Cités et Gouvernements Locaux Unis (in French) Ciudades y Gobiernos Locales Unidos (in Spanish) | |
Abbreviation | UCLG (in English) CGLU (in French) CGLU (in Spanish) |
---|---|
Formation | 5 May 2004 [1] |
Founded at | Paris [1] |
Merger of | IULA, FMCU, Metropolis |
Type | International umbrella organization |
Purpose | Representing and defending the interests of local governments on the world stage [2] |
Headquarters | Barcelona, Spain |
Region served | Worldwide |
Methods | Advocacy & dissemination of best practices |
Fields | Sustainable development goals: |
Membership | over 240 000 members [3] |
Official language | English, French, Spanish [4] |
Secretary General | Emilia Saiz |
Ilsur Metshin [5] | |
Uğur İbrahim Altay, Johnny Araya Monge, Anne Hidalgo, Li Mingyuan, Jan van Zanen [6] | |
Ada Colau & Carlos Martínez Mínguez [6] | |
Armand Béouindé, Ashok Kumar Byanju Shrestha, Aysen Nikolayev, Carola Gunnarsson, Mohamed Saadie, Carolina Cosse, Joanne Vanderheyden, Wen Guohui, Pablo Jurado Moreno [7] | |
UCLG Executive Bureau | |
Main organ | UCLG General Assembly |
Subsidiaries | 9 UCLG Sections [8] & 19 Cross-sectional bodies: [9] |
Affiliations | Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments, [10] United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities & UN ECOSOC's Development Cooperation Forum [11] |
Website | www |
Remarks | Partners: Association of Netherlands Municipalities, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Compact of Mayors, European Commission, ICLEI, OECD, UNICEF, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, UN-Water, UN Women, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, World Bank, World Water Council |
United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) is an umbrella international organisation for cities, local and regional governments, and municipal associations throughout the world that is concerned with representing and defending the interests of local governments on the world stage. [12]
The organization achieved inclusion of Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities into Agenda 2030, [13] [14] aggregates best local practices into action plans, [15] [16] provides regular updates on the progress and proposals to High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. [17] [18] [19] Its day-to-day activities include hosting meetings of mayors and other local and regional leaders, [20] [21] running joint projects with partners, [22] organizing international peer-to-peer training on local policies and practices, [23] [24] and advocacy for the interests of local and regional governments at the UN [25] [26] [27]
Since founding in 2004, [28] [29] UCLG is headquartered in Barcelona (the World Secretariat, Metropolis and UCLG Regions), with its regional offices in Brasilia, Brussels, Istanbul, Jakarta, Kazan, La Paz, Ottawa & Rabat. [30] [31] [32] It is the largest organization of sub-national governments in the world, with over 240,000 members in over 140 UN Member States and understands itself as the united voice and world advocate of democratic local self-government, de facto representing over half the world's population across seven world regions: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Euroasia, Europe, Middle East & West Asia, Latin America and North America. [33] [34]
The organisation's work programme focuses on: [2]
UCLG's origins go back to 1913, when the Union Internationale des Villes (UIV) was set up at the International Congress of the Art of Building Cities and Organising Community Life in Ghent, Belgium. [35] The establishment of the UIV, a permanent office for communication and documentation on municipal issues, marked the birth of the international municipal movement. The association had a Provisional Council of 30 members and its first seat was in Brussels. [36] In 1928, the UIV changed its name to the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA). [37] In 1948, IULA's secretariat moved from Ghent to The Hague in the Netherlands, [37] where it remained until 2004. The United Towns Organisation (UTO) (French: Fédération mondiale des cités unies (FMCU)) was set up in 1957 in Aix-les-Bains, France. [38] It was initially known as the World Federation of Twin Cities (French: Fédération mondiale des villes jumelées).
In 1984, then President of the Regional Council of Ile-de-France, Michel Giraud, convened the first Metropolis Congress. [39] The constituent Congress of Metropolis was held in Montreal in April 1985, and was attended by 14 founding member cities:
Abidjan, Addis Ababa, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Cairo, Colombo, Ile-de-France, London, Los Angeles, Mexico, Montreal, New York, Tokyo and Turin. The Metropolis secretariat was initially established in Montreal, moving to Barcelona under the presidency of then Mayor of Barcelona, Joan Clos, in 2000. In 2004, three international associations of local and regional governments – the International Union of Local Authorities (IULA), United Towns Organisation (UTO), and Metropolis – agreed to come together to form a single organization at UCLG's founding congress. [40]
The united organization started under the leadership of its founding President Bertrand Delanoë, mayor of Paris, serving two three-year terms (2004-2010) and continued under Kadir Topbaş of Istanbul (2010-2016). [41]
UCLG is a membership organization with a democratic, federal structure. Its members include individual local and regional governments and their national associations. UCLG's governing bodies are made up of locally elected leaders, chosen by their peers in elections by UCLG members.
UCLG's main policy-making body is the World Council. It has over 300 members from all world regions and meets no less than once every three years. [50] Previous meetings were in Madrid (2018) [49] & Hangzhou (2017). [51]
The UCLG Executive Bureau is made up of 115 members. It meets twice a year and makes proposals and carries out the decisions of the World Council. [52]
The presidency of the UCLG world network is made up of the president, six co-presidents and the treasurer, accompanied by two special envoys.
The presidency for the 2021-2024 period is:
President: Ilsur Metshin, Mayor of Kazan, Chairman of UNACLA. [5]
Co-presidents: [6]
Treasurers:
Special Envoy to the United Nations: Ada Colau, Mayor of Barcelona (Spain)
Special Envoy of the Presidency to the New Urban Agenda: Carlos Martínez Mínguez, Mayor of Soria (Spain)
Current UCLG Secretary-General is Emilia Saiz, who was named in December 2017 to replace outgoing Josep Roig. [54]
There are 19 permanent UCLG Cross-sectional bodies. [9]
There are four UCLG policy councils:
Each Policy Council can have up to 15 representatives with a political mandate, with at least one member of the Presidency. These report at each Executive Bureau session.
There are four UCLG policy committees:
There are two UCLG working groups:
There are six UCLG communities of practice:
There are three UCLG Ffora:
UCLG meets for World Summits, regular Congresses, Executive Bureau meetings & Reunions, organized by the World Secretariat & UCLG Sections. It also organizes various seminars and trainings. [56] The upcoming event is World Summit in Durban on 11–15 November 2019. [57]
UCLG facilitates the Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments (GTF), [58] a coordination and consultation mechanism that brings together the major international networks of local governments to undertake joint advocacy work relating to global policy processes. The Global Taskforce was set up in 2013 to bring the perspectives of local and regional governments to the SDGs, climate change agenda and New Urban Agenda, in particular. As well as UCLG, Global Taskforce participants include ICLEI and C40 Cities.
The United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities (UNACLA) was established by the UN Habitat Governing Council Resolution 17/18 of 1999 as an advisory body to strengthen the dialogue of the UN System with local authorities in relation to the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. UCLG chairs UNACLA and holds 10 of its 20 seats. UCLG co-hosts the UNACLA secretariat with UN-Habitat. [59]
Agenda 21 is a non-binding action plan of the United Nations with regard to sustainable development. It is a product of the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992. It is an action agenda for the UN, other multilateral organizations, and individual governments around the world that can be executed at local, national, and global levels. One major objective of the Agenda 21 initiative is that every local government should draw its own local Agenda 21. Its aim initially was to achieve global sustainable development by 2000, with the "21" in Agenda 21 referring to the original target of the 21st century.
The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is a United Nations organization that contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide.
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ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability is an international non-governmental organization that promotes sustainable development. ICLEI provides technical consulting to local governments to identify and meet sustainability objectives. It has a strong focus on biodiversity and has worked across local, national, and global levels. ICLEI was the first and is the largest transnational network of local governments engaging in climate action.
C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group is a group of 96 cities around the world that represents one twelfth of the world's population and one quarter of the global economy. Created and led by cities, C40 is focused on fighting the climate crisis and driving urban action that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, while increasing the health, wellbeing and economic opportunities of urban residents.
The Commonwealth Local Government Forum (CLGF) is a global local government organisation, bringing together local authorities, their national associations and the ministries responsible for local government in the member countries of the Commonwealth. CLGF works with national and local governments to support the development of democratic values and good local governance and is the associated organisation officially recognised by Commonwealth Heads of Government as the representative body for local government in the Commonwealth.
Culture 21, also known as Agenda 21 for culture, is a program for cultural governance developed in 2002–2004 and organized by United Cities and Local Governments.
The Mediterranean Interregional Commission is one of the twelve Committees of the United Cities and Local Governments.
In the United Nations, the Post-2015 Development Agenda was a set of talks and discussion that led to the creation of the 2016 Sustainable Development Goals. This replaced the 2015 Millennium Development Goals.
The United Nations created 17 world development goals call the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). They were created in 2016 with the aim of "peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future."
The UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights is one of the four Committees of the United Cities and Local Governments. As an autonomous network in the framework of UCLG, its stated goal is to bring together local authorities from across the world to exchange points of view and local initiatives on social inclusion, participatory democracy and human rights. Inheritor of the forums of local authorities (FAL) held in parallel to the first editions of the World Social Forum, the Committee has become a relevant stakeholder in global advocacy for human rights in the city and the Right to the City Throughout its history, the Committee been characterized by facilitating meetings and networking between progressive local authorities, with a special emphasis in the Latin American and European region. Headquartered in Barcelona, the Committee is composed by more than 100 local governments and various partner organizations.
United Cities and Local Governments Middle East and West Asia Section (UCLG-MEWA) is one of nine regional sections of United Cities and Local Governments, with headquarters in Istanbul.
Cities Alliance is a global partnership fighting urban poverty and supporting cities to deliver sustainable development. To manage its activities, the Cities Alliance operates a multi-donor fund with UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS), as host and trustee. Different members provide direction, financing and advocacy. Cities Alliance aims to deliver solutions to urban poverty.
A Human Rights City is a municipality that engages with human rights. There are other definitions of human rights city available which are more specific and look at the human rights city from a particular angle. One says that a Human Rights City is a municipality that refers explicitly to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights standards and/or law in their policies, statements, and programs. Another definition states that a Human Rights City is 'a city which is organised around norms and principles of human rights'. This sociological definition emphasises the Human Rights City as a process to which to a varying degree a variety of agents contribute: from activists, experts and academics to international organisations, state governments, and local authorities and officials. Also, this definition does not qualify human rights as international, based on the fact that cities sometimes articulate human rights in their own charters in ways that have no formal or immediate recognition in international law, and may anticipate their appropriation by international bodies and incorporation into international law. The author claims that this definition captures better the different ways in which cities engage with human rights and participate in their co-production, not simply as receivers but also agents of human rights.
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