Welcome to the blog of the:
Human Dignity and Human Rights Caucus
                                                                    Promoting Human Rights in the WSF

One of the main issues on the agenda of World Social Forum (WSF), right from the beginning in 2001 involved Human Rights. The number of activities and of organisations organising workshops, seminars and others grew so quickly that already in 2003 concerns were raised among the HR community about the lack of coordination leading to duplication and waste of time and opportunity.

This lead, at the 2005 Porto Alegre Forum, to a basic mechanism for information exchange –, the human rights Caucus which, together with the Forum organisers’ efforts at ‘agglutination’ improved the situation. In 2006 –the year of the polycentrics in Mali, Pakistan and Venezuela- little was on the issue. For the Nairobi-Forum in 2007, the Human Dignity and Human Rights Caucus organised a central venue, an ambitious joint programme with hight profile personalities such as Mary Robinson and joint registration. Around 80 organisations, local, regional and international, decided to carry out their activities within the framework of the HDHRC. More information: http://hdhrc.over-blog.com/categorie-10210054.html

A brief evaluation of this experience concluded that it was useful to maintain the basic structure of the Caucus, with a small, half-time secretariat guaranteeing communication, specifically to enable working together in the WSF-framework. In 2008, the Caucus did not find a broad (i.e. international) base for HR activities for the Global Day of Action: the core-group did organise competition on innovation in bringing forward HR-issues. There were around 60 innnovative proposals from all around the world. The caucus also attempted to bring human rights issues to the WEF in Davos. More information on: http://hdhrc.over-blog.com/categorie-10210051.html

The recent 2009-Social Forum in Belém saw the organisation of a consolidated HR-programme, centred mainly on the Human Rights Tent and with significant participation of the Brazilian HR organisations and networks. For more information see: http://hdhrc.over-blog.com/categorie-10310426.html

In summary, with a constituency interested in using the Forum as an effective platform for debate, exchange and strategising on Human Rights, the Human Rights Caucus has gained an element of continuity but at the same time programmes organised at the Fora show a very varied pattern of participation and representativity.

It is now necessary for the Caucus to reflect on these experiences a) to see whether there is a need on the side of the HR community for such a structure/mechanism and, if so,b) what it would look like and how it could or should function. To help the core-group members organise a debate and come up with answers, we would appreciate your response to the following questions and your comments and suggestions

Name of your organisation/country.

1. Which Fora did you attend?

2. Did your organisation see itself as part of the Caucus?

3. If so: what benefits/advantages –if any- did you see in terms of your participation in the Fora?

4. What problems/limitations did you experience?

5. What suggestions could you offer on the future of the Caucus:

   • in terms of organisation?

   • In terms of coordination-process and programming?

Im the WSF Opening event the Human rights caucus has the following meeting point :

The Belem WSF is a clear expression of the fruitful results of our networking efforts. While in previous Forums the caucus hosted a significant number of individual organisations and activities, in the current eddition the emphasis has been put in promoting networking and joint activities.
 

International/ Regional

Amnesty International
APRODEV

CIDSE

CIVICUS
Ecumenical Forum

Equalinrights

Gender Equality Coalition

Housing and Land Rights Network -Habitat International Coalition – HIC

FIAN International

ICCO

International Federation for Human Rights-FIDH

Plataforma interamericana de derechos humanos, democracia y desarrollo (PIDHDD)
Social Watch
World Council of Churches

National

Brot für die Welt/Bread for the World (Germany)

National Forum about Debt and Development (Cote d'Ivoire)

Peuples Solidaires (France)

PWESCR (India)

Society for Women\'s Action and Training Initiatives- SWATI- (India)

Terre des Hommes (France)

Brasil

Centro pelo Direito à Moradia e Contra Despejos

CONECTAS

FIAN Brasil

Foro Ecuménico de Brasil y de Suramerica

Forum against criminalization of social movements

Frente Cearense por uma Nova Cultura de Água

GAJOP
Movimento nacional de direitos humanos (MNDH)

PAD

Plataforma DhESCA

Social Network for Justice and Human Rights

Sociedad paraense de defensa dos dereitos humanos
Terra de Direitos

Sobre el caucus de derechos humanos en Español

If Yes, join the HDHRC !!!

As in previous World Social Forum (WSF) editions, the Human Dignity and Human Rights Caucus (HDHRC) would like to contribute to the coordination and visibility of human rights activities within the Forum, to be held in Belem do Para (Brazilian amazonian region) in January 2009. 

For next WSF edition, the HDHRC is focusing on facilitating alliance building, new links and a hosting human rights space as well as on advancing core Human Rights themes. Consequently, the HDHRC will not organise any specific activity on its own. In practical terms, your organisation can use the HDHRC as a platform for :

• Sharing information & ideas about Human Rights related activities. Some organisations may be planning activities with similar objectives than yours. The WSF is an excellent occasion for networking and cooperation. Publish your activity in our list (we are creating it), which will be diffused as broadly as possible before and during the WSF.

• Contacting other organisations to organise joint activities. Read carefully our list and feel free to contact the persons in charge of any specific activity if you are interested / or willing to contribute.

• Participating in the Human Rights space. As in previous WSF, the HDHRC is trying to create a human rights space to host self-organised activities.

In particular, in order to ensure some continuity with past WSF editions, it would be useful to foster coordination and networking in particular on the following issues:

Human rights and struggles for social and economic justice
Human rights and struggles for gender equity
Human rights and struggles over habitat, land and environment
Human rights, mobility and citizenship gap
Human rights and conflict, militarization and culture of impunity
Human rights and faith and cultural diversity

If your organisation/movement would like to be in charge of one of these topics, to be associated to it or even suggest another human rights related topic within the framework of the caucus, please contact us as soon as possible. Some organisations have already expressed their will to take the responsibility to gather as many actors as possible around these issues and you can already join them (please contact us !). Even if the process is open, to take the responsibility for an issue usually means to:

-Organise, in collaboration with a diverse set of actors at the WSF, a panel discussion, plenary, round-table, workshop or other type of cultural event on issues linking these human rights themes with the priority themes of the caucus.

-Support in linking people interested in the theme, to exchange, share and build contacts

These are only a few ideas about what the caucus could do and we welcome any kind of proposal / suggestion which would help us to reach our aims. Feel free to contact us and share your ideas !! (contact person: Rosa Sanchez, coordinationhdhrc@yahoo.com).

Looking forward to hearing from you !

The HDHRC organised a press conference in Davos on 22 January 2008 to highlight the links between the World Economic Forum and human rights accountability gaps. Experts in this area and representatives of the local initiatives awarded by the HR & Accountability contest gathered in Davos to share their knowledge and challenge political and economic leaders to uphold their human rights responsibilities.

Invitation

Online discussion on

Gender equity and women’s rights at the World Social Forum

Monday 21, January through Saturday, 26 January 2008

Join ICCO and equalinrights for an online discussion on gender equity and women’s rights at the World Social Forum (WSF), Monday, 21 January through Saturday, 26 January 2008.

At the WSF 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya, gender equity and women’s rights received increased attention. The Human Dignity and Human Rights Caucus included gender equity as a key theme of its program, and more than 15 participating organisations held gender-focused events. The Feminist Dialogues held a pre-WSF meeting followed by a number of events on women’s issues. The Peace Women Across the Global movement staged workshops, an exhibition and a rally. A variety of grassroots organizations and networks also hosted events on women’s rights and gender issues in Nairobi.

Key issues and challenges raised in Nairobi included widespread impunity for violent crimes against women, lack of government accountability to citizens, failure to apply international law at the domestic level, women and girls’ lack of access to resources, and the need for greater and continued education, awareness raising and capacity building. Participants shared strategies for achieving gender equity ranging from capacity building and education to advocacy and political participation. Networking, solidarity and information sharing were also highlighted. At the end of the Nairobi forum, a number of participants called on the WSF to promote greater representation of women on WSF organising committees and at regional and local social forums that operate under the WSF Charter of Principles, was well as to incorporate gender equity and gender issues more fully into WSF events.

With this challenge in mind, ICCO and equalinrights invite organisations working for gender equity/women’s rights, which have participated in past WSFs and/or plan to attend WSF 2009 in Brazil, to join together for an online discussion during the week leading up to Saturday, 26 January – the WSF 2008 Global Day of Action. The objectives of the discussion are:

• Sharing information about local plans for 26 January.

• Identifying opportunities for continued sharing and networking.

• Collective brainstorming about how to bring gender and women’s issues more to the forefront at the next centralized WSF, to take place January 2009 in Brazil.

• Concrete action planning for shared initiatives to take place at the WSF 2009. A possible example is to establish a platform or coalition on gender equity.

What: Online discussion on gender equity and women’s rights at the World Social Forum

When: Monday, 21 January – Saturday, 26 January 2008

Who: Organisations working for gender equity/women’s rights, which have participated in past WSFs and/or plan to attend WSF 2009 in Brazil

How: Contact Janet Rodenburg, ICCO Advisor Gender & Partner Policy: Janet.Rodenburg@icco.nl or +31 30 8801596

PLEASE JOIN US!