The first workshop in the series focusing on economic, social and cultural rights
From 18 to 20 December 2020, the Max Planck Foundation launched the Training-of-Trainers workshop series in partnership with the Bar Association of Sri Lanka for senior lawyers. The series covers select economic, social and cultural rights and will continue in the first quarter of 2021. The lawyers who have been trained in this series of workshops will go on to serve as human rights trainers together with Foundation research fellows in a programme of seminars in 2021 specialising in human rights for lawyers in Sri Lanka concentrating on economic, social, and cultural rights.
The first workshop was held via videoconference. The Secretary of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka, Rajeeve Amarasuriya and one of the Foundation’s Managing Directors, Johannes Krusemark, made the opening address which was followed by a presentation on the sources and underlying principles of international law and a discussion on how economic, social, and cultural rights are enforced internationally as well as domestically in Sri Lanka.
The main techniques and best practices in delivering human rights training were subsequently discussed in order to help participants refine their presentation skills in the area of human rights training. Throughout the first day, the senior lawyers focused on strengthening their knowledge of the foundations of international human rights law, and specifically economic, social, and cultural rights. They actively worked on exercises and examples in order to solidify their knowledge in these areas.
Participants continued to work in groups for the rest of the event exploring the right to just and favourable conditions of work, cultural rights, the right to adequate housing, and rights pertaining to land. They also explored the international and domestic legal framework and how the legal framework has been applied in practice across Sri Lanka.
The next Training-of-Trainers event will be held with the senior lawyers during the first quarter of 2021 and will be dedicated to refining their training skills on the select economic, social and cultural rights explored during the first workshop.
This series of workshops is part of the project “Advancing Institutional Capacity in the Sri Lankan Justice System” which is kindly funded by the German Federal Foreign Office.