The Human Rights City Project   Eugene  Oregon 

"What is the “Human Rights City Project”?

        ​On November 28, 2011, the Eugene City Council unanimously voted to revise Eugene's 20-year-old Human Rights Ordinance to make it a duty of the Human Rights Commission to embrace the full range of human rights as enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This historic ordinance revision calls for the Commission to work with both City of Eugene government and the larger Eugene community to respect, protect, and fulfill the civil, political, economic, social, and cultural human rights spelled out in the Declaration.  Effectively addressing the full range of human rights is central to Eugene becoming a "Human Rights City," a city in which attention to such rights guides people's everyday relationships to the benefit of all (See FAQ Page).

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Keynote Speech by Ibrahim Hamide on occasion of Eugene, Oregon, celebrating International Human Rights Day. 

         On December 5, 2012, Eugene's  International Human Rights Day Celebration was co-hosted by the Eugene Human Rights Commission and the Lane County Network for Immigrant Integration.  The theme was "Immigrant Rights=Human Rights!"  The celebration included comments by the mayors of both Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, a video featuring voices of local immigrants, and a keynote talk by a valued member of the Eugene community, Ibrahim Hamide. Ib is a restaurateur and owner of Cafe Soriah and Café Zenon.  He is a former member of the Eugene Human Rights Commission and a long-time human rights advocate.  Ib is also an immigrant, a Palestinian born in Bethlehem. In the talk, he told his story of migrating to and becoming part of the Eugene community.

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Immigrant rights=Human Rights!  There are an estimated 20,000 immigrants residing in Lane County, most of whom live in the Eugene/Springfield area. Addressing the human rights of immigrants is a prerequisite for their integration into the larger community.  In this video, "We Are All in This Together:  Voices of Immigrants in Lane County, Oregon," some local immigrants talk about their personal experiences and voice thoughts about what it means to them to be an immigrant.  

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Thanks to those who attended the April 23, 2012 talk by Eric Tars on " Housing is a Human Right" at the Eugene Public Library.    Below is a video of his talk.

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   Eric Tars currently serves as the  National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty's Human Rights Program Director and children & youth staff attorney. In his human rights capacity, he works with homelessness and housing advocacy organizations to train and strategically utilize human rights as a component of their work. In his youth rights capacity, he works to protect homeless students' rights to education and advocates for homeless youth and families through trainings,litigation, and policy advocacy at the national and local levels. 

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   Below is an excerpt from a radio interview conducted on The Jefferson Exchange (www.jeffexchange.org) with Eric Tars on the subject of homelessness.  This was a live interview with listener calls and broadcast on the Jefferson Public Radio News & Information Service, serving southern Oregon and northern California. Eric spoke in Eugene on Monday April 23...

The  conversation  was Thursday, April 19, 9-10 a.m. PACIFIC time / 12-1p.m. ET. 

(Click Here for the interview on the Jefferson Public Radio  site).          

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Eugene Celebrates 2011 International Human Rights Day!

Eugene, Oregon's 2011 International Human Rights Day was celebrated this year on December 6 (for a video of the event program, go to Eugene Media Archive menu above).  The Celebration was presented by the Eugene Human Rights Commission, the City of Eugene Equity and Human Rights Center, and the Community Coalition for Human Rights.  Thanks go to Jett Johnson of Pride Foundation and Gerardo Lopez of the youth group Juventud FACETA for co-emceeing the event.  Thanks also to Mayor Kitty Piercy for her International Human Rights Day Proclamation, speakers Bob Bussell from the Lane County Network for Immigrant Integration and Victoria Smithweiland from Basic Rights Oregon, the In Accord Community Choir, and all the local social justice groups who tabled.  Special thanks to our special keynote speaker Ajamu Baraka, (photo above), former executive director of the U.S. Human Rights Network, for his uplifting and inspiring address.

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In this video clip, City of Eugene's Mayor Piercy comments on her belief that local government has a responsibility to respect the human rights of all (see also the video below: Human Rights Are at Home in Eugene).  Mayor Piercy has been named as the country's "most valuable local official" by the The Nation, a weekly magazine, in large part due to her leadership on human rights issues.

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                       Human Rights Are At Home in Eugene: Video

This is a video acknowledging some of the human rights work accomplished by groups in Eugene Oregon. It includes interviews with Eugene’s Mayor and Police Chief, as well as other Eugene officials and community members.  

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EUGENE REPRESENTED AT THE WORLD HUMAN RIGHTS CITIES FORUM

The City of Eugene was represented at the 2011 World Human Rights Cities Forum held in Gwangju, South Korea, on May 16-17, 2011  The invitation to participate was extended by the forum's co-hosts, the Gwangju Metropolitan City Government and Gwangju's May 18 Memorial Foundation, which covered travel and other expenses.  The event was co-sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights as well as other international and South Korean organizations.

       This first World Human Rights Cities Forum, whose theme was "Globalizing Human Rights from Below," brought together over 200 participants to discuss the implementation of universal human rights by local municipal governments.   Most were from South Korea and other Asian nations.  Participants shared best practices and experiences in building "Human Rights Cities" and worked toward developing an international network.  Those attending the forum included representatives of city governments and commissions, academic institutions, and international organizations.  The City of Eugene was one of only fifteen municipalities worldwide outside of South Korea invited to send a representative.

      The invitation to participate in the World Forum came in response to the growing national  and international reputation of Eugene as a city committed to human rights.  It is evidence of the important work being done within the City organization and by the Eugene Human Rights Commission on human rights issues.  The City of Eugene was represented by Ken Neubeck, a member of the Eugene Human Rights Commission.  Ken served on a international panel of city representatives where he discussed progress to date toward Eugene becoming a Human Rights City and participated in a consultation with Gwangju officials seeking advice on their human rights city plans.

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"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

Eleanor Roosevelt    

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