Advocacy Workshop
The need for advocacy training and information on migration detention for persons working with migrants has led the MECC Unit on Life and Service and its Service to Refugees, Displaced and Migrants (SRDM) to organize a training workshop, November 29-30 2006, in Beirut, Lebanon. Around 25 participants from different churches, local, national and international NGOs, attended the workshop.
Thanking the WCC for its support to the SRDM efforts towards Migration & Justice issues, Unit Director Ms. Seta Hadeshian, highlighted the importance of advocacy for the rights of refugees and migrants.
The workshop was conducted by Ms. Anna Callagher, lawyer and consultant on refugee and migration issues with the Jesuit Refugee Service, forerunner and initiator of the International Coalition on Detention.
The two days workshop focused on improving NGOs¹ efforts in advocacy in order to address migrants¹ needs and rights. Issues addressed included the access to a full range of rights for refugees, a global perspective of the interdiction to asylum seeking, gender-based asylum seeking, detention practices worldwide, and advocacy planning.
UNHCR protection officer spoke about Refugee Determination Global Differences. Participants were distributed a handbook on ²Detention Training Project² and hand- outs on ³Monitoring and Evaluating Advocacy², ³UNHCR Guidelines on Gender Related Persecution ³ and ³UNHCR Detention Guidelines², ³Sample Advocacy Planning Form².
Participants, who proposed a theme for next year¹s workshop, also positively evaluated the workshop.
Middle East Council of Churches Office of International Ecumenical Relations P.O. Box 5376, Beirut, Lebanon
Guirgis Ibrahim Saleh, General Secretary
mecc@cyberia.net.lb or guirgissaleh@cyberia.net.lb
+961-1-353-938 http://www.mec-churches.org/