Between June 20-25, the first school of citizenship and human rights, “SOMOS” took place in Lisbon, Portugal, within the framework of the Municipal Program of Education for Human Rights, in the Higher Education College of Lisbon.

“We want to build a public policy of education for human rights, essential for a qualified public service”, stated João Afonso, during the welcoming session. Education is made with training and it is essential to have education for human rights, he added, underlining that “the goal of this week is to train educators, people that will be able to raise awareness and disseminate the importance of human rights for everyday life”.

The first SOMOS school is a project of the Lisbon Municipality aimed at creating a pool of trainers in the field of human rights within the framework of a non-formal educational environment, seeking to reach out different audiences and age groups. This first initiative sought to capacitate around 80 multipliers in Education for Human Rights and Democratic Citizenships, in fields such as Human Rights education, Democratic Citizenship, Human Rights with the youth and Social Rights. Around 120 people coming from different parts of the country participated in the four seminars.

The main goal is to involve around 2000 people, every year, disseminating qualified knowledge in the area of human rights and citizenship which, despite being fundamental, is still ignored by many Portuguese citizens.