Venice, at the school of human rights (06/18/2022)
As part of the Sakharov Scholarship training program, human rights defenders they will improve their knowledge of international and EU policies and mechanisms in the field of human rights, and will develop the skills of make positive changesi for the protection of human rights, as Global Campus of Human Rights explains.
Over the years the Venice School has seen the participation of important Sakharov prizes, including Lamiya Haji Bashar, Lorent Saleh and Hauwa Ibrahim.
This year the inauguration will be by Zarifa Ghafari (finalist of the Sakharov Prize). Zarifa Ghafari she is an Afghan activist, politician and entrepreneur. In November 2019, she became mayor of Maidan Shahr, the capital of Wardak province in Afghanistan. She is one of the few mayors in the history of Afghanistan and the youngest – she was elected at the age of 26.
The closing session of the Venice School for Human Rights Defenders will be held by Sahra Karimi. Director, screenwriter and university lecturer, Sahraa Karimi (born in 1985) belongs to the second generation of Afghan refugees in Iran.
Manfred Nowak, general secretary of Global Campus of Human Right, will give a lecture at the Venice School. Nowak is a professor of international human rights at the University of Vienna, where he directs the Vienna Master of Arts in Human Rights and two human rights research centers, including the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights, which he founded in 1992. A October 2016 he was appointed UN expert at the head of the Global Study on children deprived of their liberty.
Main themes of the school
- Improve knowledge of UN mechanisms: treaty bodies and special procedures
- Introduction to gender-based violence and conflict-related sexual violence
- Environmental protection and indigenous rights
- LGBTIQ + rights
- Raise awareness and document human rights abuses through video evidence
- Dealing with human rights skepticism
Program
Global Campus of Human Rights encourages a mixed formula of face-to-face and remote teaching, ensuring an environmentally friendly approach to international travel. The program includes lectures by winners of the Sakharov Prize and the Right Livelihood Award conferred by the homonymous Foundation, important protagonists in the field of human rights from international organizations, academics internationally known, experts and activists from the world of civil society and NGOs. Lessons will be held either face-to-face at the Global Campus of Human Rights headquarters in Lido di Venezia, or remotely through Zoom connections based on the availability of the speakers.
Methodology
In the morning the participants of the Venice School will participate in thematic plenary sessions, while in the afternoon experts and NGO representatives will teach in skill building seminars that address transversal issues. The methodology includes practical information both on techniques for carrying out professional tasks, and on participatory training techniques, such as role-playing, group work, case studies and brainstorming, while encouraging peer learning.
Why the Venice school?
- For the development of the advocacy capacity and expertise of human rights defenders
- To enhance the human rights capacity of interact with the mechanisms of the UN and how they can be used to reinforce their work at the level
- For the development of the civil and diplomatic society network
- To share the knowledge and experience that human rights defenders use to ensure that their voice is central to international decision-making processes relating to humans
- To discuss best practices and ways to follow through the mutual exchange of experiences
- For development between Sakharov Prizes and other human rights defenders
The photos are from Global Campus of Human Rights.
Opening photo: Students of Global Campus Europe 2017-2018, around Koen Vanmechelen’s “Collective Memory” sculpture