Donor: Olof Palmes Internationella Centrum
Duration of the project: January – December 2008
The project consisted of two different modules. Module I was conducted from January until July 2008. Goal of this phase of the project was to provide a specific education to the 150 high school students age 16 – 19 in three towns in Serbia, Valjevo, Sombor and Novi Sad in human rights and involvement in the decision making process in their local communities. The result of this part of project was three campaigns conducted at a local level on a topic that is of relevance for these three towns. The project team, comprising a group of lecturers from BCHR and junior BCHR associates trained and prepared high school students to take part in campaigning preparations and contests on the most relevant topics in the field of human rights in local communities. The seminars were designed as an introduction to the concept of incorporating human rights in legislation and their protection and included debates on specific open issues in the field. Work and discussions with pupils focused on general human rights guarantees, protection of the right to life, prohibition of torture, religious freedoms, freedom of expression and hate speech, right to work, unionist rights, and the right to education. After their completion, groups of four students in each town were selected to take part in the next stage of the project – the preparations for campaigning on chosen topics. The pupils were obliged to write in the two weeks following the completion of the seminars in their towns. After that, BCHR team started a work with selected participants (teams) on designing and presenting local campaigns. Selected teams were given funds for conducting campaigns in local communities. On 8th of July 2008, final event of the Module I took place in the Pedagogy museum in Belgrade. Selected teams from 3 towns came and held presentations on the campaigns they implemented. Members of the wining team (4 of them from Sombor), one whose campaign was voted to have had best impact were awarded laptop computers.
Module II consisted of training for future human rights trainers. It involved 25 young people, future decision makers that have undergone an advanced training in human rights implantation and advocating. This programme is vital for education of human rights experts in Serbia, and as such, has been a part of our annual activities ever since the foundation of Belgrade Centre for Human Rights. These training programs have proved to be of particular importance due to the existing gaps in serious and systematic pattern of civil and legal education in Serbia, as well as the need to discuss the issues resulting from its reintegration in the international community and the simultaneous necessity to deal with the immediate past. Training for Trainers – Human Rights Schoolwas open to successful students, willing to involve themselves in the protection and promotion of human rights in their community. Many candidates applied and each of them was then interviewed by the Training Board and 25 were selected to attend the Training for Trainers – School of Human Rights seminar.
