Third Human Rights Academy for Journalism Professors ends

The Third Human Rights Academy for Journalism Professors, which lasted from February 2021, ended in Ukraine. The Academy aims to promote human rights values and high ethical standards in journalism education.

The comprehensive training program for journalism professors is a joint initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ukraine, the Institute of Journalism of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, and ZMINA Human Rights Centre.

During the six sessions, 33 journalism professors from 21 universities learned how to cover topics related to non-discrimination, military conflict, gender equality, rights of members of various social groups, such as LGBTQI +, people with disabilities, homeless, and people in places of detention.

During the training, participants met with human rights defenders, activists, and media experts and delved into various human rights topics. From now on, journalism professors will implement the acquired knowledge in their curricula.

Svitlana Kolyshko, UNDP Ukraine Project Manager of the “Human Rights for Ukraine” project, called on the Academy participants to use the acquired knowledge and skills in practice. She added that media remained the main source of information on human rights for Ukrainians.

“This fact rests a great responsibility on the media, and I encourage you to promote human rights values ​​in media education,” Kolyshko said.

“The Third Academy was held amid difficult quarantine conditions. Six sessions of three to four days over seven months. The pace of training, the number of meetings, and the urgency of the issues raised was a really difficult trial online. However, it is telling that the interest showed by the group and their involvement in the process testify to the appeal of human rights topic, the desire to implement a value-based approach to education, and willingness to encourage students to cover the issues of inclusiveness, diversity, activism, protection of human rights. After graduating from the Academy, we will definitely keep in touch with the scholastic community,” said Iryna Vyrtosu, Academy coordinator and journalist at ZMINA Human Rights Center.

Read about the First and the Second Human Rights Academy for Journalism Professors.