Human Rights Training at the United Nations

This January, Programme Manager Naidi McDonnell and Capacity Development and Communications Manager Abigail Carney attended Edmund Rice International (ERI)’s Human Rights and Advocacy Programme.

10 participants from across the UK and Ireland gathered in Geneva, Switzerland to attend this three-day course. The course offered an overview of the United Nations mechanisms and how ERI feeds into the process to advocate at the international level. Participants then had the opportunity to attend the Fourth Cycle of the Universal Periodic Review session of Argentina and the Committee on the Rights of the Child Treaty Body session of Ireland to see the UN processes in action.

‘Having prior knowledge of the process was key to understanding and engaging with the session held in the famous Human Rights Council Chamber. Having also read ERI’s submission, compiled with the collaboration of Defensoría Edmundo Rice, we eagerly listened out for evidence of ERI’s suggestions having been taken up and put forward by presenting states.’

– Ann Nichols, Network Facilitator, Edmund Rice England

The course gave the participants hailing from across the Edmund Rice Network an opportunity to learn from each others’ diverse experiences and to brainstorm areas of potential collaboration in the future. It was enriching to see how the Edmund Rice network contributes to systemic change at a global level.

As Edmund Rice International is funded by Misean Cara, Naidi stayed on after the course to meet with the project team and to monitor the project outcomes and finances. Many thanks to Misean Cara for funding this impactful advocacy project.