12 February
2012

On
Sunday, 12 February 2012, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), the
Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR) and the International Federation for
Human Rights (FIDH) started a training course on human rights and justice
mechanisms to activists of the Yemeni civil society.  The training aims at preparing activists to
face violations of human rights and at building their capacity in the area of
justice mechanisms.

The
4-day training course (29 training hours) is taking place in Cairo between 12
and 15 February 2012 with 35 participants in attendance.  The participants represent 19 organizations
that are active in Yemen.

In
his opening speech, Mr. Alaa Shalabi, AOHR’s Secretary General, welcomed the
participants and expressed thanks to the Yemeni organizations that contributed
to the arrangements and preparations required for the training.  He also thanked the participants for the
efforts they exerted to participate in the training.  Shalabi said that what is going on in the Arab
world right now is the fruit of efforts of human rights organizations over
years.

Mr.
Raji Sourani, PCHR’s Director, President of AOHR’s Board of Trustees and FIDH’s
Vice President, stressed that this is the first training course of its kind
this year.  He noted that this course is
a part of a program implemented by PCHR in cooperation with AOHR and other Arab
and international organizations, in the Arab world.  The program is aimed at building the
capacities of the Arab civil society in the area of human rights.  He said that this course is of special
importance because it coincides with the developments taking place in the Arab
world and human rights violations perpetrated against civilians.  He further said that this training is held to
prepare participants to face crimes that are committed and guarantee holding the
perpetrators accountable.

Sourani
added that the revolution of the Yemeni people is a unique and distinguished
example that has been based on the strong motion of resistance against
repression, oppression and tyranny accumulated over dozens of years.  Sourani explained that this is not the first
course of its kind and it will not be the last one, adding that it aims at
building the capacities of the participating Yemeni activists in the area of justice
mechanisms.  Sourani expressed his hopes
for the stability of the situation in Yemen.

Mr.
Izz Addin al-Asbahi, Director of the Human Rights Information and Training
Centre in Yemen, appreciated the role played by PCHR, AOHR and FIDH to
disseminate the culture of prosecution of war criminals in the Arab world.  He noted that this training course is
organized at the time of an active Arab movement aimed at restoring dignity,
equality and freedom to the Arab world.

Mr.
Nabil Abdul Hafiz, Director of the Social Democratic Forum in Yemen, explained
that the participants were selected based on the representation of the largest
number of Yemeni provinces and young active community leaders.  He hoped that the participants would benefit
from this course in order to contribute to building a modern civilized State.

Bassam
al-Aqra’a, Director of PCHR’s Training Unit, explained that the course is
addressing several topics: Introduction to human rights; the International Bill
of Rights; domestic mechanisms of human rights, the Rome Statute and the
International Criminal Court; transitional justice; mechanisms of activating
transitional justice approach in Yemen; integration of human rights concepts in
policies; prosecution of war criminals (universal jurisdiction); importance of
fact-finding missions and how to deal with these missions; citizenship and
principles of civilized Sates; separation of powers; monitoring and documentation
of human rights violations; building legal files; and writing reports on human
rights.  The course will be concluded by
a round-table discussion of steps to be taken in the following stage in Yemen.  The training is being conducted by highly
experienced trainers.

It
should be noted that during 2011, PCHR, AOHR and FIDH organized 3 similar
training courses in Cairo and Tripoli with 120 activists from Yemen, Syria and
Libya in attendance.