Winter School 2024 – 10 years of rights awareness in the North Africa – Middle East region
From 22nd to 26th January, for the tenth year running, the Office of International Cooperation offered students from the first year of Science Po’s Mediterranean – Middle East Campus the opportunity to attend its traditional Winter School, a week of events aimed at raising awareness of international solidarity and rights in the Mediterranean region.
Since the very first edition in January 2015, close to 1,500 students from the Sciences Po campus in Menton have been made aware of the challenges related to Official Development Assistance. For the past 10 years, the Monegasque Cooperation has mobilised its partners, all international experts in their field, to intervene among 1st year students at the neighbouring Campus. For the Government of Monaco, this unconventional week of teaching based on the personal experience of professionals, is a unique opportunity to create vocations among tomorrow’s leaders, but also to promote awareness of the Principality’s commitment to solidarity.
The topics covered ranged from an introduction to International Humanitarian Law – as relevant as ever – by spokespeople from the International Committee of the Red Cross, Lucile Marbeau and Frédéric Joli, to the rights of Refugees, and of Women and Girls. The 181 students of about forty different nationalities had the opportunity to benefit from the expertise and commitment of speakers including François Reybet-Degat, Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Morocco, Jean Dzene from the Fondation Apprentis d’Auteuil, and Patrick Teixeira, United Nations World Food Programme Deputy Country Director in Mauritania.
The Founder of Handicap International, NGO Nobel Peace Prize 1997, Dr Jean-Baptiste Richardier, a loyal supporter of the Winter School, agreed to act as the Grand Témoin for this 10th edition, and to speak about his humanitarian commitment, in addition to his traditional thematic talk on the Rights of People with Disabilities. Moreover, the spotlight was turned on to Handicap International twice this year as its advocacy officer, Baptiste Chapuis, introduced the students to the EWIPA campaign (to fight the use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas), also a hot topic in these particularly troubled times.
Finally, the week featured a solidarity challenge with the creation of visual aids by the teams of students in connection with the 5 topics covered (Children, Food, Refugees, Women/Girls and People with Disabilities). They competed for the benefit of the Monegasque Cooperation’s partner associations, to which the prize money will be donated.
Ms. Isabelle Rosabrunetto, Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, presented the Grand Jury Prize, then closed this anniversary edition with the following words: “Monaco is a nation deeply connected to others and committed to contemporary issues. […] With an Official Development Assistance budget in continuous growth over the last 10 years and 1.1% of State revenue dedicated to it, Monaco now ranks among the most generous nations in this area per capita”.
