Lahore, MTT News Desk:  The nine days 2nd Module of Participatory Course on Democracy and Human Rights (PCDHR) begins under the auspices of the Centre for Human Rights Education, a human rights institution working to strengthen human rights activism to build a human rights and democratic culture.

The opening ceremony of the PCDHR held in Lahore was address by Mr. William Basharat- Chairperson (CHRE) and Mr. Samson Salamat- Director (CHRE), Mr. Shoaib Adil, renowned journalist and the editor of Monthly “Nia Zamana”.

25 human rights defenders from different areas of Pakistan are attending this course. The 1st Module of PCDHR was held in September 10-19, 2011 with same participants.

The course focuses the development of knowledge on the concepts of human rights and democracy and skill development of the participants with a vision to prepare them to contribute to the efforts for to build a human rights friendly society.

The participatory course on democracy and human rights is an extensive learning programme designed for human rights defenders working with human rights organizations, university students of social sciences departments, the officials of the state institutions and the members of media and political groups.

The course would be conducted in participatory methodology and emphasis’ is put on putting the learning into practice, therefore, the trainees shall be required to develop and implement their individual plans on different human rights issues in their respective areas.

Apart from the in-house sessions, the participants will visit Punjab Assembly, Election Commission, Transgender Community, Religious Minorities, and a privately run Women Shelter Home (DASTAK) to assess human rights situation in connection with international human rights standards and principles.

After the assessment, the participants in their individual plans shall plan and strategize research, advocacy and awareness raising initiatives to address the human rights issues.

Discussions will be held with experts, including human rights practitioners, journalists, office bearers of political parties, and elected representatives, to discuss responsibilities of State Institutions, Political Parties and Voters for creditable electoral process in future.

Special emphasis would be put on the skill development of the participants in designing and implementation of advocacy campaigns, facilitation of human rights trainings, reporting of human rights activities and human rights abuses and proposal writing.

Meanwhile, motivational exercises would be conducted consistently during the course to strengthen the commitment of human rights defenders and sensitization for their particular role in protecting and promoting democracy and human rights.