A total 30 youths participated in the workshop which focussed on the theme `human rights education' in present day context.

During the inaugural address Dr Vishwanath Karad, chairperson, UNESCO Chair in Human Rights and Peace for Asia Pacific said the promotion of human rights is a need of time. ``As sensible human beings, we are witnessing crime and violence around us, which represents nothing but gross violations of human rights. The youth with passion and emotional attachment to the cause of poor and needy people should come forward to intervene the aggravating situation,'' he said. Experts from various fields participated in the five day workshop.

In her presentation, Dr Neelam Gorhe of Stree Adhar Kendra emphasised the need to bring gender issues in the mainstream. Gorhe lamented that enforcement machinery required for the purpose was still inadequate and required alterations in terms of infrastructure, spread and perspective.

John Samuel of National Centre for Advocacy Studies observed that advocacy is an art of public argument, a mode of social action and depends on the social context. As against west, where it mainly means influencing, in India we should refer to it as people centred advocacy, which is based on political perspective of marginalised groups.