The Danish Institute for Human Rights has been engaged in Iraq since 2004. In that year the Institute organized several missions to assess the country’s needs and potential for change, and formulated recommendations for activities to promote human rights. This resulted in collaborative agreements between DIHR and Basra University as well as increased cooperation between DIHR and civil society organizations in Southern Iraq.
DIHR in Iraq
By working with its partners in Southern Iraq, DIHR aims to promote human rights in universities, state institutions, in civil society and among other stakeholders in Basra and the Southern region. Partnerships have been entered into with Basra University and the local NGO, Basra Centre for Human Rights. The focus of both partnerships is on building up human rights expertise through training, workshops and providing access to human rights library collections in Arabic, and on the Internet. The human rights focus includes an introduction to the international human rights instruments as well as to selected rights of acute importance to Iraqis such as the rights of women, the rights of the child, the constitution and human rights, international election standards and policing and human rights.
The cooperation with Basra Centre for Human Rights is aimed at civil society organisations working to promote human rights. The Centre offers local organisations, for example, training and meeting rooms, as well as access to computers, the Internet and printing. The cooperation is currently training local activists in conflict resolution methods with the purpose of conducting a series of dialogue seminars where civil society leaders enter into dialogue with local clan and religious leaders. The dialogue seminars aim to create a common set of values based on tolerance, non-violence and non-discrimination.
Basra University is the other main partner in Southern Iraq. The initial cooperation included training of human rights trainers, preparing a human rights curriculum for academic semester courses and installment of computers and contributions to the establishment of a human rights section at the university library. The continued cooperation is currently focusing on expanding its programme to include the training of human rights trainers in all faculties.
A more recent addition to the Iraq initiative is the provision of human rights training for police instructors at Basra Police Academy. This activity is carried out in close cooperation with the Danish Police.