Coming out of our World Summit in Durban, our World Organization committed itself to being an equality driven movement, taking a collective stand to end poverty and tackle inequalities that are still at the origin of the vast majority of problems worldwide.
 
As stated in the introduction of our GOLD VI report, struggles for equality at the urban and territorial level have emerged forcefully in recent years both as a response to growing inequality at different scales, but also building on a longer and more diffuse history of social and political struggle relating to issues of citizenship, suffrage, dignity, decent work, social identity and human rights.
 
To address the roots of inequality, the movement needs to be built on solid grounds that challenge the implicit acceptance of inequality, putting gender equality at the heart of policies and actions, and defending equality and special care of those that need it most by ensuring their access to public spaces and public services.
 
The crises that we go through have exacerbated housing struggles, with evictions, displacements and dispossession growing, and it is important to include housing rights in national recovery agendas, revamping measures to develop housing rights, address homelesness and prevent evictions, to protect and care for those most vulnerable. The current
 
When we talk about developing a pact for People, we call for ensuring that the sacrifices that have been made over the past years -facing the pandemic and the overlapping crises- will reflect on a better life for future generations.

A Pact for People is a Pact to develop a world with equity and inclusion at the centre. It is a people-centered approach to the way we design public spaces, both digital and physical, the understanding that we develop of the global commons, and the role that we give to public services, putting care and human rights at the heart of sustainable development. It is about developing a feminist way of looking at politics, caring for our communities and for those who work day-to-day to provide basic services to our communities, value their contributions to society, ensure decent work, and foster production models that highlight the importance of the community level, putting service provision, and providers, at the forefront.
 
This shift towards a brighter future needs to be a collective effort that facilitates access to basic services and the defence of the rights of our communities.
 
The universal development agendas will be the framework upon which to ensure access to basic services, co-creation with our communities, and the defence of the rights of our communities are at the core of our renewed strategy.
 
The axis on People will be built on on the 2020 Rome Charter: The Right to Participate Fully and Freely in Cultural Life is vital to our Cities and Communities and the Izmir Declaration; The Charter Agenda on Human Rights, the Lampedusa Charter, the Declaration of the World Forum on Cities and Territories of Peace,the Declaration on the Right to Housing and the Declaration of Cities for Digital Rights.

Local and regional governments are one of the main foundations of any peaceful and democratic society as they represent the level of government closest to the people. As the ultimate conveyors of the rights and opportunities of our communities, local and regional governments need to be at the forefront of a feminist way to do politics – one that, through the feminist leadership of women and men alike, contributes to fostering social justice and gender equality through enhanced public service provision, and galvanizing a culture of peace in all its dimensions founded on values of empathy and dialogue and peace.
 
The notion of feminist leadership driven by equality with empathy, care and proximity at the core, are part of the renewed vision for the municipal movement. Cohesion and increased solidarity among territories are also components of the better normal, which will need to be underpinned by renewed governance at all levels and revisited democracy that will prevent the backlogs around authoritarianism that we are observing in some parts of the world and contribute to peace.

The pandemic has underscored that we are only as strong as those most vulnerable among us. The rise of inequities has taken a new dimension with the difficulty of equal access to vaccinations, and the different speed at which the recovery takes place in rich and poor countries calls on us to defend the importance of equal access to health and healthy cities as a means to address the roots of inequality.
 
Health goes much further than health services: local service provision affects health, we need to rethink deliverables at local level to make a difference. Wedefend an understanding of health in our territories that goes beyond healthcare, through the promotion of equal access to health services, the involvement of local and regional governments, and an ecosystem of basic services that allows equal access to safe, green public spaces that can sustain health services.
 
Access to health and healthcare for all people needs to go hand-in-hand with the transformation of the multilateral system. Univesal Health Coverage is an integral part of our positioning, and essential to bridge inequalities and mainstream health for all. It is essential to deliver political statements on the importance to strengthen regulations around healthcare, and focusing on the importance of multilateral efforts to invest in primary healthcare and building multi-stakeholder partnerships on health

Human rights represent the idea of universality by excellence.  They are an attempt to protect and defend human dignity around the world and should apply to all human beings. While human rights principles have gained more recognition among local governments since the pandemic, so called human rights cities are consolidating their role to guide policy innovation and collective action to fight inequalities, discriminations and build a new social contract with their inhabitants, responding to their needs and fulfilling their basic rights. Beyond the implementation of local experiences and models, human rights cities and territories aim to be a source of inspiration and solidarity for all local and regional governments to move forward fairer in the post-pandemic era and revamp the social contract.
 
Through our work with UN Human Rights, our focus on the Rome Charter, and our endeavours on digital rights we aim to redefine essential rights and ensure that no-one is left behind in the post-COVID era, promoting a form of development that is sustainable, equitable, inclusive and respectful of human rights for all. These new rights are linked with a new type of global citizenship that acknowledges all communities as neighbours and, as such, as right holders and community contributors.
 
Local and Regional Governments have a critical role to play in fulfilling human rights obligations and commitments acknowledged by the UN, such as the universal rights to water and sanitation, adequate housing, education and health, decent work, as well as to participate in public life.
 
The Pact for the Future needs to build on the work of human rights cities all over the world, as we head towards the approval of the next UN Human Rights Council’s resolution on “Local governments and human rights” to be adopted in September-October 2022

As the level of government closest to the people, local and regional governments have been addressing the multidimensional nature and effects of human mobility with limited mandates and often scarce resources. The effects of climate change, persistent violence, growing inequalities and the shortage of pathways for regular migration have a direct impact on the governance of human mobility at the local level.
 
For local and regional governments, migration and displacement are more than an issue of borders. Beyond trends of workforce concentration, rapid urbanization and growing territorial imbalances, a variety of interrelated factors related to climate change, inequalities and other forms of oppression, expose growing parts of the population to move in extremely harsh conditions, particularly for those groups that have been structurally discriminated for reasons of gender, age, race, religion and other.
 
Beyond the provision of basic services and the protection of the groups of the population that are more exposed to vulnerability and structural discrimination, municipalities and territories have a key role to play in transitioning from border-centred approaches to a people-centred vision of citizenship, underpinned by a sense of community and the notions of dignity, care, human rights universality, peace, collective memory and belonging, participation and diversity, irrespective of administrative status.
 
In connection with global agendas on migration governance and in a context of growing but insufficient recognition of the role of local governments in the global governance of migration and displacement, UCLG has taken the responsibility to shape a renewed global commitment in the form of a global charter, the Lampedusa Charter, that puts forward the vision, commitments and calls of our constituency in relation to all forms of human mobility. The Lampedusa Charter will be the culmination of a growing local commitment to a new global narrative of human mobility.

In the spirit of our origins and building on the legacy of our movement, the role of our constituency across all areas of local governance is crucial in fostering peace and human rights protection and in the context of humanitarian emergencies. The challenges of the coming years put to the test our shared values and principles, and call on us to rise to the task of being instrumental in the construction of sustainable peace founded on dialogue, solidarity, and the respect of international agreements.
 
Local and regional governments are one of the main foundations of any democratic society as they represent the level of government closest to the people; municipal international cooperation and decentralized cooperation, partnership, twinning, international local government diplomacy, sister city links, and mutual assistance through capacity-building programmes and international municipal solidarity initiatives, are a contribution to multilateralism that has shown to be vital for the construction of a more peaceful and just world.
 
Conflict is linked to human beings and their relations with each other and their relations with the world. The urban component of peacebuilding calls on local and regional governments to work to ensure conflict does not derive into violence. Urban and territorial peacebuilding efforts need to place the focus on building equal access to the city, reducing inequalities, and developing safe environments for all to ensure cities and territories of peace.

As the preamble to the 2020 Rome Charter states, “Culture is the expression of values, a common, renewable resource in which we meet one another, learn what can unite us and how to engage with differences in a shared space”. Culture enriches our lives, shapes our actions, and shapes how we see the world. The Pact for the Future needs to build on the work of the Rome Charter in affirming the social value of culture. Culture that is people-centred, that is built through cultural democracy, that builds new ways of thinking for current and future generations.
 
The construction of peaceful, inclusive and sustainable environments where all the members of our communities can thrive further commands us to continue galvanising the role of culture as the fourth pillar of sustainable development and a core component of local and regional identity.
 
Culture has been critical in this pandemic to connect with one another, and is a critical aspect of the work of UCLG in the phase of defining what is essential as we have strong avenues that link culture with challenges of humanity. A strand of global solidarity that protects communitary memory, heritage, creativity, diversity and knowledge. Culture is different in each city, in each territory, but it shares the same ultimate mission: creating an enabling environment for people to enjoy long, healthy, and creative lives, leaving no-one and no place behind in the process.