In cooperation with Zentrum polis on the occasion of the action days of political education, the UN Information Service (UNIS) organized an information event under the motto "The United Nations and Human Rights" in the Vienna International Center (VIC) on 9 May 2011.
Over 130 students from three Viennese schools, teachers and representatives from various NGOs attended lectures and workshops on human rights during the whole day in the VIC.
The children's choir of the elementary school Furth (Lower Austria), presented by the president of the UNESCO Club Vienna Robert Pobitschka, gave a sweeping and colourful introduction to the topic with three songs about human rights composed by the children themselves. With their performance the kids underlined the welcoming remarks of Sonja Wintersberger, UNIS Officer-in-Charge, who emphasized the great importance of human rights as the foundation of freedom, peace, development and justice.
The member of Lower Austrian parliament Josef Balber on behalf of Governor Erwin Pröll highlighted in his speech in particular the human right to vote and appealed to the students to exercise this right.
After an introduction to UN services and materials for teachers and for visitors by Irene Hoeglinger-Neiva and a short presentation of the Zentrum polis by Dorothee Steurer, the participants had the opportunity to go on a guided tour in small groups through the VIC.
The afternoon's programme started with a captivating lecture entitled "The UN and Human Rights" by Manfred Nowak, director of the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Human Rights in Vienna and former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture. In a dialogue with the participants he identified the overall goals and tasks of the UN as well as the different human rights through concrete examples. Moreover, he shared his very personal experiences as UN Special Rapporteur.
Subsequently, the participants could choose between two workshops, one about "torture" with Manfred Nowak and the other one about "flight/refugees" with Ruth Sch öffl from the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Vienna. Especially the students were impressed. "Very interesting, that makes you really think. In general, one often does not appreciate that in Austria human rights are widely respected and that torture does not exist here", the 16 year old Philip stated after Nowak's workshop
