Report on the Human Rights Course at the International Human Rights Academy 2008, Middelburg, Holland

Date: 8.08.-24.08.2008

Participant: Mr. Tareq Al-Tamimi

Seminar Report

After arrival at Shiphol Airport, Amsterdam on Friday August 8^th and being transferred by Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) staff to Middelburg city in the Zeeland region in the Netherlands. We were welcome by Dr. Gabriele Thöns , the coordinator of FNF program . FNF participated in the program with 12 participants representing the different regions where FNF is present.

The FNF program started on Sunday August 9^th with a special program for FNF participants with an introduction by Dr. Gabriele Thöns and got to know each others activity. A seminar on “Liberalism and Human Rights” was moderated by Mr. Wulf Pabst from FNF. It led to a constructive discussion between the participants and helped on building a liberal point of view on dealing with Human Rights especially the concept of “Rule of Law”.

The official IHRA program started after a one day tour on the town of Middelburg and a reception at the City Hall with the participation of 36 participants from 23 different countries. The program included important lecturers on Human Right/charter based Mechanism, African System/Convention, Inter-American system/Convention, European System, Criminal Law, rule of law and included other interesting debates in these important topics related to human rights which were presented by experts on these topics coming from different universities and international organizations around the world.

During the Academy, I presented 34 books and five DVDs which I brought with me from Palestine and discussed human rights in Palestine and the Israeli occupation violations to human rights and international laws. I was chosen by the participants to chair one of the simulations of UN meetings at the Academy. The program included a visit to the local court and International Court of Justice in Hague. On Tuesday August 19^th , I conducted a seminar together with Mr. Ran Yaron from Physicians for Human Rights and discussed the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict and violations of Human Rights by the Israeli occupation which took place at The Roosevelt Academy main Hall with the participation of University students and the local community who attended the meeting and participated effectively in the discussions after the presentation.

At the end , we had a one day FNF evaluation event titled “How do I profit from my participation in the IHRA?” which included a fruitful discussion between FNF group and a good feedback. It was agreed in this session that FNF participants had a notable participation at the academy