PARTICIPATORY DEMOCRACY, INCLUSION AND HUMAN RIGHTS AS GUIDING NORMS OF LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN EUROPE
Local authorities are essential to protecting and promoting human rights.
They set laws, policies, and programmes that most directly impact people’s lives.
Human rights duties of local government follow the classical tripartite typology of States’ human rights obligations, namely, the duty to RESPECT, the duty to PROTECT and the duty to FULFIL.
Fostering participatory democracy and human rights, European local governments need to be working together with citizens and civil society on inclusive strategies for further development and implementation of local policies based on the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights.
