A three-day training for civil society organizations and journalists on human rights monitoring and reporting is ongoing in the Western Bahr el Ghazal State capital, Wau.
The training, which commenced on Monday, brought together 30 participants and aims to equip civil society organizations (CSOs) with knowledge and advanced skills in monitoring, investigating, and documenting human rights violations.
UNMISS’ head of the Human Rights Division in the state, Leopold Kouassi, said the training also aims to enhance the capacity of CSOs with tools to advocate for accountability and redress in the event of human rights violations.
“Today we have gathered here as part of capacity building, technical assistance from UNMISS, and the idea is to build the capacity of civil society organizations to provide the necessary skills in the aspect of human rights,” he said. “This workshop is to ensure that they [participants] are very well equipped in the aspects of monitoring, reporting, and also advocating for human rights.”
“The expectation is to ensure that we have dedicated human rights organizations that are professional, very well equipped,d and have the knowledge to identify human rights violations and how to monitor, document, report,t and engage authorities on how to ensure that violations are addressed,” Kouassi added.
The training is a follow-up to last year’s training workshop and aims to consolidate previously acquired knowledge, enhance participants’ capabilities, and establish a core group of dedicated human rights CSOs and NGOs.
The other objectives of the training are planning human rights monitoring and investigation, as well as protection of and ensuring the safety of sources and handling of challenges.
One of the participants, Ramadan Adam Ibrahim, told Radio Tamazuj that the training is very helpful in shaping their skills in monitoring human rights violations.
“The first day (Monday) has been very beneficial to me, and I assume such training should be provided to other colleagues,” he said. “We have been given a lot of tools on how to handle human rights violations when they happen. We have received some practical skills on how we can intervene as civil society organizations.”
Another participant, identified as Lucia Angelo Samuel, also lauded the training.
“For me, this is very important, and I have benefited because it made us understand how to report and monitor human rights violations,” she said.