Timor-Leste is Asia’s youngest nation and one of the most inspiring stories of the 20th century. After centuries of foreign domination, the tiny island nation bravely gained its independence in 2002 to soon become a thriving democracy in Southeast Asia, yet still struggling for development.  

“All people have their rights, but most of them cannot exercise their rights because they do not know them. The presence of the Human Rights Centre is crucial in communicating this knowledge, because only then can everyone claim their rights” Prof. Elisabeth da Costa Lopes, Vice-Director of the UNTL Human Rights Centre

From 2019 to 2022, the EU entrusted the Global Campus of Human Rights to support the National University of Timor-Leste in establishing its human rights centre in the capital Dili. After building the premises from scratch, a team of young university professors, alumni, and human rights defenders, was selected to form the backbone of this new academic institution. A series of trainings was organized in Dili and Bangkok to equip them with skills and tools to lead future human rights courses and research. Also, weekly outreach activities were started to reach out beyond the academic community.

Thanks to the work of the Centre, in 2021 human rights were included as a new subject in all undergraduate programs of the National University’s nine Faculties. A mainstreaming of this scale means that each future graduate of the country’s only public University will have acquired the fundamentals of human rights as part of their studies. In a country where nearly half of the population is under the age of 18, the transformative potential of such policy change bears the highest significance, placing the UNTL at the front row of human rights education in the region and beyond.

After four intense years, in 2022 the Centre had demonstrated its readiness to be integrated into the National University as its youngest unit, and it was handed over in December in a ceremony organized with the President of the Republic and Peace Nobel Laureate, H. E. Josè Ramos Horta.

"The Human Rights Center is a great initiative, that will first reach out to our  youth to understand what are the fundamental human rights that come from our own Constitution and from the treaties we have ratified, the obligations and responsibilities of state actors to respect these rights in our country." H. E. Josè Ramos Horta

The UNTL Human Rights Centre is now set to give its contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights and democracy, for a more just and equitable Timor-Leste. In this mission, it can rely on a long-lasting partnership with the Global Campus of Human Rights.

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