by which the community develops its future plans and institutions.

In its Human Rights Cities Program, PDHRE facilitates and trains community leaders dedicated to developing their city as a human rights city. Strategies and methodologies are locally developed to empower citizens to examine and work towards changing laws, policies and budgets in a context of human rights.  The human rights cities tactic encourages the creation of community relationships that acknowledge, promote and protect the human rights of all the city’s inhabitants.

Founded in 1988 and based in New York City, PDHRE is a non-profit, international service organization, with consultative Status at the UN, that works directly and indirectly with its network of affiliates—primarily women’s and social and economic justice organizations—to further human rights education and learning around the world. PDHRE members include educators, human rights experts, United Nations officials, and human rights advocates and activists who collaborate on educational – learning – dialogical programs in human rights for social and economic transformation.

The development of a Human Rights City begins with the identification of all organizations, groups, stakeholders and municipal governmental agencies that are involved with the social, political and economic issues of the city. Representatives of these groups meet to establish a Steering Committee, which develops a vision for the Human Rights City, and designs a plan through which to reach and engage all members of the community. Committee members also develop a network of educators, lawyers, media people, human rights resource advocates and activists, asking these people to help develop human rights training sessions for parliamentarians, municipal and law enforcement workers, the judiciary, business people, teachers, healthcare and social workers, and government officials, so that all state and non-state actors understand and uphold their obligations and commitments to human rights.

As part of the learning process about human rights each citizen in a Human Rights City is asked to mentor others about human rights, and to monitor and document human rights realization and violations.  For that purpose they examine existing laws, work to amend local and national laws, and lobby for new laws and statutes to promote and protect human rights that are encoded in the human rights Covenants and Conations that were ratified by their country. They ensure that all local and national policies are formulated and implemented within a human rights framework, and also study local budgets and propose alternative budgets in line with this framework. Plans for the community may ultimately include a human rights charter, a human rights strategic plan, or a community human rights court.

On-going programs now exist in Rosario, Argentina; Thies, Senegal (with ten human rights villages); Nagpur, India; Kati, Mali; Dinajpur, Bangladesh; Graz, Austria; Abra, Philippines. These cities were selected on the basis of a demonstrated widespread commitment to human rights, and of PDHRE’s past success with other initiatives in these countries.  PDHRE has a comprehensive website and several publications to strengthen the training at the community level.