____INFORMATION, TRAINING AND EDUCATION IN THE FIELD OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS www.aidh.org, a French-speaking website devoted to the promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms____

Dedicated to the philosopher Jeanne Hersch*, this website is a general-interest informational and educational tool in French. It provides a vast amount of information on human rights (the history of these rights and the present situation). It covers current events, gathers important documents, and gives all the information needed to find out about, understand as well as analyse events and situations throughout the world with regard to human rights.

It is also intended as a mirror reflecting the image of Geneva, with the city's concern for its international responsibilities and its unique role in advocating justice and peace, especially when faced with the growing number of conflicts and the rise of racism and anti-Semitism.

The site pursues the objectives of the association, created to "carry out programmes to inform, teach and educate people about human rights and fundamental freedoms."

Constantly being updated, the Aidh website has had an increasing number of visitors and has been referred to a number of times in the international press. Well referenced by search engines, it is one of the most often consulted sites and has proved to be one of the most complete sites in French.

A library of human rights

This site has been designed as a guide for visitors to find out about how different human rights bodies operate, and learn more about these rights and the means to ensure that they are respected. Its goal is to answer questions, from the simplest to the most complex, and to provide a tool for working and for thinking comprehensively to all those who are interested in this subject, and in particular to young people, pupils and students, as well as teachers.

The site includes the Jeanne Hersch* library of human rights, a collection of international and regional treaties as well as the great founding texts. Glossaries (human rights, war and treaty vocabulary) accompany the texts. In addition, the site has documents on how the mechanisms for implementing the treaties operate.

The site also assigns a big role to civil society, NGOs, institutions and associations that advocate and defend human rights.

The site includes:

A presentation of the United Nations bodies as well as their activities and method of operation (High Commissioner for Human Rights, "human rights" committees, The Human Rights Council);
í A presentation of the principal non-governmental organisations active on the subject;
A presentation of the various international tribunals (including the International Criminal Court) and different European bodies;
A presentation of committees of enquiry and the reports on violations of human rights in the world.

Special files

The site provides files on women's rights, the rights of the child, the right to food and the right to education.

It offers educational and awareness-raising programmes to fight against racism and anti-Semitism.

The information, laid out under twenty-odd headings, includes:

a current events column, which gives an account of the human rights situation around the world and gathers a vast number of documents on subjects making headlines: the situation in the Middle East, the reconstruction of Iraq, the fight against terrorism, the information society, and the reform of the United Nations;
"files" on events in the 20th century in regard to human rights: genocides, the fight against torture, antipersonnel land mines, the fight against racism and anti-Semitism, freedom of expression, dialogue across religions, cross-culture and the dialogue of civilisations, health and human rights, etc.

Human rights education, the Holocaust, the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda, as well as the situation in Switzerland during World War II are all subjects of special files. The French debates over secularism, history and memory are also addressed.

A "Geneva - Michel Servet" area touches on "civil practices" in Geneva and presents the institutions of Geneva, their history, as well as International Geneva.

The association has established partnerships with the Chaire lyonnaise des droits de l'homme, the Summer university on Human Rights in Geneva, as well as with the Society of Friends of Dr Janusz Korczak, which continues the work and acts of this Polish paediatrician, educator and poet, a pioneer in the rights of the child.

[* Jeanne Hersch published, under the title "Birthright of Man" an anthology of texts advocating human rights and tolerance while she directed the Philosophy sector of UNESCO.]

AThe Internet Association for the advancement and defence of human rights (Aidh).
11, rue de Contamines, CH-1206 Switzerland.
President of the association: Jean-Marc Martin du Theil.