A/HRC/27/59 47. Apart from the cities that generally adopt human rights as a policy framework, there are also many cities that opt for basing policies on one particular treaty, and — in doing so — going further than the standards set nationally. One example is the way in which San Francisco adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women as a local ordinance in 1998. In adopting it, San Francisco agreed to be kept to the Convention’s standards of human rights protection, and to establish a related task force. Over the years, that task force has focused on conducting gender analyses and on thematic areas such as violence against women, women in the workplace and girls. Another example of cities focusing on one particular human rights issue is the International Coalition of Cities against Racism, an initiative launched by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in March 2004 to establish a network of cities interested in sharing experiences in order to improve their policies to fight racism, discrimination, xenophobia and exclusion.39 VII. Human rights mechanisms at the local level 48. The protection of human rights requires independent human rights mechanisms. Such mechanisms may take different forms in different communities, and there are several examples that could serve as a model — local ombudspersons, consumer complaints boards, patient injury boards, anti-discrimination agencies, etc. The competences and structures of those mechanisms can be very diverse, but they must be seen as important means of safeguarding human rights and handling citizens’ complaints in the first instance. Importantly, the establishment of a local human rights mechanism gives visibility to the role of local authorities in human rights protection. In order to effectively discharge their functions, local authorities should be provided with sufficient human and financial resources and be accessible to everyone within the respective locality. 49. The European Charter for the Safeguarding of Human Rights in the City adopted in Saint-Denis in 2000 provides for the creation of ombudspersons as a prevention mechanism and also as a means of upholding human rights at the local level. Ombudspersons monitor local administrations to ensure they do not violate the rights and principles set down in the Charter. 50. Only a few States have human rights protection mechanisms at the local level. Thus, in Canada, ombudsperson offices are present in many local governments (e.g., in Montreal and Toronto). In Switzerland, several cities have established ombudsperson offices. Those offices are independent organs that mediate in case of conflicts between private individuals and authorities. Even though they are not authorized to make binding decisions, only recommendations, they have proven to be a successful means to resolve disputes. In the Republic of Korea, several local governments have established human rights commissions. In the Netherlands, complaints regarding human rights violations can be filed with the national ombudsperson or with the complaint mechanism of a municipality. In Denmark, the Copenhagen Citizens’ Counsellor was the country’s first citizen counselling institution established by the Municipal Council to create an independent ombudsman function in Copenhagen. Today 21 municipalities have a citizen counselling institution. Municipalities in Norway have ombudspersons for certain administrative areas. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, a number of local governments have established a human rights commission which acts as an advisory body to municipal councils, although it is not a true mechanism for the protection of human rights. 39 14 See note 25 above.