Internship at the regional office for the Middle East and North Africa of the United Nations Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR Beirut)

Abstract

I contacted my internship at the Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) during the period of May and June. This report tackles mainly how I contributed to the work of the office, focusing on my participation on the daily activities Through five main tasks: communication, treaty bodies monitoring, gender, rule of law, Human rights defenders, the Syria monitoring. In carrying out these tasks, My legal background was particularly of an imminent help in conducting legal researches related to the Human Rights situation in the MENA region. This situation is analyzed through a deep study of human rights defendant’s trials and to what extent they comply with international standards of fair trial. The report also includes a study about the laws of violence against women in Arab countries and their compliance with international standards. One more task that the report is mentioning is my contribution to preparing a curricula for judges in the framework of trainings aiming to promote Human Rights and democracy. Last but not least, I also include a paper on Democracy, Rule of law and the right to a fair trial. I based my analysis on Lebanon as a case study. My motivation behind this paper, is to be able to shed some light on the repercussions of the governance system on the judiciary branch. Therefore, explaining how it affects human rights, and especially the right to a fair trial. This paper is an attempt to materialize the knowledge acquainted during the first semester, in the topic of consociational democracy in Lebanon.