17th Human Rights Summer School
Organised by Empowerment through Law of the Common People (ELCOP), the 17th Human Rights Summer School (HRSS) took place in Proshika HRDC, Koitta, Manikganj from 10-20 October 2016. In total 48 law students from Bangladesh, Nepal and India participated in the school to learn various practical aspects of law and human rights. The theme of this year's summer school was 'Human Rights and Displacement'.
The idea of organising human rights summer school was first thought and executed in Bangladesh by Professor Dr. Mizanur Rahman, former chairman of National Human Rights Commission. With a vision of 'lawyering with the poor is lawyering for justice', ELCOP under the leadership of Professor Dr. Mizanur Rahman and other law academics and lawyers, trains up summer school participants to be acquainted with the concepts and standards of human rights and dignity. Following the method of 'clinical legal education', the summer school facilitates the participants with an opportunity to exchange their ideas and opinions concerning human rights and associated issues.
The HRSS follows different types of interactive mechanism. One of the mechanisms is technically called 'simulation', which gives the participants a glimpse of real world scenario through attending multi-cultural team-work. In this process, students play the key-role, and instructors observe and evaluate them. In short, it follows the well-known principle: “I listen, I forget; I see, I remember; I act, I understand”.
Another important feature of the summer school is the day-long community visit, commonly known as Community Law Reform (CLR) field visit. The law is written in the statute and treatise, but it is applied in the community. Unless one can observe the problems and living condition of the community members, he or she will never be able to contribute to the society nor will he or she be able to understand the implication of law in the society. And without observing and knowing the community, it is not possible to understand whether people are enjoying their guaranteed rights or not.
Mooting is another interesting aspect of the summer school. Starting from preparing together, writing memorial till presenting the case in front of the judges in a mock court – all gives a real-life court room taste. The special thing about the HRSS Moot Court Competition is that it teaches one how to get prepared to stand before the court within a shortest possible time.
Going beyond the traditional teaching method, ELCOP's summer school has been immensely contributing in the legal education of Bangladesh, by producing rebellious lawyers each year. Therefore, participating in the summer school is a memorable and life-learning experience for all law students.
The writer is participant, 17th Human Rights Summer School, ELCOP.
Comments