Press release

29 Sep 2006

Beirut

Iraqi Human Rights Minister Visits UNESCWA, Meets Tallawy

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Iraqi Minister for Human Rights Wijdan Mikhail said today, “UNESCWA provides major support for her Ministry and the activities it intends to undertake.” She was speaking following her visit this afternoon to the UNESCWA headquarters in Riad el Solh Square, where she met with Executive Secretary Mervat Tallawy. The meeting was also attended by Mr. Antoine Mansour, head of UNESCWA’s Unit for Conflict Related Issues (ECRI). Mikhail said the human rights cause is new to Iraqi society, hence the establishment of a Ministry for Human Rights that will cooperate with UNESCWA in many ways. Namely, the Commission will train ministry staff on performance in their line of work. She noted that the aim of the Ministry is to spread the culture of dialogue in Iraqi society, which is comprised of many sects. “This must also be done using study curricula,” said Mikhail, “so that we can establish a generation that believes in human rights and dialogue.” For her part, Executive Secretary Mervat Tallawy declared that UNESCWA will prepare a study on sects in Iraq, particularly since sectarianism currently threatens Arab societies. She said UNESCWA has earmarked a sizable budget for this end with the hope that the study will prove sufficient and be a reference for all those who wish to see things as they truly are. Tallawy stressed the importance of the activities being executed by ECRI for Iraq, adding that UNESCWA has held many training sessions for Iraqi municipalities and has supported the establishment of Networking Academies at Iraqi universities. Tallawy said UNESCWA will be holding training sessions in the framework of cooperation with the Iraqi Ministry for Human Rights similar to previous ones held for other ministries. The Executive Secretary noted the importance of the Iraqi Ministry for Human Rights, which is helping to build future generations that believe in human rights and practice them in their political, economic and social lives.
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