Advancing Human Rights from the Ground Up: LRGs and NMIRFs in Focus

On 23 July, the Global Cities Hub, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Geneva Human Rights Platform, and UCLG co-organized a full-day workshop, under the theme “Enhancing national reporting and implementation of human rights through coordinated engagement at the local and regional levels: the role of NMIRFs.”

Held at the Palais des Nations, the event brought together a wide range of actors – representatives of States and local and regional governments (LRGs), international and national city networks, human rights experts, civil society, and academia – to exchange on how to better integrate LRGs into the international human rights system, which has historically been centred on State actors.

A Vital but Overlooked Role

LRGs are primary actors in ensuring the fulfilment of human rights. From housing and health to education, food, and sanitation, their responsibilities touch on nearly every aspect of daily life. Yet, their contributions are not adequately captured by the UN human rights architecture, an international system created by States, led by States, and still largely focused on States alone.

Can NMIRFs help bridge the Gap?

Participants explored the potential of National Mechanisms for Implementation, Reporting and Follow-up (NMIRFs). These governmental structures mandated to coordinate reporting and implementation of recommendations from UN mechanisms (Treaty Bodies, Universal Periodic Review) and other regional human rights mechanisms, may help systematize LRGs participation. However, this is only possible if States are willing, as the international human rights system currently offers no formal entry point for LRGs.

Experiences shared in Canada, Germany, the Republic of Korea, Argentina, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Brazil, and South Africa, among others, underscored a common thread: where trust and cooperation exist between national and local levels, effective collaboration is possible. Interestingly, political structure alone does not determine success—what matters is political will, mutual recognition of roles and clarity about who holds the responsibility as a duty bearer.

LRGs’ inclusion in NMIRFs therefore depends entirely on the State’s willingness to recognize them as duty-bearers and key actors in human rights implementation, rather than treating them, as it is often the case, as NGOs.

Structural Challenges and Emerging Solutions

Participants discussed the challenges on both sides in engaging LRGs in international human rights work:

• States struggle with technical limitations, including report length constraints and the complexity of incorporating multiple inputs from ministries and LRGs (e.g., how to identify and select LRGs who can contribute?). Here the use of appendixes was mentioned as a pragmatic way to include LRGs views in national human rights reports and national city networks were mentioned as partners who could help with the identification and selection of LRGs.
• LRGs often face limited resources, capacity, expertise or awareness of engagement pathways. Solutions included using digital tools like IMPACT OSS and SIMORE Plus for better data management, reporting and coordination[1]. Several participants also highlighted the importance of leveraging data from existing Voluntary Local Reviews (VLRs) on Sustainable Development Goals, which often contain valuable human rights information.

Other actors can step in, including national human rights institutions, parliamentary bodies, civil society, academia, and notably, national city networks, which were all emphasized as important facilitators of LRGs’ engagement in human rights issues and within the UN human rights system. Additionally, the role of human rights mechanisms themselves was highlighted: treaty bodies could adopt a general comment on LRGs engagement, Special Procedures could more consistently meet with LRGs during country visits, and the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) could for instance incorporate the recently launched Guidance framework for creating a Human Rights City by OHCHR and UCLG in its guidance notes on UPR national reports.

Overall, the importance of creating incentives for LRGs to engage was emphasized, as the UN human rights system may appear distant from LRGs practical, day-to-day governance concerns. To encourage their participation, it is crucial to develop compelling arguments: engagement with UN human rights mechanisms can enhance LRGs’ legitimacy, raise their national visibility, guide strategic investment to improve residents’ quality of life, enable benchmarking with peers, and strengthen their capacity to hold their respective national governments accountable.

The workshop reflected growing openness by the international community to reimagining a more inclusive multilateral system. Indeed, as the international human rights system evolves, events like this highlight a promising shift: from a strictly State-centric model to one where LRGs are recognized as essential partners in realizing human rights for all.

[1] See Geneva Academy, Academy Briefing No. 25: Localizing Multilateralism – The Role of LRGs in Advancing Human Rights and the SDGs, March 2025 (pp.37-39). This report, co-produced by the Geneva Human Rights Platform of the Geneva Academy, the Global Cities Hub, and the Faculty of Law of the University of Bologna, provides an in-depth analysis of how LRGs contribute to the implementation of international human rights obligations and outlines concrete pathways for enhancing their engagement with NMIRFs.