The Human Rights Department aims to ensure the right to the city and safeguard human rights in the city. Human rights are not abstract but need to be thought through and promoted under the framework of the territory they are exercised in; in this case, as we have mentioned, the city and its neighbourhoods.

Under the European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City, “the city is a collective space belonging to all who live in it. These have the right to conditions which allow their own political, social and ecological development but at the same time accepting a commitment to solidarity”.

Our approach to human rights is based on inclusivity with regard to diversity in our city, with an intercultural perspective.  We are therefore working here in Barcelona for a diverse, intercultural and multi-faceted city model where everyone has real and effective access, under equal conditions, to all human rights recognised and guaranteed in the city.  This intercultural perspective, which Barcelona is now an international benchmark in, means recognising diversity from the perspectives of positive interaction and non-discrimination.