Maat concludes the second training workshop for cadres of civil society organizations in Cairo

The graduates of the training program intend to: “Introduce a bill to regulate the lives of refugees in Egypt and organize a marathon and a carnival around the universal periodic review”

Within the framework of its project funded by the European Union, Maat for Peace, Development and Human Rights concluded the second training workshop in a training program "Cadres of civil society organizations to follow up on Egypt's obligations before the universal periodic review mechanism."It is worth noting that the program, which is implemented in two phases during March - April and August - September 2016, seeks to build the capacity of civil society organizations' cadres in 120 civil organizations in the governorates of the Republic on how to communicate with international mechanisms for the protection of human rights, and follow-up on Egypt's implementation of its obligations before the UPR 2014 , With the aim of contributing to the project's efforts at the local level by presenting alternatives and proposals at the level of legislation and policies to help the state fulfill its obligations related to improving the human rights and developmental conditions in Egypt.

The second training workshop, which took place over the course of two days, targeted 13 civil society organizations working in the governorates of Greater Cairo on issues related to the rights of persons with disabilities, refugee rights, good governance, women's and children's rights, and youth participation.

The program designed to build the capacity of civil society organizations 'cadres raised the trainees' awareness of the concepts, classifications and characteristics of human rights, increased their knowledge of human rights protection mechanisms and the international system of human rights protection mechanisms, increased their awareness of the universal periodic review procedures, and raised their awareness of the procedures for the participation of civil society organizations in the periodic review mechanism. Comprehensive outreach tools and enhanced community monitoring of review results.

In this context, the NGOs that benefited from the training committed themselves to organizing a set of voluntary activities with the aim of multiplying the impact and transferring their expertise to partner organizations and target groups at the local level. These activities varied between merging the knowledge and experiences acquired by the graduates of the first phase of the training program on the universal periodic review in The activities of their existing organizations and linking these activities with the voluntary commitments accepted by Egypt in the periodic review session 2014. In addition to proposing independent activities to be carried out separately around the mechanism of the UN Human Rights Council.

The activities proposed by the organizations that actively participated in the training workshop varied between activities to raise awareness of the mechanism, campaigns for knocking on doors to protect children working in workshops in informal areas in Cairo, proposing draft laws on refugee rights in Egypt, local administration, the rights of persons with disabilities, and finally organizing A sports carnival and marathon to attract youth’s interest and raise their awareness of the UPR.

And theProject seeking "The Universal Periodic Review as a Tool to Improve Public Policies during the Transition", Which began in January 2016 and continues to be implemented over two years to enhance the role of the universal periodic review to improve public policies and reform human rights during the transitional phase in Egypt by actively engaging civil society organizations, activists and media professionals in following up and advocating for the necessary reform of human rights, and adopting new policies compatible with standards International Human Rights Based on the 2014 Universal Periodic Review.

More updated news about the project activities is available at the following link: www.fb.com/UPR.Egypt2016/