How to be a Human Right City was developed out of a Spring 2024 Young Student Task Force led by Professor Anthony Chase. This Task Force worked with the to create a Toolkit to support local actors in the United States and around the world to implement international human rights obligations at the local level. The development of Human Right Cities (HRCs) indicates the desire of local actors to bring to bear human rights law and principles on local issues. This ambition is much needed! But it also presents many challenges. Many HRC declarations have been, unfortunately, more rhetorical than real. Translating human rights commitments from rhetoric to reality requires shared understandings on human rights obligations and how to implement them effectively. Hence the need for a guide of steps cities can take to not just declare themselves an HRC, but also make substantively real human rights promises where they matter most: on the ground for residents in cities around the world.
In addition to the work the students listed below put into creating this Toolkit, Professor Chase worked with Task Force liaison Gaea Morales (Oxy/DWA 2018) with the support of two student Task Force members -- Arden Courtney Collins and Peter Hrant Vartanian -- to distill this research into a short piece on why Human Rights Cities are rising across the globe. That piece can be found here:
Student Task Force members: Mary Ellen Coaty, Arden Courtney Collins, Mathilde D矇p矇ry, Raja Bella Hicks, Elsa Marsh, Taylor Miller, Riley Polaner, Francesca Romero, Lily Snyder, and Peter Vartanian.
