400 Activists Gather for New Tactcis
Scheduled for September 29 - October 2 the event is expected to provide new approaches for innovative tactics in promoting and safeguarding human rights across the globe..
"We have made a lot of progress in the past 30 years in the struggle for human rights. Yet the world continues to face human rights crises of dramatic proportions: Sudan, Chechnya, and the US use of torture are just a few examples, says Douglas A. Johnson, the Executive Director of the Center for Torture Victims.
Historically, the human rights community has fought to establish legal conventions and treaties and then use shame and embarrassment to hold governments accountable to the terms of those agreements to stem the abuses. We're gathering in Turkey to infuse new energy and new ideas into human rights work worldwide," he explains their choice of Ankara for the gathering.
The Symposium is expected to bring a wide array of representatives from different sectors who work in the human rights field: From public institutions to academics, from businesses to non governmental organizations and governments. The participants will debate in regional meetings to discuss for making the best use of the new tactics in their particular regions and for improving networking and cooperation.
Interaction Belfast of Ireland is expected to introduce their experiences in the creative use of technology. The organization, via a mobile phone network in both Catholic and Protestant communities of Northern Ireland, has gained experience in preventing outbreaks of violence between volatile neighborhoods. Volunteers communicate with their colleagues when potentially violent crowds gather or when rumors of violence start to spread and go to the location to prevent violence.
Another example is the Nepal informal courts to prevent torture. The conflict is resolved in the community, so people are not taken into police custody where torture is widespread.
"This Symposium brings the spirit of Olympic games to Ankara, says Ali Bayramoglu, the Project Coordinator. The human rights community, urging to push humanity and human rights further, higher and stronger, will exchange ideas and cooperate here.
The success of the Symposium in Ankara will be marked when, different sectors who rarely communicate and cooperate, unite their forces for a common cause and form networks in this spirit," he concludes.
In the three-day event, there will take place 35 tactical workshops showcasing 100 tactics from around the world. Different works on different fields of human rights, from different countries as diverse as Senegal to Bangladesh, Peru, Canada and Turkey.
Expecting that the Symposium will be a human rights festival, journalist Murat Çelikkan of Helsinki Citizens' Assembly, says: Holding the Symposium in Ankara is significant. The history of the human rights struggle in Turkey is very important. Turkey has been striving to decrease human rights violations in recent years and by hosting this event it will serve as a bridge of understanding between East and West/South and North, as well as different religions and cultures."
Organized by Center for Torture Victims (USA), HelsinkiCitizens' Assembly (HCA) and with the support of the Public Administration Institute for Turkey and Middle East, The Symposium, opens with the opening speech of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Abdullah Gül, on September 29,Wednesday at 16:00, at the Conference Hall of the State Highways General Directorate, Ankara.(EK)