A/HRC/27/59 the risk of violence, for example against women. The duty to fulfil means that local government must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment of the rights and freedoms. For example, local authorities are obliged to fulfil the right to education by sustaining a good educational system. To comply with the duty to fulfil the right of individuals not to be discriminated against, local human rights mechanisms such as ombudsmen or specialized anti-discrimination agencies can be established. 34. Further, local authorities should promote the understanding of and respect for human rights of all individuals within their jurisdiction through education and training. In particular, local authorities should organize, on a systematic basis, human rights training for their elected representatives and administrative staff and the dissemination of relevant information among citizens about their rights. By promoting human rights, local authorities can help build a culture of human rights in the community. 35. Local authorities should pay particular attention to the protection and promotion of the rights of vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, such as persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities, indigenous communities, victims of sexual discrimination, children and elderly people. In that respect, the quality of the services that local governments provide such groups “tests” the degree to which local governments in practice respect human rights. 22 36. In a number of countries, efforts are made to mainstream human rights into local authorities’ activities. Thus, measures are taken to foster participatory governance, to conduct human rights-based audits and impact assessments, to reframe local concerns as human rights issues, to establish procedures for verifying the compatibility of local policies and regulations with human rights, to report on local compliance with human rights treaties, to have a clear allotment in the municipal budget for the implementation of human rights, to provide systematic human rights training to local civil servants, to raise public awareness of human rights, etc. Drafting a local human rights charter (or, preferably, human rights ordinance which makes the charter legally binding)23 setting out specific human rights responsibilities that fall upon the local government can be regarded as another important step towards localizing human rights. In that context, it is highly desirable that local authorities have human rights offices with sufficient human and financial resources that could fully take charge of human rights issues within the respective local competences. 37. The following are the key challenges faced by local government in the promotion and protection of human rights: lack of political will, long-term vision/planning and/or commitment; lack of autonomy, institutional capacity and/or resources; prevailing centralistic and/or non-democratic regimes; political conflicts and tensions in the country; the difficult economic situation in the country; non-recognition of the role and contributions from civil society; lack of adequate coordination between central and local government; and lack of understanding of human rights at the local government level. 22 23 10 International Council on Human Rights Policy, “Local Government and Human Rights: Doing Good Service” (Versoix, Switzerland, 2005), p. 6. Available from www.ichrp.org/files/reports/11/124_report.pdf. Human rights ordinances adopted in several cities of the United States of America, beginning from the San Francisco ordinance on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, could be specifically mentioned as they represent a good example of incorporation of human rights into local policies and measures.