In January, the focus of Graz's City Council meeting was on human rights and their local implementation. The Council not only presented the 2024 Human Rights Report but also adopted a new "10-Point Program Against Racism and Discrimination" as part of the implementation of the City of Graz's membership of ECCAR.
New 10-Point Plan of Action against Racism and Discrimination
In the framework of the ACTION Project, the Graz’s City Council adopted a new "10-Point Program Against Racism and Discrimination", as part of the European Coalition of Cities Against Racism (ECCAR). This initiative aims to further strengthen the city’s commitment to combating racism and discrimination on a local level, building on the foundation laid by the 10-Point Plan of Action developed through ECCAR. This new local action plan will play a crucial role in supporting Graz’s long-term commitment to social justice and inclusion, creating a city environment where all citizens, regardless of their background, feel safe, respected, and valued.
Presentation of the 2024 Human Rights Report:
The Human Rights City of Graz is dedicated to upholding and promoting human rights for all. To support this commitment, the city established the Human Rights Advisory Board (Menschenrechtsbeirat) in 2007, tasked with advising the mayor and city council on human rights-related matters. As part of its work, the board publishes an annual Human Rights Report, providing a detailed analysis of the human rights situation in Graz. These reports follow a two-year cycle: the State-of-the-Art Report offers an in-depth examination of key human rights issues and presents recommendations for improvement, while the Follow-up Report assesses the progress made in implementing the previous year’s recommendations. The 2024 Human Rights Report focuses on evaluating the implementation of recommendations made to the city government and municipal council in the previous report. The five recommendations cover a broad spectrum of urban policy and social issues, including e-governance, domestic violence, the political participation of children and youth, measures against racism, and linguistic diversity in the city.
The presentation in the City Council was led by Elke Lujansky-Lammer, Chair of the Graz Human Rights Advisory Board, and Dr Klaus Starl, Director of the European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (ETC) at the University of Graz. In her introduction, Mayor Elke Kahr expressed her gratitude to the Human Rights Advisory Board, the ETC, and the employees of the City of Graz for their continuous dedication to ensuring human rights remain a key consideration in the city’s work and daily life. She emphasized that human rights should serve as a fundamental guide for community living in Graz. The report concluded that, overall, there has been strong adherence to human rights principles in e-government and efforts against domestic violence. The city has also made significant progress in fostering youth participation and combating racism. However, the report highlighted concerns regarding Graz's approach to diversity, with the handling of heterogeneity and multilingualism seen as inconsistent. A systematic approach based on the rule of law was not evident in this area.
The 2024 Human Rights Report is available both online and in print, including an English version as well as a simplified version. The evaluation for this Report was based on the Graz Declaration on Human Rights from 2001 and the United Nations' assessment framework for economic and social rights.
