Lecture in the the Francishak Skaryna Belarusian school of Vilnius is the first in a series of events planned by students of the European Humanities University within the framework of internship, which they take in the Belarusian Human Rights House. Students undergo a practical training in the Human Rights House, getting an opportunity to study the human rights more profoundly, as well as to apply their knowledge in practice and share it. At this stage the students are preparing such a training at EHU and develop further activities in collaboration with the high school. For example, there are plans to hold a series of lectures on particular rights.

One of the participants, Iryna Paniadzelnik, the first year student of “International law” program of EHU, noted that the idea of such lectures arose spontaneously, but in her opinion having knowledge of human rights is important for any student: “Clearly, this project will be useful to all students, because nowadays the issues related to human rights in Belarus and all over the world are becoming more and more popular and require publicity and awareness. Also, I should say that our classes are not just bare lectures, what we are trying to do is to use methods of non-formal education and conduct exercises with the students, which make it easier for them to learn the information and also to show them what is our world like today and what is the place of every person in it.”

During the lectures, students gain knowledge not only about rights, but also about duties. Thus the organizers want to tell students that any major changes in society begins with the individual steps and actions from each person.

Also, students, who organized these lectures, noted the linguistic situation in school: they were surprised that even Vilnius has a Belarusian-language school, while it is not common in the cities and towns of Belarus. “I am very glad that even in Vilnius there is a school, where children get education in Belarusian language. Language situation in our country is quite complicated. The number of schools, where pupils are taught in Belarusian decreases every year. For example, there are no Belarusian-language schools in my native town, but there is one Polish-language. It is very sad that there is such situation in our country” – said Sviatlana Vasilevich, first-year student of the “International law” program at EHU.

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In August 2013 the Belarusian HRH will start a new admission for the students, who want to take an internship.In the framework of the training the students will not only increase their knowledge in the field of human rights, but also will learn how to put them into practice by implementing their initiatives.

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