The training “Anabtawi 29” gathered 30 human rights activists from all over the MENA region during 10 days in Hammamet.

H. E. Hatem Ben Salem, Tunisian minister of Education, during the opening ceremony of the training.

More than 100 people were reunited for the opening ceremony.

Pr. Abdelbasset Ben Hassen, President of the Arab Institute for Human Rights (AIHR), opening a training session.

Khaled Mejri, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Legal, Political and Social Sciences of Tunis, during his training course entitled “The right to education in situations of wars and conflicts”.

Participants during a training session.

Anabtawi is a regional training course on human rights that gathers every summer, since 1990, groups of human rights activists from all over the MENA region during one week. Entitled “Anabtawi” in honor of the late Dr. Mondher Anabtawi, a Palestinian lawmaker and activist who is one of the initiators of the Arab Institute for Human Rights, this yearly major training aims at providing human rights activists with skills and knowledge in order to better advocate for the defense and promotion of human rights in the region.

This year, the program of “Anabtawi 29” stressed the point on the right to education. Gathering 30 human right activists from the MENA region, the training course touched upon major themes for right to education. As a first part, the participants had the opportunity to reinforce their knowledge on international humanitarian law mechanisms to defend human rights through United Nations institutions and the main international treaties on human rights. More specifically on the issue of the right to education, after an overview on the region’s situation, the human rights activists discussed how access to education can assist the goal of sustainable development

In parallel to this, the Arab Institute for Human Rights celebrated its 30th anniversary and took this great event as an opportunity to launch the “Arab Regional Campaign for Educational Reforms”. Regarding the major effect education has on society and global human development, this campaign is a large undertaking that aims at highlighting the urgent need to reform educational systems in the region.