Human Rights GOAL
The Human Rights Government Operations Audit Law (Human Rights GOAL) is a proposed New York City Law that incorporates human rights principles into NYC governance, helping to ensure that all New York residents have full and equal opportunity to participate in the educational, economic, civic and political life of the city.
Human Rights GOAL is a model ordinance that will enable New York City to implement locally the principles of two human rights treaties – the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).
While New York City has strong anti-discrimination laws – indeed, among the best in the country – it does not have a mandate to proactively address racial and gender inequalities in the City’s programs, policies, and operations. Traditional anti-discrimination laws are most effective at identifying and remedying, through litigation or the threat of litigation, egregious forms of discrimination. Those include intentional discrimination motivated by racial or gender animus or specific policies that have widespread discriminatory impacts. But anti-discrimination laws are less effective at promoting racial and gender equality on a more systematic basis.
Human Rights GOAL seeks to fill that gap by positively promoting equality and human rights. The ordinance recognizes that human rights and equality are advanced not only by prohibitions on discrimination but also by taking the needs and concerns of women, people of color, and other people vulnerable to discrimination into account at all levels of decision-making.