Human and Civil Rights
(March 7 - 19, 2004)
by Atty. Myrfi S. Gonzalez
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Myrfi Gonzales |
Day One (Sunday, 07 March 04)
At 10:45 a.m., on a snowy, rainy Sunday afternoon, I exited Cologne
Airport and was greeted by two representatives from the Friedrich
Naumann Foundation. This was going to be a grand experience, I
thought to myself.
I then met two of my co-participants for the seminar. They were
from Thailand and India. We were then ushered to a car and were
driven to the Academy.
At Theodor-Heuss-Akademie, some of the staff, Natalia, whom I
later learned to be one of the facilitators and Dr. Jorg Dehnert,
the director for the International Academy for Leadership, graciously
gave us their smiles and welcomed us.
The formal welcome address from the latter was given at 6:00
P.M. that night. It was then that we were also introduced to the
other facilitators, the interpreters and the assistants for the
whole seminar.
After dinner, we had the first session at the seminar room where
we were given an orientation and an introduction to the idea and
techniques of enhancing participation.
Next, answers to the following questions were provided to us:
a) Who was Friedrich Naumann?; b) What is the Friedrich Naumann
Foundation?; c) What are the domestic activities of the Friedrich
Naumann Foundation?; and d) What are the international activities
of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation?.
After learning about the FNF, we were designated partners to
interview for presentation to the group the next day.
Day Two (Monday, 08 March 04)
On the second day of the seminar, we were tasked to introduce
the partners we interviewed the night before. It was fun learning
about the other participants from their partners and not from
themselves. I was honored to have been given the opportunity to
introduce the very amiable representative from Siberia and Montenegro,
Zorica Paunovic.
There were twenty four (24) of us from twenty one (21) different
countries.
After the exchange on our backgrounds, we moved down to business
and discussed the first serious order of the day which was the
importance of human rights from a liberal perspective.
We were grouped by regions in which we came from, namely, Latin
America, Africa, Central and Eastern Europe and Mediterranean
region and Asia. We talked about the human rights problems and
the political environment in our respective regions which we presented
to the plenary after lunch. The exercise saddened me as it reminded
me of the unfortunate circumstance of some of our fellow humankind.
After dinner, there was a PowerPoint presentation on human rights.
Day Three (Tuesday, 09 March 04)
With inputs on what human rights are at hand, we brainstormed
on the importance of human rights on Tuesday, the 9th of March.
The main topic for the day to tackle was liberalism and the universality
of human rights.
Again, we were divided into working groups and were given texts
of human rights instruments in international law. We were asked
to highlight the major features of the texts and explain the importance
of their features.
Since among the regions represented, only Asia has no regional
human rights instrument, we were tasked to review and present
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights while the others reviewed
their own regional instruments such as the European Convention
for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, American
Convention on Human Rights and the African Charter on Human and
Peoples’ Rights.
It was here that I shared the efforts and the importance of such
labors of the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism.
The last undertaking for the day was listing the 10 rights that
are most important from a liberal point of view, the 10 most important
political aims liberals have in the countries represented and
the 10 rights most massively violated in the same countries. Taking
down the last list moved all of us in the group.
Day Four (Wednesday, 10 March 04)
The reports regarding the lists made were presented on the fourth
day of the seminar.
After some discussions, there was an input on the three generation
of rights.
Working groups on the universality of human rights then followed
where we were given the text of the Shariat Bill presented to
the parliament in Pakistan in April 1991 for us to evaluate with
the help of some guide questions.
It was quite a difficult session considering that some of the
participants are Muslims and we were reviewing a legislation perceived
to be patterned on religious principles.
At night, we were introduced to the concept of networking with
the aim that it may be of help to us later on in the course of
our human rights work.
Day Six (Friday, 12 March 04)
The creative and dramatic sides of the participants were put
to test on the sixth day of the seminar. In the discussion on
the right to property which is a central liberal concern, three
different cases where given to us participants. We were asked
to act out two of the situations that touched on violations on
the right to property. Discussions followed the plays.
Later in the day, there was a working group discussion on rights
and anti-discrimination. As with every end of a working group
discussion, the agreements and disagreements were presented in
the plenary.
In view of the bombing in Spain, a consensus on having the general
debate on the topic “How far can governments go in protecting
national security and enforcing law and order?” was made.
Before we capped the night off, there was an eye-opening presentation
on the excursion and its themes for the next days of the seminar.
Day Seven (Saturday, 13 March 04)
This was one of the most unforgettable days of the seminar. It
was not the City tour at Weimar, which was a remarkable experience
in itself but the visit to the former concentration camp in Buchenwald
that struck my heart.
I cannot fully describe my feelings as I walked around the camp.
I can feel the deep sadness and sorrow of the place. Even the
trees looked like they were continuously weeping.
It was heart-wrenching to be there. Realizations and questions
gush forth like waterfalls. As to what they were shall fill pages
and pages of paper.
We needed to rest after that experience. It was well that we
set off to Dresden and settled in at the Steigenberger Parkhotel.
Day Eight (Sunday, 14 March 04)
We met Mr. Torsten Herbst, Vice Chairman of the FDP of Saxony
on Sunday. He shared with us his thoughts on the Challenges and
Perspectives for the Liberal Party: The political situation in
Saxony, Germany and Europe with respect to the upcoming elections.
In the afternoon, we had a city tour of Dresden. Even in such
a light activity, new ideas were still brought forth.
Day Nine (Monday, 15 March 04)
On Monday we visited three institutions in Dresden. We visited
the Ministry of Education in Saxony and had very interesting exchanges
with Mr. Heiner Sandig, Commissioner for the affairs of foreigner
and Mr. Konrad Felber, Federal Commissioner for the Documents
of the State Security Service of the former GDR.
They both had assistants that helped us learn more about the
things we wanted to know in their respective offices.
The last visit for the day was the most touching. It taught us
the importance and the value of forgiveness and reconciliation.
Day Ten (Tuesday, 16 March 04)
In the morning of the next day, we visited the State Ministry
of the Interior of Saxony/ Police Headquarters.
After lunch, we headed for Gummersbach and had dinner at the
Academy.
Day Eleven (Wednesday, 17 March 04)
The group has an inquisitive mind. There were several questions
unanswered from the excursions and visits. We were given the chance
to satisfy our curiosity on Wednesday. The facilitators and Dr.
Dehnert shared with us their know-how on the issues presented.
On the same morning, we dealt with the issue on human rights
education. We were tasked to prepare campaign leaflets for the
general public after we were given situations on whom and what
to campaign for. This exercise highlighted the importance of human
rights education in the fight for the protection and promotion
of human rights.
We then watched a stirring video film on the case of Rwanda.
The news that day and the day before told us of the death of
three Albanian children and the reported retaliation made. Zorica,
from Serbia and Montenegro was requested to enlighten us more
on the situation of their country. A discussion on the film showed
to us and the violation of human rights in places such as Rwanda
and Kosovo then followed.
During the late afternoon, there was a panel presentation where
the work of NGOs in the promotion of human rights was discussed.
Emphasis was made on the following questions: Who do NGOs really
represent? How effective is NGO work? Can it be improved? Are
there more effective ways of protecting and promoting human rights?
Day Twelve (Thursday, 18 March 04)
On the twelfth day of the seminar, we learned how to promote
human rights through negotiation.
The task was to prepare for a simulated international negotiation
on the issue of child labour in a carpet industry in India.
There were six working groups formed. Group 1 represented the
Government of India. Group 2 represented the Association of Indian
carpet manufacturers. Group 3 was the co-ordinating group of children’s
rights organisations in India, where I belonged. Group 4 represented
the Commission of the European Union. Group 5 was the Association
of carpet retailers and Group 6 was the co-ordinating group of
children’s rights organizations in EU countries.
There was a plenary dialogue on how the negotiation was made
after the simulation.
We, participants were then allowed time to ourselves to evaluate
the conduct of the whole seminar. Of course, the interpreters
were still there to assist us.
There were suggestions on how the seminar could be improved.
Over-all, we agreed that it was a very helpful, insightful, rewarding,
gratifying, enjoyable, memorable and impressive seminar. The people
behind it were all very accommodating and kind. We expressed our
appreciation to FNF, the academy, the staff, facilitators, interpreters,
assistants and the director.
The farewell dinner followed where we were given certificates.
Day Thirteen (Friday, 19 March 04)
We all departed from the Academy on the 19th of March cherishing
the lessons learned and the friendship shared with the hope that
when we step back into our own realities, we shall contribute
to make the world a better place to live in.
The seminar certainly was a grand experience. Vielen Dank!
