School of Human Rights

Mission

School of Human Rights (SHR) – project of Voice Against Torture (VAT), aims at developing civilization where the rights of all human beings are valued and respected by promoting equality and sustainable human development. SHR seeks to prevent conflicts and human rights violations, and strives to enhance participation of the civil society and socio-political, ecological, and democratic processes.
We believe human rights education as all-pervasive, life-long process by which people at all levels in development, and every strata of society learn to pay and command dignity and respect. Our educational, dissemination, and advocacy endeavors are aimed at promoting respect and reverence for human rights through HR education.

Objectives

Human Rights Education

  • Impart training to human rights practitioners and other stakeholders to enrich understanding of human rights.
  • Promote proactive engagement of the researchers and scholars in analyzing the HR Issues and thus furthering the cause of HR.
  • To generate and propagate the research based knowledge on human rights, peace, democracy, development and the allied disciplines.
  • To help cultivate democratic norms and values of good governance by promoting respect of others.
  • To encourage an interdisciplinary dialogue on cross-cutting themes of human rights vis-à-vis environment, globalization, world trade, corporate social responsibility, health, security and morality.
  • Underpinning human rights related activities of non-governmental organizations & other institutions by providing core human resources equipped with knowledge and skills of human rights.
  • Promoting regional and global security, peace and development by sensitizing governments, institutions and professionals, vis-à-vis rights and obligations.

Institutional Capacity Building

  • Facilitate in making necessary institutional arrangements including developing action plans, advocacy, awareness and communication strategies for the federal ministries, provincial and local governments and the communities.
  • Sensitizing the legislative and policy-making institutions to develop gender, child and minorities rights-based legislations, policies, programmes and plans in the economic, social, developmental and environmental sectors.
  • Coordinating the activities of international, national and local human rights organizations and professionals through virtual network, publishing, dissemination and other capacity building measures vis-à-vis arranging workshops, seminars, conferences and discussion forums.
  • Act as a think tank for institutionalization of action and learning based human rights education and training

Strategies

  • Promoting reverence for the rights of fellow beings and that for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other such instruments, made to protect the vulnerable.
  • Focusing the groups who had been discriminated against (children, women, minorities, differentially able).
  • Developing appropriate methodologies, materials, and curricula for imparting education and training.
  • Emphasizing human rights education for professional groups, including teachers, public officials, police officers, military personnel, lawyers, judges, religious leaders and the mass media.
  • Promotion of human rights education at the local, national, regional, and global levels. Thus an initiation of a virtual network of human rights professionals, organizations and volunteers needs be done.
  • Establishing of resource centers for dissemination of information and knowledge.
  • Working out a strategy and programmes of civic, human rights, democracy, peace, law, and political education.
  • Promoting legal and political culture in the institutions.
  • Performing the function of a nucleus so as to promote, human rights, peace, law, and political education.
  • Summing-up and distributing domestic and foreign experiences relating to human rights, and holding consultations based on the findings.
  • Organizing seminars, discussion forums and other such activities that may help in raising the human rights edification.

Target Groups

  • Medical and allied practitioners.
  • Educationists/academicians & students, with special focus on primary and secondary school children.
  • Representatives of non-governmental organizations & human rights activists/volunteers.
  • State employees of social sphere, local governing bodies, military personnel, law enforcement & other agencies.
  • People dealing with issues related to women, children & minorities.
  • Religious institutions.
  • Private enterprises.
  • Legislators & policy makers.
  • Torture survivors.