Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Education and training in the field of human rights can be used to encourage respect for the dignity of all human beings.

Activities can increase knowledge, clarify values, promote solidarity, change attitudes, encourage critical thinking, and develop skills that contribute to respect for, and protection of, human rights. A society educated in human rights is more likely to be committed to protecting those rights and more likely to build a comprehensive culture of human rights.

Training and education constitute a strong instrument for preventing conflicts and human-rights violations. As this is a key factor in achieving and maintaining human security, this has, in recent years, become one of the priority areas of the ODIHR's human-rights programme.

Training for civil society

Often civil society lacks the capacity to monitor government actions. The ODIHR conducts a number of activities aimed at increasing the capacity of NGOs to monitor the human-rights situation in their own countries in an objective and professional way. Support is also targeted at NGOs operating in regions outside of the capital cities, where it is often harder to obtain international assistance.

The ODIHR is currently implementing a project in four countries of Central Asia focusing on human rights in pre-trial detention, an issue of concern throughout the region. The Office has conducted training sessions on monitoring human rights in places of detention, and has supported subsequent monitoring projects conducted by participants.

Human-rights training for OSCE field staff

Following up on a recommendation made at the Human Dimension Forum in Vienna in November 2003, the ODIHR conducts a quarterly course for new human dimension officers working in OSCE field operations.