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16 January 2020
In this interview, Ramzi Kaiss, currently enrolled in our MAS in Transitional Justice, Human Rights and the Rule of Law (MTJ) tells us about the programme and life in Geneva.
My Name is Ramzi Kaiss and I come from Beirut, Lebanon. Before studying at the Geneva Academy, I completed a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and International Relations at Connecticut College in the United States (US). After graduating, I worked in the US at an educational non-profit organization that develops training workshops and produces educational curricula related to periods of genocide and mass atrocity. I then returned to Beirut where I worked at the Beit Touyour Ayloul Foundation as part of the team that was archiving the early works and articles of the late Lebanese author and women’s rights activist, Emily Nasrallah.
Lebanon has an interesting history of transition from war to peace in the absence of transitional justice mechanisms. As someone interested in the history and current political landscape of the country and the region, I knew I wanted to deepen my knowledge of transitional justice issues. I found that the Geneva Academy’s MTJ programme was an ideal option for someone interested in studying transitional justice and human rights from a theoretical, political, legal and practical approach.
The best thing about the programme has been the classes and the people, from the professors to my colleagues. There are so many different ways in which one can approach transitional justice, and it is quite rewarding when you are around people who have a great experience doing transitional justice and human rights work in different contexts and in different capacities, from the governmental to non-governmental, academic and legal.
For now, I am not certain, but I hope that the research internship during the second semester and the planning process for the MTJ paper will provide me with some space to reflect on whether I want to pursue my academic research or explore work opportunities related to transitional justice issues in Lebanon and the wider Arab region.
The photo was taken during a site visit to the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). My friend and classmate Kinda insisted that I take a photo to send back home. So here it is.
News
Students of our MAS in Transitional Justice, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law (MTJ) spent, as part of the programme’s annual study trip, four days in Kosovo where they met with a wide range of experts and institutions involved in post-conflict reconstruction and the rule of law.
News
Geneva Academy
In an online conference co-organized by the Geneva Human Rights Platform, UN-Habitat, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Geneva Cities Hub, around 60 experts exchanged around best practices to ground the development of cities in a human rights framework.
Short Course
Al Jazeera
This online short course will examine the protection afforded by international human rights law in these contexts, with a specific focus on the right to peaceful assembly – which is at the heart of such movements –, and the right to life – which is often violated during such transitional moments.
Short Course
ICRC
This online course aims at unpacking the nature and scope of international human rights law in transitional contexts.
Project
CCPR Centre
The Geneva Human Rights Platform collaborates with a series of actors to reflect on the implementation of international human rights norms at the local level and propose solutions to improve uptake of recommendations and decisions taken by Geneva-based human rights bodies at the local level.
Project
Publication
Geneva Academy
