Abstract:
The implementation of the Human Rights City concept (HRCC) encourages all elements within the city to actively participate in improving the quality of life of all people, abiding by the principle of human rights. Moreover, HRCC is interrelated with the concept of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) where humans are the centre of development. In Indonesia, the efforts to promote the role of city government to fulfil and implement human rights have continuously grown with a mix of top down and bottom up approaches. Bandung as one of the metropolitan cities in Indonesia, developed the Bandung Charter of a Human Rights City and declared itself as a Human Rights City through a bottom-up initiative in 2015. Although this report finds that the implementation of this initiative faces several challenges, we also find that the HRCC concept does not necessarily need to be implemented only through this initiative. Instead, HRCC can also be implemented through synchronizing it with the attainment of SDGs which become one of Bandung’s priorities. Furthermore, in order to further improve the current implementation of HRCC and better align it with the SDGs attainment, this report suggests: 1) a consolidation among civil societies is needed to strengthen their position and relation with the city officials; 2) a more concrete and implementable concept of human rights city should be generated and merged into the SDGs indicators; 3) a common understanding on the interrelation of the fulfilment of human rights and SDGs is necessary; 4) a consolidation between civil societies and city officials is needed to enhance collaboration, coordination, and synchronization; and 5) a solid commitment from city officials and stakeholders within the city is important to the implementation of HRCC through SDGs.