Pakistan: September 21, 2012. (PCP) Third Participatory Course on Democracy and Human Rights (PCDHR) begins in Lahore under the auspices of the Centre for Human Rights Education, a human rights institution working to strengthen human rights activism to build a human rights and democratic culture. The course is being participated by 25 human rights defenders, university students, representatives of political parties, members of religious minorities from different parts of the country. On the 21st September Mr. Samson Salamat, Director Centre for Human Rights Education facilitated a session on the concepts of human rights and international human rights mechanisms while Mr. Mehboob Ahmed Khan, Legal Officer of HRCP shared his knowledge on the constitutional history of Pakistan. Mr. Wilson Lee, Senior Program Officer of National Endowment for Democracy also spoke to the human rights defenders. The course focuses the development of knowledge on the concepts of human rights and democracy and skill development of the participants with a vision to prepare them to contribute to the efforts for to build a human rights friendly society. The participatory course on democracy and human rights is an extensive learning programme designed for human rights defenders working with human rights organizations, university students of social sciences departments, the officials of the state institutions and the members of media and political groups. In response to its call for application, CHRE received 248 application and 25 participants have finally participated after their selection - men and women of diverse background from different areas of Pakistan without any discrimination. The course would be conducted in participatory methodology and emphasis’ is put on putting the learning into practice, therefore, the trainees shall be required to develop and implement their individual plans on different human rights issues in their respective areas. Apart from the in-house sessions, the participants shall visit Women Jail, Brick Kiln Workers, Dar-ul-Aman, Sanitary Workers, Trans-gender Community, Female Sex Workers and Gypsies to assess human rights situation in connection with international human rights standards and principles. After the assessment, the participants in their individual plans shall plan and strategize research, advocacy and awareness raising initiatives to address the human rights issues. Discussions will be held with experts, including human rights practitioners, journalists, office bearers of political parties, and elected representatives, to discuss the challenges being faced by democracy and human rights and their solutions. Special emphasis would be put on the skill development of the participants in designing and implementation of advocacy campaigns, facilitation of human rights trainings, social theatre, reporting of human rights activities and human rights abuses and proposal writing. Meanwhile, motivational exercises would be conducted consistently during the course to strengthen the commitment of human rights defenders and sensitization for their particular role in protecting and promoting democracy and human rights.