Vienna “Human Rights City” – Study and Pilot Phase

It is the aim of the City of Vienna to start an informed, inclusive, participatory and transparent process which first of all creates the necessary pre-conditions for establishing sustainable structures guaranteeing human rights in the City of Vienna and which secondly supports the identification of those topics which can be anchors for human rights principles in the following years.

By way of this process the issues raised by the study “Vienna – City of Human Rights” done by Prof. Manfred Nowak will be deepened and expanded. This process should include the three levels of “institutionalization of human rights structures”, “formalization of a stakeholder dialogue” and “development of a human rights culture”. The following three strands include these three levels to varying extents and serve as a basis for the City of Vienna to formally declare itself as a City of Human Rights develop measures for “mainstreaming” human rights in the policies of the City.

This would include respecting, protecting, implementing and promoting human rights, measures guaranteeing remedies in cases of human rights violations and ensuring regular quality control:

1)    Drafting a political/legal declaration “Vienna – City of Human Rights” and its adoption by the City Council in December 2014.
2)    The implementation of a pilot process with the aim of strengthening the legal and institutional anti-discrimination structures of the City of Vienna.
3)    Accompanying implementing measures to raise awareness for the issue of human rights in the form of events, hearings and small projects.

The Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Fundamental and Human Rights (LBI-GMR) accompanies and supports the City of Vienna in this process of becoming a City of Human Rights at a formal, organizational and substantial level. The LBI-GMR offers to do analysis, prepare and process materials, draft recommendations, prepare, facilitate and document meetings and events as well as implement trainings. The City of Vienna however chooses which of the services as well of the recommendations will be implemented. The LBI-GMR provides competent experts for the various services offered.

For project documents please see German version.