Course 2

"Supporting and Protecting Economic, Social and Cultural Right"

The Human Rights Program at the Al-Urdun Al-Jadid Research Center in coordination with the British Fund for the Support of Human Rights and the International Union for Housing (Habitat) conducted a training course entitled "Supporting and Protecting Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Observation and Preparation of Reports". This took place on 13-15 October 2001 at the Marmora Hotel in Amman.

Dr. Hani Hourani, the Director General of the Center, presented the opening speech welcoming the participants and briefing them on the purpose of conducting this Training Course and the forthcoming training activities of the program which are aimed at rehabilitating and preparing professional activists in the field of following-up and monitoring the status of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, stressing the importance of learning the basics of monitoring and following-up the status of these rights. He also concentrated on the importance of preparing the Reports that reflect the status of these rights and that include the relevant data, and ask the related questions, in addition to all the other techniques involved.

Mr. Hourani welcomed future cooperation among the participants in preparing periodical reports specialized in the status of the economic, social, cultural and environmental rights.

Mr. Andrew Wills, from the British Embassy, expressed his pride in conducting this training course in cooperation with the Human Rights Program of the Al-Urdun Al-Jadid Research Center.

The Training was undertaken by Mr. Josef Shqella, the Regional Coordinator at Habitat/Cairo, and throughout the 3 day duration of this course he presented training material and exercises, and explained the methodologies used to monitor economic, social and cultural rights.

This Course was attended by 35 trainees from Government and Non-Government Organizations, and Civil Society Organizations like the Arab Media Center, The Jordanian Women's Federation, The Amman Chamber of Commerce, The Consortium of Women's Committees, The Humane Forum for Women's Rights, The Family Development Society, The Young Entrepreneurs Society, The Center for Political Studies in Jerusalem, and the Society for Citizens' Rights. As for the Government organizations that were represented in this training course these were The Prime Ministry, and The Urban Development and Housing Society. Additionally journalist from Al Rai, Ad-Dustor and Shihan Jordanian Daily newspapers also attended. Two Arab Organizations, the Sudanese "Intishar" Charitable Society and the Palestinian Center for Media Studies, also participated in this Training Course, in addition to several researchers from UJRC, and Human Rights activists.

The Agenda of this Course comprised defining Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and their link to Civil and Political Rights, the source of economic, social and cultural rights, the role of the local and international society, the methodology of monitoring the status of economic, social and cultural rights, forms of violation to the economic, social and cultural rights, exercises in monitoring violations and documenting them, strategic planning to monitor the status of economic, social and cultural rights, exercises to study and prepare reports on specific forms of economic, social and cultural rights, and monitoring through a network.

This course also included training in the basic elements of international human rights systems, through the identification on the methodologies used to draft the legal international fundamentals and their formulation into international agreements, and introductions to the entities involved in formulating such agreements, which are: The United Nations General Assembly, The United Nations Human Rights Committee, The UN Conferences, and the Regional Organizations. The trainees were also introduced to the international organizations which monitor the status of human rights in a certain region or country, like: the regional organizations and establishments, the international non-government organizations, and the United Nations Organizations. The UN monitors the status of Human Rights in the world by virtue of the international agreements, and does so through the political bodies of the member countries, and through its Peace Keeping and Human Rights Missions, which are considered the latest methodologies to monitoring the status of Human Rights which the UN employs.

While discussing the development of Human Rights in the World, Mr. Shqella said that the UN Treaty and International Declaration of Human Rights comprise the general principles of Human Rights and that they require additional details and elaboration. That is why the two international treaties, one regarding economic, social and cultural rights, and the other political and civil rights, were later drafted. He added, that these two agreements were also followed by others that dealt with the principles of human rights in more details and with more precision like the Agreements involving Rights of Children, the Opposition of Torture, Discrimination Against Women, and Ethnic Discrimination. He then went on to discuss the methodologies employed by the UN to monitor the status of Human Rights in member countries, presenting the two major methods which it employs and these are the political bodies, and the reports, stressing that the Reports help the countries conduct a comprehensive review of the status of Human Rights and encourages them to conduct this monitoring themselves. They also provide the country with a basis on which to gauge their development and helps them face the problems.

Mr. Shqella said that the monitoring process depends on several techniques that makes it an accurate and objective process, the most important of which are the general guidelines issued by the UN General Assembly which are basically an explanation and analysis of the legal articles stipulated in the international agreements, and which ensure that the indicators and criteria are unified thus facilitating the monitoring of the status of the various human rights. The participants reviewed and discussed these guidelines during the training course.

Mr. Shqella stressed that these general guidelines, despite their importance, are not a the sole reference for the indicators and criteria that should be taken into consideration during the monitoring process, there are many other indicators particularly the regional ones, referring to the Manama Declaration regarding Human Settlements in the new millennium, and the Arab Declaration on the Sustainable Development of Human Settlements which was issued in Rabat, as examples, indicting that these two declarations are a major source to monitor the right to housing in the Arab world. He also illustrated the criteria and indicators employed by Habitat to monitor the right to housing. After reviewing all these indicators and criteria, the participants discussed their application in the monitoring process.

The participants also engaged in training on the preparation of comprehensive reports on the status of economic, social and cultural rights, using various methods to prepare these reports including the SWOT analysis, which includes the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, in addition to another method which is used by Habitat, and which involves measuring the financial losses that results from the violation of human rights, during which a reports indicating the financial losses resulting from forced evacuation was presented as an example of the application of this methods.

The participants were also trained in the method of formulating work strategies for Human Rights. Whereby Dr. Shqella concentrated on the formulation of strategies in the presence of violations of economic rights, stressing that the way to abolish such violations involves identifying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the circumstances, and choosing the appropriate working strategy. He added that a working strategy must include 4 elements: A Purpose, An Objective, a Desired Outcome, and Activities, which the participants then discussed in details.

When evaluating the training course, the participants expressed they were highly impressed with the organization and management standards of this course, indicating they had benefited immensely from the material that was presented and discussed during the course, and from the methodology employed throughout the training. They also expressed their desire to attended training courses on the civil and political rights since it would be a completion of the training they received during this course.

At the end of the training course, a ceremony was organized during which the participants received Certificates of Thanks and Appreciation for attending the training course. These were presented by Mr. Hani Hourani, Mr. Josef Shqella and Mr. Ayman Yasseen, the Human Rights Program