The Federal Foreign Office is granting some 61,000 euro of support for the production of ten video podcasts in Arabic focusing on human rights in Iraq. As part of the “Human Rights Matter” project organized by the German Institute for Human Rights together with the Goethe-Institut (dialogue point Erbil), ten young Iraqi video jockeys and film makers are in the coming weeks to produce 10-minute video podcasts on various human rights topics, such as minorities or penal matters. The podcasts will then be presented in Iraq and potentially also in other Arab countries via websites, film presentations and seminars.

Given the ongoing difficult human rights situation in Iraq, the project aims to find new ways of anchoring human rights questions more strongly in Iraqi minds. The aim is to make a lasting contribution to strengthening Iraqi civil society.

The project fits into the German Government’s many efforts to help bring political and social stability to Iraq. Since 2003, the German Government has donated aid to the tune of 400 million euro. This money is being used to fund numerous projects in the fields of institution-building, further training and human rights.