Description
The project “Know and claim your rights!” aims on one hand to a better understanding regarding the main concerns of the larger public concerning the human rights protection system, and on the other hand - to develop the capacity to know and claim individual rights, through the consolidation of the www.drepturicivile.ro website. Furthermore, the capacity of a network of 10 NGOs to protect the rights of their beneficiaries by learning to use legal means before national judicial bodies and the ECHR system, will be developed. Also, it will improve the knowledge of 50 legal professionals regarding the human rights protection system enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights. In collaboration with the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, the project will contribute to the improvement of the system of implementation of the ECHR rulings in Romania, through a comparative study with the Norwegian equivalent mechanism and the implementation of a pilot advocacy strategy.
Summary of project results
The project started from the premise that Romanians do not know their rights and how to claim them. That is why a series of tools were created and awareness raising activities were implemented, all of which contributed to the consolidation of human rights protection system in Romania. Therefore, the first nationally relevant sociological study about the perception on human rights in Romania was realised during the project. It helps understand citizens’ existing knowledge on human rights and how they can claim them. The conclusions of the study were the basis of many useful informative materials. They were posted on the civil rights platform (
www.drepturicivile.ro), launched as part of this project, which has been continuously updated with useful information publicly available to anyone, ranging from theory of what human rights are (mostly the ones embedded in the European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence), to concrete and practical advice on how to claim them to national courts and bodies, as well as the European Court for Human Rights (ECHR), or how one can get involved in the implementation of the ECHR judgments. The platform, which continues to function after the end of the project, also included two interactive components - a legal advice section, where APADOR-CH lawyers answered questions coming from citizens, and a forum. A number of 15 NGOs benefited from trainings on how the national legal system and ECHR works in order to protect the rights of their beneficiaries. Also, 109 lawyers from Bucuresti, Iasi and Cluj were trained on the European Court of Human Rights system. As a consequence of these trainings, many lawyers expressed their willingness to cooperate with APADOR-CH in the future. With the help of the Norwegian Helsinki Committee, a comparative study was drafted, containing recommendations on how the system could work better, how to make it more transparent and efficient, with increased participation of NGOs in the procedure. Three complains were drawn up and submitted to by APADOR-CH in cooperation with European Roma Rights Center, Romani CRISS and The Network for Preventing and Combating Violence against Women Committee (made up of 23 non-governmental organizations), which contributed to the involvement of a significant number of NGOs in advocacy activities at the regional level.
Summary of bilateral results
The main outcome of the cooperation between APADOR-CH and the Norwegian partner was the fact that the Romanian counterpart had the opportunity to learn from the Norwegian Helsinki Committee about how the implementation of ECHR decisions is dealt with in Norway. When it comes to procedures and regulations, things are very different from how it is done in Romania, and the comparative study drafted within the project contains recommendations on how to improve the actual system, in order to maximize the involvement of responsible authorities and NGOs in these issues tackled by the project. The NHC representatives have also been present at the final conference of the project, together with 2 representatives of human rights institutions in Norway. They actively contributed to the debate, by sharing their experience and answering questions coming from the policy makers, civil society representatives and representatives of the Romanian human rights institutions.