As part of the Human Rights Awareness Program for Institutions 2016, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) held the first event at the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries in the presence of his Excellency Dr. Fuad bin Ja’far Al Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, their excellency the under-secretaries, the honorable Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Riyami, NHRC chairman, his Excellency the vice-chairman, NHRC general secretary and number of Commission’s members.
At the opening of the event, NHRC chairman delivered a speech where he thanked the Ministry for launching the awareness program that gained the approbation of the Council of Ministers. The Chairman also added that the awareness program aim to disseminate and promote the culture of human rights, educate the society on the jurisdiction of NHRC, gain the trust of the society and institutions in order to realize the objectives of the Commission in relation to human rights as per the national laws and international conventions.
The program at the ministry targeted the supreme and middle management and included discussing two papers. The first paper was presented by Dr. Obaid Said Al Shaqsi, NHRC secretary general, where he explained the role of the Commission and its relation to the regional and international organizations. He also explained the mechanism of the Universal Periodic Review, the mechanisms of regional and international human rights protection, human rights protection in the Sultanate, the International charters to protect human rights, the 10 contractual mechanisms to protect human rights, the non-contractual mechanisms, the relation between the goals of sustainable development, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, and the Commission, as well as the shadow reports and the mechanisms of following up the recommendations.
In the second paper, Mr. Abdulaziz Al Saadi, director of legal affairs at NHRC, presented about the mechanism of preparing the Commission’s annual report. He explained the content of the report such as the current status of human rights in the Sultanate, the progress that was accomplished over the year in relation to human rights protection, the Commission’s efforts in the field of monitoring and following up human rights issues, analyzing the main obstacles that are facing the Commission’s work, NHRC’s recommendations to promote and protect human rights and basic freedoms in the Sultanate, the achievements of NHRC over the year, as well as statistics and charts in relation to human rights cases and Commission’s work. In addition, Mr. Al Saadi explained the role of the related stakeholders in providing the Commission with all the information in relation to human rights to be included in the report.
The importance of this awareness program is based on the three bodies that work on the protection of human rights in any country; which are the governmental institutions, civil society institutions, and national human rights commissions. All these bodies work together in the field of protecting human rights as per the national and international laws and the standards applicable in this regard, especially since the adoption of the Sustainable Development 2015 by the United Nations. It is worthy to mention that the awareness program for institutions is part of the Commission’s belief in the positive collaboration with various institutions in the Sultanate and NHRC is willing to expand the program to other institutions in the near future.
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