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As a part of its efforts to promote the
2009 International Year of Human Rights, UNIC New Delhi, in partnership with
the Government of India’s Central Secretariat Library, organized a one-day
workshop on Promoting Human Rights: Need for an Information Resources
Network on 3 November 2009, in the UN Conference Hall in New Delhi.
At the inaugural session, UNIC Director Shalini
Dewan welcomed the participating 35 librarians and information officers
from ministries, government departments, universities, NGOs and UN depository
libraries. She also spoke on the concept of human rights learning and
how library networking can be used ton promote human rights awareness.
Chief Guest Soli J. Sorabjee, former
Attorney-General of India, focused on the important role of every individual
in ensuring that achievement of human rights becomes a global reality.
The Director of the Nehru Memorial Museum
and Library Mridula Mukherjee provided a historical perspective of the
practice and implementation of human rights in India and the relevant
information resources.
The two working sessions, led by experts in
the field covered the significance of human rights documentation, best
practices followed in India and how library information resources network
could be used for further facilitating and sharing knowledge with the user
communities and how librarians could empower citizens by creating information
tools through content management. Addressing the gathering, the
representatives of FAO, UNHCR and UNFPA spoke, respectively, on the right to
food, the human rights of refugees and gender sensitive information networks.
Each session was followed by a lively
discussion and a Q & A session. The workshop helped participants gain a
better understanding of the diverse perspectives of human rights and came up
with recommendations on the role librarians could play to make human rights
information accessible to all.
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