Human rights to be part of studies at Basra University

Students at Basra university in southern Iraq will soon be able to study human rights for the first time, thanks to the Danish Institute for Human Rights. "A project to build up civil society and develop a curriculum to include human rights at the university is in progress," a consultant for the institute, Kirsten Andersen, told IRIN in Kuwait. As well as curriculum development, other assistance includes providing a collection of teaching materials, teacher training and some general technical and material help for the library and in computer skills. Officials from the Danish institute are now working with university staff and local authorities to help put human rights back in the education system. As a start, two Iraqi law lecturers are in Denmark participating in a basic human rights course. Very few human rights groups were operating under the former regime of Saddam Hussein, with many working underground in fear of being found out. However, since the fall of the regime last April, they are beginning to flourish. "Many of the new members of such groups are people who were against the old regime or were even punished by it," she explained. The institute is now engaged in discussions with university officials to decide how the project should be implemented. One of the changes to take place in the library is the replacement of the national culture book, a pro-Saddam propaganda document which each university student had to read. "This book is now out of circulation and it is going to be replaced with a human rights book," Andersen added. The book will focus on basic human rights issues. A similar exercise began last year to begin replacing hundreds of thousands of biased and pro-Saddam textbooks across the country. The UN has estimated that 55 million history and geography school books need to be revised. The old text books contained a picture of the fallen leader followed by a note from him telling students that the Baath Party revolution of July 1968 was a great thing because it meant the government could supply books to schools. In addition, many history and geography textbooks talked about the Iran-Iraq war in an extremely one-sided way. With many staff at the university in need of updating their skills, Andersen said training was a vital component of the project. "When we spoke to the teachers they told us that they were happy to go back to work but that they had very little materials and resources or knowledge on human rights today," Andersen said. With up to 23,000 students, Basra University is still trying to cope with the demand despite lacking facilities and funds. The Danish Institute for Human Rights serves as a centre for research, information, education and documentation on human rights in a Danish, European and international context.