It had been preceded by an important meeting on 17 May, attended by 9 Salesians from the Hyderabad Province and 16 people involved in this area, examining certain issues connected with safeguarding Human Rights.

The purpose of the study days was to examine the life and mission of the  “Saint Joseph” Province of Hyderabad in the context of human rights. Forty five Salesians and Lay people from various backgrounds took part and sought to identify new ways of carrying out everyday work.

The Key-Note Speakers were Mr K.R. Venugopal, former Secretary of the last three Prime Ministers of India and special rapporteur for National Human Rights Commission (NHRC)., and Ms Carola Carazzone of VIS, the organizer of the International Congress on the Preventive System and Human Rights, the one responsible for the Human Rights sector of the International Voluntary Service for Development (VIS) and Spokesperson for the Committee for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Italy.

The presentations, group and panel discussions during the three days highlighted the need to be with the people in order to help them fight for their rights. The greatest challenge to emerge from the work  for Salesians and religious in general was that of  making people aware of the issue of safeguarding the human rights of all.
The drawing up of a list of non-negotiable attitudes and practices in each sector of Salesian ministry was the highlight of the days. These included: implementation of the human rights education (HRE) programme in all our Salesian schools; encourage the formation and methodology of `Childrens Parliament` among children and youngsters; create methods of checking fear and encouraging a real presence by building self-esteem and facilitating freedom of expression in our formation settings; acquire a `fit institution` certificate for all our street children centres; the formation of Child-rights protection cells in every institution; Parishes to help spread awareness of the employment scheme (NREGA), with the Justice and Peace commission, especially in rural area; all our institutions to join the Global Campaign against Poverty (G-CAP) in October (16-18) 2009.

Published 09/06/2009