DUSHANBE, July 25, 2008, Asia-Plus — We will recall that twenty-two economics students from economics faculties of Tajikistan’s major universities arrived at a camp in Varzob, 20 kilometers from Dushanbe, yesterday to participate in a week-long Specialized Training course on in Human Rights and International Public Law, an activity supported by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan.
Pre release issued by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan today said that they are one of three groups of university students receiving this training. Others, which include Law students and those majoring in Social Sciences will also have gone through this course by summer’s end.
The intensive course is aimed at raising students’ awareness of students in civic, political and human rights issues, especially as related to and Tajikistan’s international commitments, in particular as a UN member and OSCE participating State, under the UN and OSCE umbrellas. The program also covers theories and practices of human rights as well as its protection mechanisms.
“The project fosters critical thinking by drawing students’ attention to local and international human rights problems. This course will positively affect enhance their awareness and understanding of human rights awareness and understanding of students, and may very well introduce human rights them to as a new carrier options in their future endeavors,” said Ambassador Vladimir Pryakhin, head of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan.
“Participants will be provided with practical skills on remedies against human rights violations and learn how to file complaints to the Geneva-based Human Rights Committee,” he added.
A group of law students and a group of social science majors will also take the course this summer. This project is also supported by the OSCE Office in Tajikistan, the Swiss Development Co-operation Agency and the U N High Commissioner for Refugees, and is implemented by the Tajik non-governmental organization the Bureau on Human Rights and Rule of Law (BHR), a Tajik NGO.
This is the eighth consecutive year in-a-row that the OSCE Office in Tajikistan is supporting this type of human rights education activity. This year, 60 students will participate in the course, compared with 40 in 2007.


