A course on data protection and privacy rights is being developed as part of the North-South Centre’s Human Rights Education for Youth (HEY) programme. Protecting personal data is fundamental to safeguard privacy rights, especially in a digital age where personal information can be exploited and monetized. Despite existing international regulations, many individuals — particularly younger users — remain largely unaware of the importance of data protection. This course aims to raise awareness among participants about the protection of their personal data to contribute to a digital society that is more respectful of privacy and individual freedoms.
The working group responsible for the development of the HEY course, composed of experts from Europe and the Southern Mediterranean region and representing different perspectives of the data protection and youth training, as well as representatives from the Council of Europe, held its first meeting on 16 and 17 April 2025 in Tunis, Tunisia.
Following the HEY methodology, the course is based on an existing Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) course, the content of which is analysed by the working group members and adapted to a youth audience from Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The course will also rely on tools developed by the Council of Europe as part of a training programme for youth trainers in Tunisia, which are compiled in the Data Shield.
The course is developed in partnership with the Arab Information and Communication Technologies Organisation (AICTO) and the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF).
The meeting enabled the identification of the objectives and the target audience of the course, as well as the general structure for the content. The work on the course will continue in the upcoming months, until the course is launched in its French edition in July 2025.
This course is being developed as part of the South Programme V ‘Protecting human rights, the rule of law and democracy through shared standards in the Southern Mediterranean’, a joint initiative between the European Union and the Council of Europe to support the creation of a common legal area beyond the European continent. The HEY programme complements other training initiatives in the region.
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