[hr-education-na] US HR Network Training Conference (Atlanta, Feb 11-13, 2005)

Dear colleagues,

The US Human Rights Network will be hosting its first training conference
on February 11th-13th, 2005 in Atlanta, Georgia.  This first training will
be capped at 36 participants, and is designed as a pilot project that will
inform and help give direction to the future overall training program of
the Network.

We would like to invite you not only to apply for the training conference,
but to encourage your staff and colleagues that would benefit from this
training to apply as well.  Limited travel and/or accommodation
scholarships are available.  The application deadline is January 14th,
2004. You can access the application form through
http://www.ushrnetwork.org for more information.

Below we have included a description of the workshops that will be covered
in the conference.


US HUMAN RIGHTS NETWORK

BUILDING SKILLS, BUILDING A NETWORK
TRAINING CONFERENCE

Atlanta, Georgia
February 11TH- 13TH, 2005


Opening: Making Connections, Sharing Strategies
The conference convenes with participants meeting each other and starting
to share the human rights strategies we're using to create change.

Session 1:
Workshop A: Introduction to Human Rights - The History, Standards & Uses Today
This workshop will provide participants with a "people" centered
perspective on the creation and evolution of the human rights framework
from the end of the Second World War to the present. This perspective
emphasizes the critical impact of mass struggle on the deliberations and
ultimately on the texts that make up the human rights framework. The
workshop will also familiarize participants with the basic human rights
texts and will provide interactive examples of how they relate to and can
expand social justice work in the United States.

Workshop B: Human Rights Tactics
This session will discuss what it means, practically, to use a human rights
framework in working for social justice. While organizations work toward
different objectives, similar tactics are often used.  This session will
provide an overview of different tactics and how they have been used,
clarify the difference between tactics and strategies and how they
interact, and will include the sharing of participant's ideas and experiences.

Session 2:
Workshop A: Documenting Human Rights Abuses
Documenting human rights abuses is key to larger human rights advocacy
strategies.  This workshop covers the range of methodologies and approaches
used in human rights documentation in the United States, how to assess
which method to use, and the criteria used by documenters to ensure the
legitimacy and integrity of their data.  Experienced presenters will cover
the following methodologies: participatory, traditional interview style,
focus groups, and developing and implementing human rights surveys as a
documentation tool.

Workshop B: Shadow Reporting
The U.S. government is planning on issuing its reports on how it is meeting
its obligations under the civil and political rights, racial
discrimination, and torture treaties by the end of 2005, and civil society
must be ready to respond!  This session will give an overview of what is
happening, the opportunities for intervention, and concrete next steps to
help local and national groups bring their issues to the forefront of
international attention through the shadow reporting process.

Session 3:
Workshop A: Using HR for Leadership Building
This workshop leads participants through a popular education workshop
designed for organizers to develop community leaders and organizational
capacity around human rights. Based on testing and input by  70+ immigrant
community organizations, it provides hands-on training to help participants
and community groups reflect on the role of human rights in our lives,
discuss how human rights mechanisms are relevant to community struggles,
and to examine ways that communities have organized around human rights
abuses in a fun and participatory  way. This workshop will be tailored as a
"train-the-trainers" session, providing space for participants to explore
how to adapt these materials for their own community's context.

Workshop B: Policy Analysis
This session examines how human rights standards are used to organize
around, conceptualize, and reframe policy analysis on U.S. issues.  It will
cover civil and political, as well as economic, social and cultural rights
and will explore how to address the relationship of the US to the
international standards within a policy framework, the relevance of
comparative analysis with other countries, and the strategic benefits and
costs to using this approach.

Media and Messaging
This workshop will cover strategies for integrating media work as an
integral part of human rights activism. It includes a review of basic media
techniques and examines the most effective strategies for communicating the
core values and principles of the human rights framework.  It will also
equip activists with new methods for getting their stories out to the
public beyond the mainstream press.

Session 4:
Workshop A: Human Rights Education
Acting on human rights depends upon knowing what these rights are.  This
session focuses on the role of education and training in promoting the
capacity of professional and community groups to carry out human rights
advocacy, as well as training with their own constituents. The session will
include presenters who have worked with teachers, community groups, human
rights activists and lawyers/law students.

Workshop B: Local Ordinances
How can we take abstract human rights concepts and make them real for
individuals on the ground?  By getting the language of the international
treaties incorporated into local or state law.  Come engage in a discussion
with activists who are doing the difficult work of convincing local
legislators to bring international human rights into domestic legislation,
and learn about the reasons why it is worth the effort!

Conference Closing



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