195 persons to receive training in International Human Rights

A programme spearheaded by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance will soon see 195 people become holders of Certificates in International Human Rights Law.

The programme was launched Monday at Pegasus’ Grand Savannah Suites in Georgetown.

The course will consist of 10 weeks of detailed training sessions facilitated by several high-level officials, including Chief Justice Roxanne George-Wiltshire, who are well versed in law and human rights matters.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Governance Gail Teixeira described the programme as “homegrown,” indicating that a lot of local talent participated in crafting the course.

“This is a homegrown initiative […] we as Guyanese have done some interesting things […] so [we said] let’s try this one,” she explained.

Minister Teixeira pointed out that the programme was birthed out of what was seen as a dire need for a heightened sense of human rights knowledge.

“We assumed that people knew about basic things like human rights, and as we went on our sojourn m[…] we discovered that people thought they had [a knowledge of human rights] but didn’t have […] so we started playing with the idea of doing an International Human Rights Law Certificate programme,” she posited.

The hope, the Governance  Minister said, is that more awareness can be raised in Guyana when it comes to human rights through this educational programme.

“This programme is exciting and an interesting one for us, and we hope that it will create a greater awareness in the society of human rights and how they operate, both locally in Guyana [and] what are the mechanisms for redress at an international level,” Minister Texeira explained.

The course will focus on several pivotal areas, including Guyana’s human rights framework, the International Bill of Rights, key legislation that protects human rights in Guyana, and contemporary issues in human rights law.

Meanwhile, participants in the programme expressed great eagerness to begin learning and training.

[Extracted and modified from the Department of Public Information]