Geneva Institute for Human Rights - Sudan Office, concludes the first training course on "Drama and Human Rights" with the participation of a number of artists, drama directors and scriptwriters, at the Creativity Salon in Omdurman, which lasted for three days.
In his opening speech, Nazar Abdelgadir Salih - Executive Director of the Geneva Institute for Human Rights, stressed the importance of this training course as fostering new approaches to conveying the principles of human rights, particularly through creative drama.
Within that context, he urged the participants to reflect on and to address human rights issues in their field of work, as well as to contribute to enhancing public awareness towards basic human rights and freedoms including the rights of women, children, refugees, displaced people, marginalized people, etc.
Furthermore, the Executive Director added that the more objective and inclusive the Institute’s message is, the more successful it would be in achieving it’s awareness and advocacy efforts. Moreover, he stated that this workshop is the first collaborative initiative between the Geneva Institute for Human Rights - Sudan Office with the artistic community, which will be followed by similar activities to create positive attitudes and interest towards human rights among the creative community, and subsequently raise awareness on pertinent human rights issues in the country.
Hence, the objective of the training workshop is to create interest among the participants in human rights issues and ensure it’s reflection in their artistic work, including drama, theater, radio and television mediums, to strengthen advocacy mechanisms and initiatives in Sudan.
Similarly, the workshop aims to define the roles and responsibilities of each individual and the importance of contributing to the creation of a strong culture of human rights, as well as integrating theoretical perspectives into practical reality by teaching human rights through the creative arts.
PARTICIPANTS FEEDBACK :
Mustafa Ahmed Al-Khalifa : the workshop is distinguished, rich and organized. Distinguished for its inclusion of actors, actresses, scriptwriters, drama professors and program producers with respect to gender diversity, which gave the workshop a divergence of visions and ideas. It also gave us the opportunity to get acquainted with the basic concepts of human rights.
Magda Nasreddin : Through the interventions, she stated that she got acquainted with human rights and the basic human rights conventions and protocols attached to them, as well as getting to know Sudan's position on them in a simple and comprehensible manner, which made the training workshop interesting and engaging. The workshop also provided the opportunity to discuss and learn, and was an incentive and motivation to dive and research further into human rights issues.
Tahani Al-Basha - Actress, director and drama teacher : The training course came to confirm that drama is the most effective way to change the ideologies and concepts of society in all its sectors, through dramatic experiences in both Syria and Egypt, where legal texts and issues were addressed through creative mediums. These initiatives have the capacity to change harmful stereotypes and practices. Therefore, the attention of the Geneva Institute for Human Rights (Sudan Office), represented by the director of the office, Adel Al-Sharif and Executive Director of the Institute (Nazar Abdelgadir), is highly appreciated by us, as dramatists and those in the creative arts, particularly considering the misconceptions and damaging ideologies that hinder the achievement of the slogan of the revolution: freedom, peace and justice.
The training workshop was born out of the Institute’s aspiration to continue working towards strengthening the culture of human rights for all segments of Sudanese society.