OSCE training seminars in Georgia show human rights is "not just wishful thinking"

TBILISI, 8 October 2002 - A series of three training seminars on human rights monitoring and reporting ended yesterday in Bakuriani, Georgia. The conclusion of the five-day training was also the occasion to mark the presentation of a new Georgian edition of the book, 'Human Rights Monitoring'.

"Many people think that it is nice to talk about human rights but - ironically - they do not believe that it is possible to make humans behave according to the standards of human rights. We hope that the monitoring carried out in Georgia by the participants of the workshops will help people to believe that human rights are not just wishful thinking", said Wieslaw Waslawczyk, a trainer from the Polish Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights.

As during earlier training seminars, the representatives of 22 Georgian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) together with four representatives of state structures from eight different cities, received training over five days on issues related to international human rights law, types and techniques of monitoring, as well as reporting on the human rights situation. The workshop formed part of the Joint Programme for the South Caucasus of the OSCE/Office for Democratic Institution and Human Rights and the European Commission.

Meanwhile, the publication of the Georgian translation of the book, 'Human Rights Monitoring', a guideline for human rights monitoring and reporting, is the culmination of the efforts of the NGO, 'Centre for Development and Co-operation - Centre for Pluralism'.

"This publication has been made possible thanks to the generous contribution of the European Commission and the Italian Foreign Ministry", said Mrs. Monika Sommer Duerst, OSCE Human Rights Officer at the presentation.

Paata Zakareishvili, a well-known Georgian Human Rights expert, also present at the book presentation, added: "Now the ball is in the court of the participating NGOs as well as the government officials who have attended the training. It is of utmost importance to raise the public awareness on the very existence of this book. It should not just be there for experts. It should be in the hands of each and everyone. Only then will the issue of human rights protection become a mainstream-issue in Georgian society."