Participants: Human rights should be interpreted into behavior [Archives:2005/877/Front Page]
Yasser Mohammed Al-Mayyasi
SANA'A- Sept. 12- Functions of the Arab course on human rights kicked off on Monday and is expected to be finished next Sunday. The course, which was organized by the Human Rights Information and Training Center (HRITC), involved 40 male and female trainees from 12 Arab countries.
The main objective of the course is to discuss a number of important subjects covering training on international human rights conventions and civil, political and economic rights.
In addition, a workshop on the mechanisms of international protection for UN committees, the international system for human rights protection and the International Criminal Court is planned to be staged in the days to come. The workshop is due to discuss the regional accords on human rights such the European and American accords, the African and Arab pacts and woman and child rights.
Ms. Amatalalim al-Soswa, Minister of Human Rights, who inaugurated the course, confirmed that more attention should be drawn to human rights, mainly in Arab schools and universities, as well as in civil community organizations.
She recommended the Arab governments to be interested in the training programs that provide policemen with means to do their duties in a better way and ensure protection of human rights.
The Minister of Human Rights insisted that the Arab world has to cope with development of the contemporary legal intellectualism and show more respect to human rights considering it a task of every responsible Arab citizen.
Ms. Al-Soswa expressed her sorrow over the lack of training for people on human rights and stressed that such symposiums are the merely activities for the enhancement of human rights principles and concepts.
Participants in the course laid more emphasis on the expansion of the human rights scope and interpreting it into behavior, practice and culture in the society and not as a merely slogan doomed to expire and vanish.
They confirmed that only such events that pull together individuals from different Arab countries can be able to plant the tree of freedom and ensure protection of human rights in a continued way. They added these activities would help reinforce human rights principle and concepts, stressing on the importance of a partnership between official institutions and civil community organizations for the purpose of enhancing human rights in real life situation.
Over the last few years, closer attention was paid to issues related to human rights and freedoms by several activists in non-governmental organizations. They view it as an international demand that is necessary to be met to create a kind of social justice and equality in rights and freedoms.
Numerous Arab countries could cope with the international developments on human rights and started to establish human rights ministries and organizations.
In Yemen, the Republican Decree No. 255 of 2003 was issued stipulating the formation of a human rights ministry with main objective of protecting and reinforcing human rights.
Several policies, plans, programs and procedures were suggested for ensuring and consolidating human rights and making the Yemeni legislations cope and harmonize with international human rights conventions and accords.
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