Human Rights School in Sandzak

In the course of November 2008, in Novi Pazar, the Center for Peace and Democracy Development (CPDD) organised a Human rights school on the promotion of inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations and dialoque.

This is the second Human rights school that the CPDD has organised in Novi Pazar (the first was organised in 2006), with a wish to continue doing so in the future as well.
This school was organised with the aim of further promoting the culture of human rights and the rights of ethnic and religious communities, and on the occasion of marking the recent inauguration of September 15th, the International Day of Democracy, by the General Assembly of the United Nations, as well as the forthcoming 60th annual Human Rights Day (December 10th).

The participants of this Human rights school are young people from the region of Sandžak who are mainly university students in Novi Pazar, and belong to various ethnic and religious communities.
The lecturers of this school are university professors and experts in areas in which they give lectures who have repeatedly taken part in such or similar gatherings. By organizing this school, the CPDD wishes to contribute to resolving or at least overcoming the instability in the region of Sandžak, by enabling the participants to more fully understand the issues of human rights culture, inter-ethnic and inter-religious differences, as well as political squabbles, providing them with the ability to apply the gained knowledge and skills in practice.

The topics of this human rights school – which concern democratic political culture, dialogue and tolerance, the role of dialogue in peacebuilding, the relation between religion and human rights, national minorities, local self-government, the practical problems of realizing human rights in the region of Sandžak, interreligious dialogue, cultural rights and cultural identity, facing the past and the like, are adapted to this very objective – providing the participants with knowledge and suitable skills, as well as encouraging them to apply the gained knowledge and skills in practice.

The manners of applying such knowledge and skills in practice can be and are various – better understanding of the reality surrounding us, getting to know the differences in society in practice, direct inclusion into various social trends, overcoming numerous prejudices and stereotypes which exist in society, inclusion into overcoming and peaceful resolving of problems and conflicts, not only in the Sandžak region but in the entire territory of Serbia, which the participants also discussed with the lecturers.

The organization of this school is supported by the German Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The local partner in the realisation of this project is the Sandžak Committee for Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms.