REGIONAL COURSE ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS

Harare, Zimbabwe. 25 July to 12 August 2005

BACKGROUND

The vision of the Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa (SAHRIT) is to
create a society in southern Africa that respects human rights. Its
mission is to facilitate the development of a society in southern Africa
that respects human rights, democracy and good governance. This will be
achieved by mainstreaming human rights, democracy and good governance in
public and other relevant institutions; advocacy and training and through
fostering a culture that promotes and protects human rights through
community based initiatives. Pursuant to its vision and mission and in
order to promote its objectives SAHRIT is offering a short course from the
25th of July to the 12th of August 2005 on human rights, with special
focus on civil and political rights.

THE COURSE

The course will endeavour to bring pertinent civil and political rights
issues to the fore. It will be an opportunity for participants from the
different backgrounds and countries of southern Africa to share
information and experiences. At the same time study visits will be carried
out and presentations and panel discussions by different regional and
international experts will be conducted. The course is intended for
professionals, researchers, activists, defenders and trainers to broaden
their knowledge and further develop their human rights expertise on the
substantive and institutional aspects of the promotion and protection of
civil and political rights at national, regional and international levels.
In addition, the course will give an opportunity to participants to
participate in regional coalition building through networking with other
participants at a regional level. This is a strategic network to devise
regional human rights intervention strategies.

COURSE CONTENT

The course content includes:

* Brief introduction to international law, with focus on international
human rights law, international humanitarian law and refugee law
* Concepts of human rights
* Main human rights instruments with emphasis on the International
Covenant on civil and political rights
* Monitoring and enforcement mechanisms of civil and political rights
under the United Nations system and the African Charter
* Selected civil and political rights: right to life, liberty, freedom of
association and assembly, fair trail, prohibition of torture
* Thematic issues on civil and political rights: HIV, elections, conflict
resolution and terrorism
* Civil and political rights of special groups: women, children, minority
and indigenous groups
* The Role of ICT in Human Rights
* Plan of Action

WORKING AND PRESENTATION METHODOLOGIES

Different working and presentation methodologies will be employed during
the course depending on the subject; such as lectures, thematic feature
films, panel discussions, working groups and workshops, informal sessions
for sharing of experiences, getting to know more about each other and each
other?s organizations. Participants will be provided with a reader
containing human rights information, text books and handouts.

PLAN OF ACTION

In applying for the course, participants are expected to submit together
with their application form a draft Plan of Action (of not more than TEN
pages) using the format attached to the brochure or this document. The
Plan of Action will further be developed during the course in Harare and
implemented by the participant back in his or her country after the
course. The Plan of Action exercise is a little project requiring minimal
resources that will be carried out by the participant using own resources
aimed at giving participants an opportunity to apply the knowledge learnt
during the course in a practical manner. Participants are required to
choose ONE topic from which to prepare a Plan of Action.

COURSE FEE

Applicants must be from the Southern African Development Community (SADC)
region (and currently living within SADC) in order to qualify for the
available scholarship covering airfare, food and accommodation and a
modest per diem. Non-SADC citizens and SADC citizens currently living
outside of SADC are expected to meet their own costs. Participants will
have to provide for their additional day-to-day expenses.

WORKING LANGUAGE

The working language will be English. Participants should be proficient in
English.

CERTIFICATION

Upon completion of the course and satisfactory participation, each
participant will receive a Certificate of participation.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Candidates for the course must have working experience in the field of
human rights. Participants must be attached to a relevant
organisation/institution and must be nominated by that organisation or
institution. The number of participants will be limited to 24.
Participants will be selected by the Committee of Admission and must meet
the general health requirements set out in the application form.

PREVIOUS COURSE HIGHLIGHTS

The human rights courses at SAHRIT have since 2002 become an annual event
and now entering their 4th year running. During these exciting years of
excellent human rights learning over 500 people from various and rich
backgrounds have participated in the short courses. Boasting of a
first-rate database of human rights experts and presenters, participants
have benefited immensely from seasoned human rights experts and presenters
from reputable universities and institutions across the globe from Africa,
Geneva, US, Sweden to Eastern Europe.

At an individual level, involvement in the short courses has earned many
participants from the SADC region and beyond promotion at work,
participation in other human rights courses internationally, enrolment at
major international universities, funding for their own human rights work
by other international funding agencies and a general opening of windows
of opportunity through networking associated with joining the bigger
SAHRIT family. What follows is part of what our cameras captured during a
recent course.

Read on to hear what other participants said about the short course:

I suppose the course was good both in terms of it?s content as well as how
the different human rights gurus made their presentations

Thank you very much
- Jesten (Zimbabwe)

I felt the course was well structured and taught by a very professional
and knowledgeable team of experts in the area. As a result, I was able to
learn a lot within a short while. To underscore this point, the paper I
wrote, which is published in volume 53 of the International and
Comparative Law Quarterly of 2004, one of the top legal journals in the
Commonwealth, was based on information and knowledge I acquired during the
course.
I am waiting for the form for the economic, social and cultural rights course.
-Charles (Botswana)

ORGANISING COMMITTEE

Mr A. Shoko Project Officer
Mr.T E Mwanyisa Project Officer
Miss. A. Mloyi Organising Secretary

Phone, Fax or e-mail us for an Application Form. Applications should be
returned to SAHRIT Friday 17th June 2005

Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa (SAHRIT)
12 Ceres Road
Avondale ? Harare
Tel: (263- 4) 33882 / 339819
Fax: (263-4) 339818
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.sahrit.org