UCLG adopted the New Global Charter-Agenda for Human Rights in the City at its World Congress in Tangier (25 June 2026). This work was carried out by our colleagues from the Committee on Social Inclusion, Participatory Democracy and Human Rights (CISDPDH). The Charter-Agenda is an updated global framework designed to guide local and regional governments in promoting human rights at the local level. It reaffirms the role of local and regional governments as guarantors of human rights and recognizes 37 human rights in the city, each with concrete steps for its implementation.

The Charter-Agenda offers an integrated vision of human rights in the city. In addition to the fundamental rights already recognized internationally, it incorporates new human rights, covering essential services and social, economic, cultural, environmental, and democratic rights – with particular attention to groups that continue to face discrimination and obstacles in exercising their rights. Above all, this is not just a declaration of principles, but a political and practical tool, providing concrete principles, commitments, and recommendations for local action.

This document is the result of several years of collaborative work, bringing together cities from every continent, international networks, civil society organizations, universities, and experts—a diversity of actors that constitutes its greatest strength.

It is with profound sorrow that the UCLG World Secretariat shares the passing of our dear colleague, Sara Hoeflich, Assistant Secretary General and long-standing Director of Learning.

Over the past months, Sara faced an incurable illness with remarkable grace and serenity. It took her from us far too soon.

Sara illuminated our movement with her creativity, generosity, and unwavering belief in humanity’s capacity to learn, to care, and to build a better present and future together. She joined the municipal movement in the early 2000s after a distinguished career in international development that had connected her with communities across continents. Wherever she went, she brought curiosity, compassion, and an extraordinary ability to bring people together.

Sara was a key person in the life of the UCLG Culture Committee: we enjoyed her generous company in the development of the Seven Keys, the Online Courses, the most recent reports and studies and, in general, the daily work of our programme. We will continue to love her by carrying forward the values she embodied. We will honor her work and her unwavering dedication by continuing to learn through collaboration, by nurturing peer-to-peer exchange and mutual learning, and, above all, by never losing faith that together we can make the world a better place.

Her beloved family has kindly allowed us to share this beautiful photograph, which captures the extraordinary light she brought into every room and every life she touched.

Today, the World Secretariat and the entire UCLG movement mourn the loss of a remarkable colleague, mentor, and friend. In the days and years ahead, we will continue to celebrate Sara’s life by strengthening cooperation, advancing learning, and fostering solidarity wherever we can. In doing so, her light will continue to guide us.

On The Move, the organisation that supports interantional mobility for artists and professionals, has published a new report: "Cultural Mobility Flows: Cities as Enablers of International Cultural Mobility". The report, authored by Yohann Floch, Jordi Baltà Portolés, Claire Rosslyn Wilson and Ariane Bieou, grows out of the Cultural Mobility Webinar organised by On the Move in collaboration with HowlRound, which brought together practitioners, policymakers and advocates, including the UCLG Culture Committee, to explore how municipalities are developing travel grants, bilateral and multilateral exchange programmes, artist residencies and other initiatives that support the international mobility of artists and cultural professionals.

This report is addressed to all cultural stakeholders with a view to providing concrete and actionable recommendations. These recommendations are grounded in the sources and practices analysed throughout and reinforce observations and proposals emerging from relevant policy documents addressing the needs and challenges of artists and cultural professionals across a wide range of contexts. They point towards policy changes, funding initiatives and collaborative frameworks that can enhance international opportunities for all cultural practitioners, with particular attention to those who face the greatest structural barriers to mobility.

Access this link to download the report.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights, Alexandra Xanthaki, is calling for contributions for her upcoming report to the General Assembly, to be presented in October 2026, in which she will propose guidance on how to assess efforts to implement cultural rights.

The Special Rapporteur intends to build on the existing body of work to propose elements that should help States, institutions, decision-makers but also other stakeholders, to set benchmarks for accountability and measure progress in the implementation of cultural rights for all. The aim is that these elements may also contribute and strengthen the general framework of human rights indicators, the tools and indicators for specific cultural rights and the advocacy for a better mainstreaming of cultural rights in the 2030 sustainable development agenda or any new agenda for development after 2030, in particular through a stand-alone Culture Goal.

Access here the questionnaire that she has prepared, which is being sent out to States, United Nations agencies, national human rights institutions, academics, cultural workers and practitioners, as well as civil society organizations for their consideration. The deadline for submitting contributions is 22 May 2026.

On Tuesday 28 April 2026, the Ministry of Culture of the Government of Mexico, through the Directorate-General for Cultural Training and Management, recognised the projects selected under the “Cultiva México. Database of good practices in cultural and artistic management”, which seeks to identify and recognise good practices in cultural and artistic management that generate a common good, have a positive impact on their environment and promote diversity and cultural rights.

The call for proposals, which was supported by the UCLG Culture Committee, identified collective initiatives that promote a positive impact on their local communities, with a view to incorporating them into Mexico’s first Database of Good Practices in Cultural and Artistic Management. Mexico’s Database of Good Practices in Cultural and Artistic Management includes initiatives that focus on creating spaces for music, reading, the performing arts, community organisation processes, processes associated with intergenerational learning, and the recovery of community memory.

With the aim of creating an International System of Databases of Good Practices, Cultiva México will also support initiatives recognised by IDARTES’ Ibero-American Database of Good Practices and by the “OBS” Database of Good Practices of the UCLG Culture Committee, promoting their sustainability, professionalisation, technical management and exchange of knowledge to broaden their impact.

On 28 April 2026, the UCLG Culture Committee held the final webinar for the Capitals of Culture Working Together programme, marking the culmination of three years of continued international collaboration.

Key milestones throughout the programme included capacity-building workshops and webinars, including the Seven Keys, the Youth Lab and the Culture 21 Plus tools; a structured methodology for a permanent African Capital of Culture initiative; connections between local action and global challenges through the Culture Goal; and an active participation of main actors in major international City and Regions fora and events.

The European Commission’s Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA) played a central role in making this initiative a reality, enabling an ambitious vision to be transformed into a practical, global-scale endeavour.

For further information on the actions carried out throughout the program, please, click here.

On 23-26 March 2026, Nouakchott will host several activities, including a Seven keys workshop with local cultural actors and the second meeting of the UCLG-Africa Culture Committee, in the frame of the General Assembly of UCLG-Africa. Both activities are related to our programme "Capitals of Culture Working Together" and to the celebration of Brazzaville as second African Capital of Culture.