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Uniting Dayton for Human Rights

We are a movement of engaged community members who envision: a just community where everyone is accountable to one another and all live in dignity. We will accomplish this by: listening to, educating, and involving members of the community and elected officials to ensure accountability for the protection of human rights.

The movement was initiated in January 2022 by Mary E. Tyler, in collaboration with the Collaboratory, the Human Relation Council, and the Human Rights Center. Our goal is to advocate for a formal statement of support from the city government for human rights, justice, and equality for all the people of Dayton Ohio. And the establishment of a collaborative structure of city officials and community members to achieve these aims.

Our Shared Language

Human rights are:

  • Claims that we all hold equally/equitably because we are human (rights holders)
  • Fundamental to living a life in and of dignity
  • Governments are responsible to respect, protect, and promote (duty-bearers)
  • Not charity, humanitarian assistance, or optional
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Partners & Collaborators

The U.S. Human Rights Cities Alliance works to build a network of local, national, and international human rights leaders and to support activists and organizers advancing the human rights city organizing framework. The Alliance promotes the development and sharing of knowledge and models for improving respect for human rights and dignity. Recognizing that human rights don’t trickle down, they rise up, we support communities organizing and acting together to bring human rights to bear at home, drawing upon global human rights standards, institutions, and movements. Guided by the Human Rights Cities Statement of Principles, we promote “people-centered human rights” based in experiences and struggles of marginalized communities.

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The Collaboratory is where Dayton's dreamers and doers gather to move ideas to action. We provide infrastructure for people and organizations to collaboratively develop community initiatives that generate new economic, civic and creative opportunities and value. The result is a healthier, more thriving region.

 


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Established in 1962 by the Dayton City Commission, the Dayton Human Relations Council enforces civil rights; provides business and technical assistance to minority-owned, woman-owned and small disadvantaged businesses; and administers community relations initiatives that promote and maintain peace, goodwill and harmony; assists in reducing inter-group tensions, and ensures equality of treatment and opportunity to all who live, work, play, and gather in the City of Dayton.

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Resources

The Human Rights Cities Network is an online platform promoting the development of human rights in Europe and beyond. It aims to help make human rights a reality for every citizen – and in every city – within the European Union. It also fosters participatory democracy and social justice, by leaving no one behind.

 


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CEDAW (Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) is an international treaty adopted by the UN in 1979 that has yet to be ratified by the U.S Senate. The Cities for CEDAW campaign is a grassroots effort that provides tools and leadership to empower local women’s organizations and municipalities and effectively initiate CEDAW within their city, county or state. The civil society campaign is led by the Women’s Intercultural Network in partnership with The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights/The Leadership Conference Education Fund and the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, New York.

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RWI is committed to advancing the human rights city project both in Sweden and worldwide. We combine research with practice to provide academic expertise to the needs and priorities of practitioners, as well as to inform our research based on lessons learned.

Such knowledge exchanges have already resulted in a publication on the Swedish and international perspectives on human rights cities and regions, as well as a platform that lays out criteria for how to develop and perform as a human rights city in Sweden, which we developed together with the Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions.


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The Child Friendly Cities Initiative (CFCI) is a UNICEF-led initiative that supports municipal governments in realizing the rights of children at the local level using the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as its foundation.

It is also a network that brings together government and other stakeholders such as civil society organizations, the private sector, academia, media and, importantly, children themselves who wish to make their cities and communities more child-friendly.


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Join the Global Human Rights Movement in 2023

Mary Tyler of Mary E. Tyler Consulting, LLC. writes for the Dayton Daily News about Human Rights Cities and the Dayton community.

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