UMS organising SHAPE SEA Malaysia Human Rights Seminar

KOTA KINABALU: Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) has organised the SHAPE SEA Malaysia National Human Rights Seminar 2018, in line with its vision to delve into the interplay between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the pursuit of human rights and peace in the country.

The university had jointly organised the event with the Strengthening Human Rights and Peace Research and Education in Asean/Southeast Asia (SHAPE SEA) network.

Vice-chancellor Prof Datuk Dr D Kamarudin D Mudin disclosed that the two-day seminar (April 24-25) was themed as ‘Addressing Inequalities for Peace and Justice', a theme that is apt with the university's vision.

“UMS, through the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Heritage is happy to be a member of the Southeast Asian Human Rights Network (SEAHRN) and consequently part of the SHAPE SEA network,” Kamarudin said in speech at the launching yesterday.

“Our participation in SHAPE SEA provides an opportunity for the university to contribute to the regional aims of the Network (Southeast Asian Conflict Studies Network). It is our hope that human rights and peace education will become a main feature in institutions of higher learning in the near future,” he added.

The seminar will serve as a platform for the sharing and dissemination of knowledge and information to the public at large, Kamarudin opined.

It is understood that at UMS, the International Relations (IR) programme is designed with a strong orientation on Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, International Conflict Management and Religion, and Ethnicity and Conflict, among others.

Kamarudin asserted that the said programme actively engages its students with the work of various government agencies, NGOs, the National Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) as well as other local organisations and communities.

“This year will witness the IR programme formalising its partnership with the International Committee of the Red Crescent (ICRC) through Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Such a collaboration will make more activities in the promotion and teaching of International Humanitarian Law and the work of the ICRC as a humanitarian organisation possible,” he added.

He stressed that such academic and field work training will prepare UMS students to be better prepared in participating in nation building and assume significant and meaningful roles as global citizens.

Also present in the event was Malaysian representative to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) Edmund Bon Tai Soon.