Italian MFA to Support the Global Campus and UNTL in Strengthening Human Rights Education in Timor-Leste

The Global Campus of Human Rights and the Human Rights Centre of the National University of Timor-Leste (HRC-UNTL) are glad to announce a new cooperation project made possible thanks to the support of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAECI-DGMO).

The project foresees the organisation and implementation of a “regional human rights and peace summer school at the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL)” with a thematic focus on the most vulnerable social strata including women, children, disabled people and the communities most exposed to the climate crisis.

The school will take place jointly with the prestigious “DTP - Human Rights and People’s Diplomacy Training Program for Human Rights Defenders from the Asia-Pacific Region” and involve 35 human rights defenders, practitioners, and educators predominantly from Timor-Leste and ASEAN member states, as well as regional trainers/experts from participating local, regional, and international universities and institutions.

This action aims at contributing to the promotion and protection of human rights, democracy, peace, and sustainable development through higher and professional education, for a more equitable and just Timor-Leste. Also, the school will play a key role in the structural and equitable participation of Timorese scholars, experts, and students in the best regional exchange schemes, training programmes, events, and networks. This will expedite the inclusion in the ASEAN University Network (AUN-HRE) and in the mobility of professors and students to and from the Global Campus Asia-Pacific Master Programme universities. Eventually, this will significantly contribute to advancing higher education quality and internationalisation in Timor-Leste, especially in the regional context.

The school will take place in August 2024 in the context of the 25 ^th anniversary of the popular consultation in Timor-Leste, and under the patronage of the President of the Republic of Timor-Leste H. E. José Ramos-Horta, 1996 Peace Nobel Laureate.

The project is conceptualised in the broader context of the development cooperation support provided by the Global Campus to the UNTL, as its younger member university, for the strengthening of higher human rights education in Timor-Leste.

“The University is proudly housing the Human Rights Centre with the continuous support of the Global Campus of Human Rights, and with the main objective of promoting human rights in Timor-Leste and globally, through academic work and research”.

Prof. Joao Martins, Rector of the National University of Timor-Leste

This project is part of the GC Capacity Development programme. For more information contact adriano.remiddi@gchumanrights.org