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Forum on intercultural cities and human mobility
Mexico City, 30 August - 1 September 2010
 We live in a world where people increasingly cross national
borders and urban communities grow more diverse. While diversity
can be a source of creativity and dynamism, it can also stress
societies and limit their ability to ensure social cohesion,
respect for human rights, equality and justice. Managing
diversity is a challenge that most cities face and they can
benefit from successful experiences and practices of other
cities while developing their own policies and approaches. Based
on the principles of the White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue,
a European programme, Intercultural Cities, has built a network
of cities and a new model of diversity management at the local
level. Intercultural Cities provides support for building strong
and successful local communities by addressing diversity as a
resource and not as a threat.
The programme proposes a model of intercultural integration to
help cities foster a culture of diversity, properly manage
cultural conflict and encourage authorities and public services
to acquire cultural competence in order to adapt to the needs of
diverse populations.
The development of an urban culture of diversity reflects the
imperatives of integration in the global age. Culturally diverse
cities can reap the benefits of diversity if the intercultural
integration approach penetrates all policy areas and levels of
governance, in partnership with stakeholders, including the
media.
Intercultural Cities, proposes a methodology and a set of tools
to help revise and adapt public policy to diversity, generate
ideas and support from other cities in the world that share the
same goals, and measure progress. The methodology is constantly
enriched with new contributions and critical debate among a
growing number of cities.
Mexico City has achieved during the last 13 years the
construction of a policy with social face supported with a
series of laws that have contributed to safeguard the
fundamental rights of societies and to construct a policy from
which society requires rather than what a government can
imposes. The city is building a society from the highest desires
and aspirations of justice, fairness and equality, while
respecting the rights of people regardless of where they come
from and under what situations they are. We reaffirm our
recognition as a cross-cultural city of Abya Yala where the
voices of our original and indigenous peoples are law.
The city is striving to build a targeted policy to ratify us as
hospital and intercultural city recognizing the right to migrate
as imperative, with emphasis on making visible the pluri-ethnic
diversity based on our original, indigenous peoples and
communities of different national origins, which makes Mexico
City a mixture of cultures and knowledge historically produced.
In addition, we are a city of reception, asylum and refuge for
thus we have historically been since settled early civilizations
in our territory, where the issue of migration acquires a
peculiar sense be interpreted as a territory since time
immemorial attended diverse cultures, some under the yoke of the
imposition and others searching for a better living standards.
Therefore now Mexico City is recognized as a city of rights. On
the threshold of the 21st century the city is preparing
legislation that recognises intercultural acknowledge and the
right to human mobility, safeguarding originating and indigenous
peoples rights that will be indisputably first in its class at
the national level, and that can also serve as an example for
those build at state, federal, and even worldwide. Hence the
city's interests to become part of Intercultural Cities
programme will serve to enrich the debate and to demonstrate
that other worlds are possible.
The Government of Mexico City, through the Ministry of Rural
Development and Equity for Communities in coordination with
Mexico City Historical Centre Authority, the Legislative
Assembly and the civil organization Citizen Initiative Promoting
Cultural Dialogue, and the Council of Europe, invite you to take
part in the Forum INTERCULTURAL CITIES AND HUMAN MOBILITY to be
held on 30 August to 1 September 2010 in Mexico City, according
to annexed program.
The Forum will announce the participation of Mexico City in the
Council of Europe/European Commission Intercultural Cities
Programme, review experiences in Europe and Mexico in the field
of intercultural policies and human mobility and open new
perspectives of cooperation between institutions and active
networks in this field.
Various panels will analyse and discuss the concept of
interculturality in different contexts; governmental and civil
society initiatives of European cities; inter-agency
co-ordination policies of interculturality and human mobility;
Mexico City´s migratory processes, the life of communities and
the safeguarding of their rights; the role of the media to
promote interculturalism and processes of human mobility; and
review the content of a future law on the subject in Mexico
City.
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