We spent the day at The Institute of Human Rights (DIHR), which will be our base during the Copenhagen program. The location complemented the main focus for today's program, which was the issue of working with human rights in Denmark.During the day we were presented with an overview of the two independent institutions in Denmark working with Human Rights – The Danish Center for International Studies and The Institute of Human Rights – and touched upon issues such as the rights based approach in international development and human rights education in Denmark.
The overall feel of the day was primarily academic, but what we considered most enlightening was the Q and A session with the first speaker - the former Ambassador Mr. Jørgen Bøjer. He spoke about the Danish foreign policy strategy following the ”cartoon-crisis” and how Denmark has opened new embassies in different countries in the Middle East and adopted a policy of trying to engage and develop contacts with the civil society through initiatives of public diplomacy in these countries.
Mr. Jørgen Bøjer and Harun
We also found his personal accounts from his time in Bosnia during the war very informative. He shared with us the difficulties of making diplomacy work during this time, which frequently had the consequence of making Human Rights a secondary priority.
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