Madrid City Council’s Strategic Human Rights Plan: lessons learned (2015–2019)

In this chapter, first we address the most important aspects of Madrid City Council’s Plan Estratégico de Derechos Humanos (hereafter, the Plan), which are the participatory process and the implementation mechanisms. Particular attention is given to how the Plan sought to contribute to realising the right to the city based on the right to difference. Then, we will share some of the lessons learned since we took up the challenge of building a rights policy in the City of Madrid back in December 2015. While the Plan’s implementation and the activity of the Human Rights and Memory Office (Oficina de Derechos Humanos y Memoria) were interrupted following the May 2019 municipal elections, successes and mistakes may be pinpointed, existing difficulties noted and some conclusions and pending challenges may be extracted.