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HUMAN RIGHTS STUDIES CENTER |
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The Human Rights Studies Center was established in September 1999 as part of the Human Rights Mass Awareness Programme, a joint venture between the Government of Pakistan, Norwegian Aid Agency, NORAD and SDC (Swedish Development Corporation) for the initial period of 3 years.
The project period was later on extended for another year.
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The establishment of Human Rights Studies Center has come as Pakistan’s first and only Human Rights Research and Educational institution at a University. It was functioning under an Institutional Contract between the then Faculty of Law at University of Peshawar and the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, Norway.
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To disseminate knowledge and information about Human Rights in general.
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To establish a collaborative programme within the Center which will undertake training, teaching, research and publications in a wide range of Laws from the Human Rights perspective.
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To promote academic capacity building in terms of teaching and research in the area of Human Rights.
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To develop curriculum in Human Rights for the Diploma and Certificate Courses offered thereby eventually be a position to offer Master’s degree in Human Rights.
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To develop a base for institutional co-operation between Human Rights Agencies at National and International Levels.
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To offer diploma and certificate courses to members of the bureaucracy, military, police, judiciary, NGOs etc with a view of sensitizing and training policy makers towards Pakistan’s obligations under International Law in general and International Law of Human Rights in particular.
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The Center offer Audience Specific as well as Theme Specific trainings and sensitization initiatives.
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Diverse range of student base ranging from officials from police, judiciary, armed forces, civil society, developmental sector, journalists, academia etc.
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In pursuance of this objective the Center has conducted diplomas and certificates courses in
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The broad themes covered in these courses are
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Public International Law
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International Human Rights Law
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Philosophy and Politics of Human Rights
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International Environmental Law
The following courses were offered during the project period of HRSC
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Certificate course I ‘International Law of Human Rights (2000)
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Post-Graduate Diploma I International Human Rights Law (March, 2001)
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Certificate Course in International Law of Human Rights (November, 2001)
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Post-graduate Diploma in Women’s law (December, 2001)
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Post-graduate Diploma in International Human Rights Law (April, 2002)
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Certificate Course in International Refugee and Humanitarian Law (August, 2002)
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Certificate Course in International Refugee and Humanitarian Law (October, 2002)
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Post-graduate diploma in International Law of Human Rights (April, 2003)
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Certificate Course in International Environmental Law (September, 2003)
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Certificate Course in Children’s Rights Law (January , 2004)
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Post-graduate Diploma in International Law of Human Rights (March, 2004)
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Post Graduate Diploma in International Human Rights Law (2006)
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Seminars, Workshops and Conferences:
With a view of achieving its objectives, the HRSC organized a series of National and International seminars on different occasions to mark important days with relevance to Human Rights. The list is quite exhaustive.
The Human Rights Studies Center also organized three international conferences as under:
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Peace, Security and International Law (December, 2003)
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International Human Rights Law and responses to terrorism
(December, 2004)
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Religion and International Human Rights Law (January, 2006)
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The courses have been taught by notable scholars and experts in human rights from
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Faculty of Law, University of Peshawar
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International Islamic University Islamabad
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University of Lancashire
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United Nations High Commission for Refugees
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Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
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International Committee of Red Cross
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Norwegian Refugee Council.
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Capacity Building:
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As part of its institutional co-operation with University of Oslo, the Human Rights Study Center has focused on developing core legal and research competencies within its domain.
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»Mr. Nazir Ahamad, Assistant Professor
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»Mr.Nadeem Azam, Assistant Professor
»•Mrs. Ayesha Shahid, Lecturer, Law College
»• Mr. Sajid Ali Ghafoor, Lecturer
•»Mr. Saira Nishtar, Research Co-ordinator, HRSC
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»Dr. Misal Zada, Associate Professor
»• Mr. Inayat Ullah, Lecturer
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Curriculum Development:
One of the objectives identified for Human Rights Studies Center was to develop Curriculum in Human Rights for diploma and certificate courses with a view to be in a position to be able to start a Masters degree programme in Human Rights. In that connection courses were designed in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Oslo. Over the years the Center has been developing curriculum and has been building up resource materials in consultation with National and International institutions offering services of such nature. The Center is also assisting the Higher Education Commission in developing a curriculum in Human Rights to be taught at all law schools in the country.
Masters Degree in Human Rights:
In pursuance of the above objectives a comprehensive curriculum for a Master’s degree has already been developed and is in the process of approval from various statutory bodies, ultimately resulting in the conversion of the Human Rights Studies Center into a full-fledge department offering a Masters Degree Programme.
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Research and Publications:
The Center publishes its annual research journal “International Human Rights Perspective” that includes contributions from National as well as International scholars of repute. The publication of journal was an important achievement for the Center.
The Center have also published reference book in 2002, titled “International Human Rights Law Documents” which is a significant publication.
It contains major International Human Rights Instruments which is serving as a useful book for teachers and students alike.
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Awareness /Information Dissemination :
In keeping with its objectives of acting as Information Dissemination Center and for the purpose of encouraging dialogue and research in areas of Human Rights particularly women’s rights the centers organizes seminars and workshops on regular basis. In this regard the center has collaborated with Governmental and Non-Governmental Forums like
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Ministry of Law
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Justice and Human Rights
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Ministry of Interior
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Ministry of Women Development
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National Accountability Bureau
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National Reconstruction Bureau
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Higher Education Commission
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Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
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Ford Foundation
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UNHCR
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National Commission on the Status of Women
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International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC)
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Policy Advice and Consultation:
Due to the unique position of our institution we are routinely consulted by different governmental and non-governmental organizations to assist them on various Human Rights issues.
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In this context the Center has made recommendation to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights in a connection with the Access to Justice Programme funded by the Asian Development Bank on entry of women to judicial and legal profession. Assistance has also been sort under the same programme with regard to the reform and restructuring of local government system.
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We are also involved in process of making recommendations to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Women Development on the draft ordinance on Gender Justice at the Work Place.
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The Center has also prepared Human Rights training modules for the Planning and Development Department, Government of NWFP for giving basic Human Rights Training to the elected representatives and officials under the Local Government Ordinance 2001.
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Library Resources:
The provision of library resources and compilation of reference books, materials and international publications have been given due attention during the project period. Thus at present a reasonable number of relevant books, journals and pamphlets are available at the HRSC for teachers, students, scholars and researchers in the field of Human Rights. There have been useful book donations which although have been small in number, still the same have contributed immensely to the library resources.
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The center has successfully completed the project period of four years and has fulfilled most of it objectives.
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Curriculum development efforts particularly in the last phase of the project were focused on developing a comprehensive curriculum for a Master’s degree programme in Human Rights.
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These efforts involved consultations with academics and correspondence with national and international institutions which were offering Master’s in Human rights.
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The course contents for Master’s in Human Rights are in the process of consideration and approval by the syndicate. Once that happens the center will be ready to be upgraded to the status of a full-fledge teaching department.
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There are plans for offering M.Phil and PhD courses in the future which would depend on the availability of sound intellectual expertise at the department.
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Keeping in view the plans for the future we would want our teaching staff to be highly qualified in terms of their academic capacity for which we will be exploring possibilities for assistance both from outside sources as well from the university.This will help to lessen our dependence on outside intellectual support which we have been banking on in the past and achieve self sufficiency.
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Reference materials like books, journals etc would be needed to enable students to do research leading to M.Phil and PhD.
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