[Preview of the World Human Rights Cities Forum 2018]

Whom Do We Live With? - Diversity, Inclusiveness, and Peace 

The World Human Rights Cities Forum 2018 will run for 4 days from October 18 to 21, at the Kimdaejung Convention Center in Gwangju City, South Korea. This year’s forum will have the main theme of “Whom Do We Live With? Diversity, Inclusiveness, and Peace”.

In the context of the global scene, city policies and culture are determined by the mainstream, at a time where intolerance and discrimination against minorities is intensifying. Knowing who our diverse neighbors are, and recognizing the various identities in our neighborhood, can become a key stepping stone to building peaceful urban communities. With this in mind, we wish to talk about respect, tolerance, and solidarity, which lie at the heart of this practice.

Also in 2018, we are celebrating both the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the 25^th anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Program of Action. Accordingly, at this year’s forum, local governments will have in-depth discussions with the central government to search for a new vision of cities as the main agents of implementing universal human rights over the next 70 years.

During the forum, there will be several different types of session, covering various subjects:

1. Plenary Session – seeking to find a way to practice the values of ‘Diversity, Inclusiveness, Peace’ in everyday life.

2. Asia Human Rights Cities Network – in which people related with Asian Human Rights Cities and various activists will participate.

3. Human Rights Cities Policy Session – discussing the human rights policy in Barcelona, Spain, and searching for new converts and visions of domestic Human Rights Cities.

4. Thematic Sessions – there will be conferences in 10 fields including Gender, Disability, Migrants and Refugees, Village, Peace, and more.

We will also have additional special events such as the Gwangju Global Congress, incorporating immigrants in Gwangju, and the Human Rights Paper Presentation.

To acknowledge the recent reconciliation and summit between South and North Korean leaders, the 2018 Forum will look back and reflect on the 70^th anniversary of the 4.3 Jeju Uprising, in which 30,000 innocent civilians were killed by the national police and military over issues involving ideological confrontations between the two Koreas. We will therefore talk about the role of human rights cities in building peace in the Northeast Asian region during the thematic session of ‘City and Peace.’

The 2018 Forum is co-hosted by Gwangju Metropolitan City and the Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education. The forum is co-organized by the Gwangju International Center (GIC) and the UCLG Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy, & Human Rights (UCLG-CISDP).

This forum is sponsored by the following Korean government departments and international organizations:

the Ministry of Education,

the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,

the Ministry of Justice,

the National Human Rights Commission of Korea,

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees – Republic of Korea,

the Korean National Commission for UNESCO,

and       the Asia-Pacific Center of Education for International Understanding (APCEIU).