Human Rights Education Workshop

Workshop for Ministry of Environment

Ministry of Environment, Baghdad
October 2-3, 2006

On October 2-3, 2006, The Iraq Foundation held a human rights education workshop for 14 employees from the Ministry of Environment (MoE) at IF’s Human Rights Resource Center. The workshop started with a presentation by the legal consultant at the MoE on the basic international human rights principles and standards, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and human rights in both the Arabic and Islamic traditions. Other topics discussed during the first session included the international and local mechanisms of implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the importance of creating a human rights monitoring and defenders group in Iraq.

The second day of the workshop discussed women’s and children’s rights, including the current situation of these two groups in Iraq and the international treaties that have been developed to protect their rights universally. Finally, the workshop concluded with a session on the relationship between human rights and the environment. The presentation focused on the rights of humans to live in a clean and unpolluted environment, sources of environmental, and ways in which the right to an unpolluted environment could be protected by the Iraqi people and the government. The workshop underlined civil society’s role in protecting the environment.