International Human Rights Academy
(October 14-29, 2005)
By Atty. Leah R. Olores
 |
| Atty.
Leah R. Olores |
I attended the International Human Rights Academy in Cape Town,
South Africa with the unbridled excitement of a traveler heading
towards the unknown. To see Africa is a dream. To learn of and
about Human Rights, at what in recent times has been the very
bastion of racism and oppression, is a rare privilege.
Cape Town, for sure, is not what everyone thinks Africa should
look like. It is not dry, desolate or barren. It is rich, lush
and awe-inspiring. Its coastline reminds one of Ireland’s Ring
of Kerry without the mystery, the mountainside dotted as it were
with posh houses. Its flora reminds one of the South of France.
Ensconced between the majesty of the oldest mountain range in
the world and the Atlantic Ocean, one cannot but wake up and retire
at night with a prayer of thanks for such beauty.
It is difficult to envision such beauty steeped in repression,
tyranny and violence. Yet it was. And South Africa’s history was
the perfect complement to the courses and interaction provided
for by the Academy.
FNF Framework Program
My program started with a one-and-a-half day introduction and
workshop with Dr. Stefan Melnik, Simone Okaj-Braun (our very efficient
and fun program coordinator) and the nine other FNF scholars.
I was joined by Daad, a women’s rights activist from Syria, who
was my partner in vice; May, our sweet academic from Egypt; Mateja,
our historian who was the specialist in Balkan ethnic issues;
Marina, our funky soon-to-be lawyer from Croatia; Suntariya, our
caring German-speaking Thai judge; Clarence, a human rights lawyer
from Tanzania, who won the nicest smile awards hands down; Iradj,
our Brazilian engineer turned human rights professor turned physical
therapist; Halil, the Turkish lawyer from the Office of the Prime
Minister, who serenaded us with Turkish songs; and Bekir, the
scholar, for whom I wish to learn Turkish if only to explore and
learn more from the rich minefield that is his brain.
Anyone who has ever attended FNF seminars would know just how
intensive, dynamic and educational these workshops are. The main
topics were Liberalism and Human Rights and the Rule of Law which
were very ably presented and moderated by Dr. Melnik. He likewise
spoke about the Foundation’s history and activities in the field
of human rights. The participants discussed the ongoing human
rights situation in their respective countries as well as rule
of law concerns, which when my turn came almost made me choke
in tears. Used as I am to talking, facing and helping to resolve
the problems that we have here in the Philippines, I realized
how mortified I was in discussing the very same problems with
people of other nationalities. More so when I think that at the
root of most of our problems is the utter lack of integrity, honesty,
discipline and shame. I did not want the Filipinos, as a people,
and the Philippines, as a nation, to be marked as such. It took
the better part of the day for Dr. Melnik to console me with similar
problems faced by new democratic countries.
The Academy
The two-week course offered by the Academy was participated in
by 56 human rights activists, lawyers and doctors from 43 nations.
The lectures began with the Universal Systems for the Protection
of Human Rights, then the Regional Systems consisting of the African,
American and the European Human Rights System, International Criminal
Law and Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law and Transitional
Justice. We also had several other topics to choose from all of
which were very interesting such as Terrorism and Human Rights,
Rights of Refugees, the Prohibition of Torture, Foreign Policy
and Human Rights, the Right to Development, the Right to Health,
Children’s Rights, etc.
I would say that some of the lectures were tedious as it focused
on the treaties or laws alone, when they could have been given
as advanced reading instead such that more time could have been
devoted to actual problems and solutions that were of most interest
to the participants. Still, the professors were all very good
and we were given tons of readings to bring home. However, I would
like to stress that far beyond the academic side of the program,
lessons that we have already learned or could learn on our own,
what I gained most from the academy was for Human Rights to have
a face. A face embodied by all the participants who shared their
experiences. And when mere colleagues become friends in the space
of two weeks, their experiences become your own. You feel the
pain. The terror. And the discrimination. Reading books and watching
CNN could not approximate the feeling one has upon learning of
the deaths and the maiming in Iraq from Salam, our Iraqi orthopaedic
surgeon participant. Or of the discrimination felt by Pamela,
a highly-educated and urbanized Ugandan who is made to sit on
the floor together with all the women, while the men sit in chairs;
Or of the dilemma faced by Cesar, who develops medicines deep
in the South American jungles, whether or not to devote limited
resources to HIV drugs that can cure millions of afflicted but
poor individuals or to Heart and obesity drugs that cater to the
rich and the few who could afford to pay high prices for such
drugs; Or of the question raised by Katerina, why Macedonia has
inherited the ethnic problems that were once largely based in
Kosovo and Serbia.
When a Christian such as I meet pious Moslems such as Bekir,
who is as witty as he is intelligent, who is as gentle as anyone
could be; and May who is fun, caring and a fellow shop-a-holic;
I begin to wonder why our religions wage wars against each other.
When I meet people like Doctor Douglas from Zimbabwe who was one
of the advisers in all my medical woes in Capetown, and Yav from
Congo, who did nothing but make us laugh, I wonder what makes
us think differently of people with colors dissimilar to ours.
And there I knew what the importance is of these International
Academies and Seminars. It brings together people who would otherwise
not have met and it removes the barriers of negative preconceived
notions about other races, nations, religions. It makes us connect
at a deeper level and learn to value each other not just as a
face or a name, but as humans and more importantly, as friends.
It is in meeting all these people from different nations that
one gains new perspectives and knowledge on how to solve problems.
It is in breaking bread with them that one gains faith that something
can be done to help the world.
Once again, I thank FNF (Alex and Dorothy especially for being
wonderfully patient with me) for the invaluable experience I had
in South Africa and for all my new-found friends, heroes all,
who have given me courage and belief to pursue my endeavours in
the field of Human Rights.
