2006 Testimonials - Course 10E: The United Nations Human Rights System

What participants said about this course:

"The fact that such a significant reform of the UN human rights system actually took place alongside the course was very exciting, and I must say that you manage to work around that very well!"

"Of course it was an absolute pity that the actual HR council meeting was not during the course itself. But I think the professor was creative enough in triggering my curiosity to explore more about the subject. Now I see the course more as an introduction and a guide through the bureaucratic world of human rights instead of an actual completed study."

"The training on United Nations Human Rights system was really an eye -opening experience for me, which really made to understand the complexity of UN system, its procedures and human rights mechanisms/bodies."

"Now I feel that I have fair enough information on the UN human rights system that I can apply in my current/future work."

"Taking part of this course has widened my skills in understanding the real function of the UN human rights system, even though I expected to watch closely the real life of this function in last session of the Commission on Human Rights as it was expected. In general this course was enriching for my human rights knowledge."

"The course set out the structure of the UN HR system, however, the changes to the Commission/Council meant that the course expectations changed."

"To a great extent it did [meet my expectations] introducing me to the UN system of human rights, especially that it coincided with a turning point of the system with the birth of the council for human rights."

"The course met my expectations. The promised areas were covered, the interaction was good and the flow of the course was satisfactory."

"The course structure is excellent, especially the careful selection of course participants, i.e. their diverse representation from different fields, geographical locations and type of institutions they are coming from."

"It was very interesting, and well in line with what I was expecting."

"The practical adaptation of this course to the need of the participants was very well and successfully exercised."

"The choice of topics, the analyzing process of these topics, the instructor messages were certainly enriching."

"[instructor] was very helpful and responsive to questions and concerns."

"I would like to emphasize and acknowledge the [instructor's] knowledge and experience on UN mechanisms, which made the course very simple and interesting. His weekly reading materials were very elaborate, inclusive and were in sequence, which facilitated me to understand the content/ topic of each week. He was very prompt and sensitive in his feedback while referring to each participants exercise."

"The instructor always answered questions on the readings or explained written assignments better."

"The weekly Instructor's Message and the reading references were very motivating and focused."

"The instructor was extremely good giving feedback both personally and to the group he always tried to give a weekly message where he took everybody's opinion and was able to find connection between all opinions."

"I learned a lot from the course and I will be from time to time going back to all the course documents and materials to further strengthen my knowledge in this."

"It would have been nice if more people posted their responses on the discussion board, sometimes it was only a few of us which was sad considering how interesting it is to read the contributions from the participants from other cultures/perspectives."

"The questions were very well phrased and absolutely reflected the reading assignments. Well done."

"Since UN and Human Rights Commission / Council were new area of study for me it took quite lot of time to read, understand and then to respond to the weekly assignments. When I read the response of other participants it was quite interesting to understand the views and experience of others."

"The weekly discussions were interesting and enriching."

"The active contributions of other participants was certainly enriching and motivating, I found a pleasure in reading some of these contributions."

"The rest of the people in the course were very experienced and this was a very enriching experience for me."

"The written assignments made sense, and they helped a lot in terms of learning the theory through immediate practical application."

"Written assignments were very motivating and helpful. They sharpened my skills in understanding the topics and attending research for a best comprenhension."

"I would have appreciated to have more optional readings suggested. Most of the readings were really excellent."

" The reading suggestions were very good"

"The course readings were enriching and interesting, and very well chosen."

"I had difficulty in participating in chat sessions due to technical problems with my internet connection."

"Training programme could have had more chats atleast once in a week to give a feeling of group participation and to know more about the views of others. Few more chats with instructor to clarify the doubts and to get his comments on the participation level of particiapnts."

"[technical support] was really great. I remember once forgetting my password to enter the chatting as I was back from the airport and on the way home, they responded to me just on time and enabled me to enter successfully and participate in the chat session."

" I would like to thank [staff person at HREA] who send me the documents that I was unable to download. This is what you need when you have participants in all corners of the world where internet access is not yet as it is in the first world countries."

"Technical aspects were successfully elaborated."

"Now I feel much more comfortable with some issues I had to deal with, and I think I can be more effective in the teamwork we have regarding some advocacy issues."

"Thanks to all of you, and looking forward to another session sometimes."

"This learning course has embodied all the fundamental human rights topics that can be elaborated in a successful course. It can be more enriching if this course will be held for more than 3 months so it can undertake deeper analyses of these topics or can be followed by a live not distance session."

"I work for foreign affairs… so it generally helps with my different assignment overseas and at the HQ. And I do intend to conduct some research work in human rights, religious minorities rights… and here too it was useful."

"This course was undertaken more as a prelude to the Human Rights Monitoring course; the latter has more relevance to my work. The course was, nevertheless of great background interest and will add value to my overall understanding of the international human rights system."

"It was well run and the content was spot on."

"Knowledge of universal human rights standards and better understanding how the UN human rights machinery functions will certainly help me in my work with the local counterparts. My job is consisted of empowering the BiH government to enhance better protection and promotion of human rights principles, and capacity building of the local human rights NGO network and in this sense, the knowledge gained in this course will certainly help me work better."

"Thank you for giving me the opportunity to participate in this enriching course."

"Understanding the UN human rights system better gives me tool for my overall work at the institute I also gained new resources on where to go for information and this helps me get to this relevant information and pass it to others."

"Keep up the excellent work!"

"I do hope I will be able to participate in similar courses in the future. Well done!"

"The course was well written and presented. The course staff responded well to the dynamic of the changing UN system and the outcome was a far better understanding of the human rights systems at UN and international level."

"My thanks to all those who worked hard to produce the excellent outcome."

"I look forward to the next HREA human rights course."