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Trinidad and Tobago: Ministry of Education and ICRC agree to implement humanitarian law programme in secondary schools

10-07-2007 News Release

On 10 July the ICRC and the Ministry of Education of Trinidad and Tobago concluded an agreement in which they jointly undertook to implement the ICRC's Exploring Humanitarian Law (EHL) programme in the country's secondary schools.

The main purpose of the programme is to ensure that young people aged 13 to 18 acquire a basic understanding of humanitarian rules and principles by making the topic an integral part of secondary-school education.

The agreement was signed, during the opening ceremony of a two-day workshop on EHL, by Angella Jack, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Education of Trinidad and Tobago, and Max Furrer, deputy head of the ICRC's regional delegation in Caracas, which covers Venezuela, Suriname and the English-speaking Caribbean countries. Also present were Senator Hazel Manning, the minister of education of Trinidad and Tobago, and Charles Sabga, head of the ICRC's sub-regional delegation in Port-of-Spain.

On signing the agreement, Mr Furrer said that the ICRC and its sub-regional delegation were " fully committed to supporting the implementation of the EHL programme in the secondary schools of Trinidad and Tobago. " He further stressed the importance of including international humanitarian law in the civics curricula of all secondary schools in the twenty-first century and recommended that the EHL programme be used to do so.

The ICRC's regional delegation in Caracas has been supporting efforts to introduce the provisions of international humanitarian law into domestic legislation since it opened in February 2000.

 For further information, please contact:  

 Charles Sabga, ICRC Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago,  

 tel: +1 868 622 1336 / 628-9179