The Training on Understanding Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a five-day intensive course run by the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights every November.

This training is designed for participants who are interested in becoming:

• Familiar with the content of ESC rights, in particular specific rights such as the right to food, right to housing, right to education, right to water, right to health;
• Familiar with the UN mechanisms mandated to protect and promote ESC rights and the domestic mechanisms for implementing ESC rights;
• Familiar with the role of civil society, national human rights institutions, and non-state actors in relation to ESC rights;
• Able to identify and effectively describe violations and problems in progressive realization of ESC rights; incorporate this in their advocacy plans; and devise strategies for making use of UN ESC rights mechanisms.

Training on Understanding ESC Rights, Geneva, November 2011
– Copyright Ivona Truscan

 This training includes a wide range of topics, including:

• The normative content of ESC rights, particularly the rights to health, housing, education, food and water;
• Justiciability of ESC rights;
• Universal ESC mechanisms, including the UN Committee on ESC Rights, the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Human Rights Council, and the UN Special Procedures;
• ESC rights in context, e.g. armed conflict, gender and ESC rights;
• Discussions with experts, including UN Treaty Body members; visit to a session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Dynamic combinations of lectures, working groups, and hands-on work on country situations, facilitated by experts experienced in ESC rights work at both UN and grassroots levels give illustrations of how to bring concepts into practice.

Join us for this training and learn more about economic, social and cultural rights! Former participants in this course give their feedback below!

For any organization interested in working on ESC rights or having its staff capacity built on this, especially in the line of advocacy using international mechanisms, this course provides an excellent opportunity for a firm foundation. I strongly recommend participation.

- Rommy Mom, Nigeria Country Director, Global Rights, Nigeria, participant in the 2010 program

 

The comprehensive description of ESCR by academics, UN staff, NGO staff, experts allows the participants to get a deep understanding of ESCR.

- Odile Robert, Adviser to the Chair of the Human Dimension Committee of OSCE, participant in the 2011 program

Visit the Geneva Academy webpage to learn more about the Training on Understanding Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and about the application procedure!

For further information, feel free to contact the organizers at escrtraining@geneva-academy.ch. We will be happy to hear from you!