UNAMI marks Human Rights Day at Ishik University in Erbil, Kurdistan Region

Erbil, Iraq, 10 December 2018 - Students and human rights activists fanned out in Erbil’s old bazaar distributing flyers and informing cafegoers, shoppers and shop owners about Human Rights Day and the importance of standing up for their rights and the rights of others in a splendid public display of activism to mark the 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

About 50 students from Ishik University in Erbil and staff from the UNAMI Human Rights Office wearing t-shirts commemorating the occasion descended on the bazaar at the foot of the historic Erbil Citadel. On the square and at the iconic Machko teashop, students enthusiastically encouraged passers-by to learn more about human rights, alternating between Kurdish, English, Arabic, Farsi, and Turkish languages underlining the diversity of the population.

Staff from the UNAMI Human Rights Office (HRO) in Erbil and students from the Ishik University Department of International Relations and Diplomacy gathered at a ceremony on campus to discuss and learn about human rights at the international level as well as in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region. Speakers included Dr. Idris Hadi Salih, President of Ishik University, Mr. Diya Butros, head of the Kurdistan Region Independent Board of Human Rights, Mr. Shwan Sabir, head of the Justice for Prisoners Network, and students as well as UNAMI HRO staff members. The speakers encouraged students to carry on the tradition of human rights activism in the Kurdistan Region and to defend the human rights of others to ensure a brighter future after the defeat of ISIL.