W

e can only applaud President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s call, as reported in Saturday'€™s The Jakarta Post, for the speeches delivered at the Asian-African conference to be '€œsubstantive'€ and to target '€œnew governance and global justice'€.

It appears that like us, he too has been to global conferences where the grandeur of the occasion has at times led to theoretical ideology dominating practical reality.

In one area at least, however, we can assure him that new ideas for governance in the fight for global justice will certainly be made very public.

The Mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil, has shown great leadership in taking the bold step to declare Bandung a Human Rights City.

Not only will he make a public proclamation on the Bandung Declaration of a Human Rights City on Thursday, April 23, but he will be a key member of a distinguished panel at a multinational workshop to discuss the whole concept of human rights cities and how this bottom-up approach can help drive sustainability and social justice.

The concept of a human rights city is not new, of course, but what is new is the approach that Bandung is taking to prepare its charter as a Human Rights City, plus the transparency and accountability it is showing by subjecting itself to a third-party audit of its human rights actions.

It would be very easy for the Bandung administration to issue a few generalized edicts and claim to be a human rights city.

That does not satisfy the mayor, however, who has tasked the city administration, working with the Center for Law and Human Rights Advocacy (PAHAM) of Padjajaran University and the Association For International Human Rights Certification (FIHRRST), to produce a charter that will meet the aspirations of all the city'€™s stakeholders.

An initial focus group discussion (FGD), comprising a wide cross-section of Bandung stakeholders, was held on April 2, following which Mayor Ridwan signed the Bandung Declaration.

Much more remains to be done, however, to ensure that citizens at all levels and other stakeholders have their say as to what should be incorporated in the city'€™s charter.

Socialization and interaction will be accomplished through a series of FGDs, a dedicated website and alternative multimedia communication, as well as other media.

It is anticipated that this exhaustive bottom-up canvassing of all sections of Bandung'€™s society will be completed so that the Bandung Charter as a Human Rights City can be signed by the mayor before the end of 2015.

While this process is very much in line with the UN Progress Report on Human Rights Cities, it is only one part.

Equally, some might say what is more important is the monitoring to ensure that the charter is more than just a piece of paper.

This will be carried out by a third-party audit conducted by assessors accredited by FIHRRST.

Founded by a group of internationally respected human rights advocates, FIHRRST is currently developing its GHRISC standard, which is based on the principles found in its BHRISC standard, a tool for business and human rights audits.

An initial two kelurahan (subdistricts) have already been assessed to ensure the systems have been put in place, but in total there are 148 kelurahan and 30 districts of Bandung to be audited over the next two years.

Although that is a little way off, FIHRRST shares the commitment of the mayor and city government of Bandung in making sure this Indonesian-led approach to new governance and social justice remains on course.

We trust this is the sort of endeavor the President is looking for and hope that somewhere in his busy schedule he can not only endorse its implementation in other cities across Indonesia, but also recommend it to other heads of state at the Asian-African conference.
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The writer is chair of the Association for International Human Rights Certification (FIHRRST).