About the WHRI

Purpose of the WHRI

In today’s environment of rising fundamentalism, disregard for human rights, ecological and economic devastation, and the aggressive use of force we are faced with major challenges in practice. There is an urgent need for broad transformative approaches, supported by increasing clarity of analysis and vision and effective practical skills. Participants will learn how to deliver Human Rights education and to work for women's human rights in their own country, with an increased awareness of varied international strategies and exposure to diverse local and national contexts.

The Institute’s goal is to raise awareness of the human rights standards set by the U.N. with the objective that foreign as well as Canadian participants will be able to engage in human rights education themselves. The need for human rights education at all levels and for all ages was understood by the international community when the U.N. declared a Decade For Human Rights Education. This was a response to the discovery that although most countries have committed themselves to upholding human rights and have ratified many of the U.N. human rights instruments, most people, especially women, are unaware of their existence. Although the decade ended in 2004, the need continues because in many countries very little progress was made during the decade.

The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 passed in October 2000 affirms the principles that women should be involved in peacebuilding processes at all levels and that the rights of women and girls need to be respected in times of war and conflict. However, without women's organizations and peace groups around the world holding UN member states and the international system responsible for the commitments they have made, these are not likely to be implemented. Unless and until most of the inhabitants of each country are aware of their rights and responsibilities, democracy, peace and justice will continue to be unattainable.

Who Should Do It?

Participants should have an interest in and openness to feminist approaches and respect for their variety, a commitment to social change, and a desire for dialogue with others with different experiences and approaches.

Anyone involved in humane governance, human security, peacekeeping, conflict transformation, constitution building, poverty eradication, personal transformation, sustainable development, crime prevention, eradicating violence, sexual and reproductive health will gain insights about these issues through learning about human rights as a way of being in this world and in their communities, and as a legal and ethical framework to guide them into the future. Participants will learn about peace as a comprehensive, multifaceted concept aimed at not only ending the direct violence of war and armed conflict but also of creating the conditions for a just and sustainable world.

We encourage a wide variety of participants, including teachers and educators, union representatives, practitioners, policy-makers, movement activists, development workers, government workers and staff, and students. The Program will serve those interested in learning how to develop their projects within a human rights framework, those wishing to strengthen their practice and develop their theoretical and conceptual understanding of human rights and peacebuilding and those interested in human rights education within both school and community settings.

Participants taking part in the Institute will have the opportunity to:
• gain a deeper knowledge of gender and feminist analysis and theory
• engage in research/scholarship connected to and informed by practice
• gain increased understanding of the causes of injustice and possibilities for change
• learn about the U.N. Human Rights system and how it works
• increase their skills in community practice, political lobbying, and international networking and organizing
• increase their ability to use Human Rights education as a tool for social change
• develop their own perspectives by examining diverse approaches and current debates and addressing tough questions of practice

Programme

The Institute, while rich in theory and scholarly information, will be characterized by committed, engaged activism, rather than a purely academic stance. There will be an integration of theory and practice; reflection and action; and critique and vision. Human rights, peace, and emerging alternatives to globalization will be examined both as interconnected elements of a socially just and sustainable world and as alternative ways of knowing, acting, being, and interacting. This will be reflected in the teaching principles and methodology; the institute will aim to create a safe, supportive, cooperative and celebratory space that honours differences, affirms women's strengths, values individual and collective experience and draws on and contributes directly to practice.

All instructors have extensive activist experience at local, national and international levels and are known for their theoretical, academic and policy contributions in these areas. To maximize each individual’s learning opportunity, the number of participants is limited to twenty and will come from all regions of the world.

Course Themes

* What Does it Mean be a Female Human? (Basic notions of Human Rights)
* Human Rights in the Age of the Market (Feminist Alternatives to Corporate Globalization)
* From Women´s / Our Bodies to the U.N. (Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Violence Against Women)
* CEDAW for Change (Tools for Building Human Rights)
* Another World Is Possible (Dreaming Human Rights into Reality)
* Human Rights Education for a Lasting Peace (Participant Presentations and Workshops)

Students will receive a Certificate of Completion for full participation in the Institute. Those who wish to apply their work toward academic credit in other programs will be supported to do this.

Optional Pre-Institute Reading. Reading for the institute will be provided at the start of each session. The linked list of sources is provided for those who choose to do preparatory reading. There is no requirement to read ahead and we realize that it may be difficult for many participants to access the books listed even if they should wish to.

Faculty

Alda Facio, LLP, Director of the Institute, is a feminist human rights activist, jurist and writer. As one of the founders of the Women's Caucus for Gender Justice in the International Criminal Court, she went on to be its first Director. In 1996, she was awarded the first Women's Human Rights Award from International Women, Law and Development in Washington D.C. She is currently the Director of the Women, Gender and Justice Program at the U.N. Latin American Institute for Crime Prevention in Costa Rica.

Angela Lytle MEd, is an educator with more than ten years experience teaching, facilitating workshops and developing educational programming and curriculum in international settings. Angela spent six months as an intern working with Alda Facio and the Women, Gender and Justice Program in Costa Rica and also assisted with the Global to Local Program for NGO representatives at the CEDAW committee. She is deeply involved with “House of Sharing,” supporting survivors of Japanese Military Sexual Slavery.

Angela Miles, PhD is a Professor in the Adult Education and Community Development Program at OISE/UT with a research and activist interest in feminist theory and feminism as an increasingly global social justice politics, author of Integrative Feminisms: Building Global Visions.

Partners

Centre for Women’s Studies in Education (CWSE), Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Canada

CWSE is a research centre of the University of Toronto, housed within the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Established in July 1983 and designed to foster feminist scholarship, teaching and activism relevant to education, broadly defined, CWSE consists of faculty, staff, students, researchers and educators in the larger feminist community within and outside of the university. As well as functioning as an academic institution, CWSE strives to connect scholarship, education and activism through constructive and critical dialogues with feminist communities locally, nationally and globally.

Fundación Justicia y Género, Costa Rica (http://fundacionjusticiaygenero.com/)

Founded in 1990 at the ímpetus of Director Alda Facio, the Fundación Justicia y Género of the United Nations Latin American Institute for Crime Prevention (ILANUD) is based in Costa Rica and works throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. The Program centers its work around the elimination of gender inequality and violence against women from a criminal and human rights perspective, doing research on the different forms of discrimination against diverse groups of women, analyzing the laws and legal doctrine and training judges, police, lawyers and women’s groups in the human rights of women and the incorporation of gender sensitive perspectives in the analysis of legal texts and contexts.

International Women’s Rights Action Watch-Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP), Malaysia (www.iwraw-ap.org/)

Founded in 1993, IWRAW-AP has worked to contribute to the progressive interpretation and realisation of the human rights of women through the lens of the UN Convention on the Elimination Against All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and other international human rights treaties. IWRAW-AP promotes the domestic implementation of international human rights standards by building the capacity of women and human rights advocates to claim and realise women’s human rights. IWRAW-AP created and maintains the Global to Local program focussed on filling the gap between the CEDAW convention processes and grassroots activism of NGOs.

Location

Institutional Setting
The host of the Summer Institute is the Centre for Women's Studies in Education (CWSE) at the Ontario Institute for the Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. CWSE is a research centre established in 1983, which generates and acts as a clearing house for research around the world, and coordinates a program for international Visiting Scholars. Centre activities include the international journal Resources for Feminist Research (RFR) and the  Dame Nita Barrow Distinguished Visitorship  which brings a renowned feminist leader from the economic south to OISE/UT to teach a graduate course each Fall term.

The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT) is a graduate and research institute with a diverse student population, and significant student interest and a strong international reputation in the areas of feminist and community studies. Among the many resources available are excellent libraries, including the Bora Laskin Law Library’s Women’s Human Rights Resources and OISE/UT’s Women's Education Resource Collection with strong historical links to the women’s movement and noteworthy archival holdings of movement documents from countries around the world as well as a broad based international collection of books and periodicals.

Toronto
Toronto is located on the land of the Mississauga of the Credit First Nation, and derives its name from the Huron word meaning "meeting place." The United Nations has recognized Toronto as the world’s most diverse city with 190 different ethnic groups represented here. Toronto is also home to Canada’s largest gay and lesbian population. All of these communities include many women's and feminist organizations with vibrant and active links to women in other parts of Canada and other regions of the world and to international networks. The Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) also makes its home in Toronto. There are many excellent bookstores within easy walking distance of OISE/UT, including the Toronto Women's Bookstore, Wonderworks, and A Different Booklist.

Toronto is a global city 70 miles from Niagara Falls and hosts first-rate theatre, a lively concert scene, alternative movie houses, over 5000 restaurants, art galleries, International film festivals, writers’ festivals, spoken word performances, Pride celebrations, and much more. Despite its cosmopolitan flair the people of Toronto are friendly and the streets safe, clean and well-maintained. On any given day you can see people riding their bikes to work and tending to community gardens. Each Toronto neighbourhood has its distinct character and history, and most are easily accessed by an excellent transit/subway system.

(Toronto links / Toronto maps / University of Toronto map)

Application and Tuition

Application due date for the 2012 WHRI  is February 28, 2012. Please be aware that a Visa may be required and take some time to process. See Canada Citizenship Immigration website http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/index.asp.

To receive an application form in Word format, or further information regarding enrollment, contact learnwhr@gmail.com, or see the detailed website at learnwhr.org. 

Click here to download a useful list (PDF) compiled by the Association for Women's Rights in Development.

Contact

To receive an application form or further information regarding enrollment, contact:

Executive Director at learnwhr@gmail.com

For academic information, contact:

Alda Facio, Director at aldafacio@gmail.com or Angela Miles at angela.miles@utoronto.ca. 

Testimonials from 2005 Participants

"At my current position in the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, an NGO in Sri Lanka, I utilize much of the knowledge gained through the course. For example, in researching the criminal justice systems of the countries of South Asia, I have been enriched by my knowledge of international human rights instruments and standards gleaned through the course. These instruments, such as the Convention for the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, form an international standard by which I have analyzed the justice systems of these countries. Also, I have been able to look at the human rights regime in Sri Lanka through a gendered lens gained through the instruction of Alda Facio. This gendered perspective will be useful in my later work in law school as well." -Bernadette Maheandiran

"As for the info I acquired during the last session, the one that I put to use immediately was the Human Rights component. I have done a visual presentation for our member agencies on CEDAW and it applicability to Canadian NGOs. There were 19 individuals present from a variety of agencies that serve survivors of sexual violence. It was well received and what amazed me was the lack of knowledge around CEDAW and international processes in place." -Kiruthiha Kulendiren

"I am working on the linkages between climate change, adaptation and vulnerability and gender. I've got very valuable inputs regarding human rights and women's rights... Because the convention on climate change is based under the UN framework, the lectures around UN and Women and possibly entry points were very useful." -Livia Bizikova