The Jagiellonian University has joined a project run by the Kurdish Institute of Brussels, aimed at promoting human rights among young Kurds in Turkey and Europe.

The first meeting of the project Ez mafe xwe dizanim! (I know my rights), run within the framework of the Erasmus Plus programme, was held in late October in Brussels. The Section for Kurdish Studies of the JU Institute of Oriental Studies is among the partner institutions carrying out the project, aimed at preparing a human rights textbook for young Kurds, with special focus on the right to use one's own mother tongue. The project is coordinated by the Kurdish Institute of Brussels and also involves the Pro Humanitate non-governmental organisation, based in Germany, and Kurdi Der organisation promoting education in Kurdish language in Turkey.

The two-year-long project envisages workshops and internships for young members of Kurdish NGOs, as well as an international conference devoted to languages of ethnic minorities. The participants of the October meeting included Dr Joanna Bocheńska and Mr Karol Kaczorowski from the Jagiellonian University Section for Kurdish Studies – members of the research team that runs the project How to make a voice audible? Continuity and change of Kurdish culture and of social reality in postcolonial perspectives  (www. kurdishstudies.pl), funded by the National Science Centre as part of the SonataBis1 programme. The Sectionwas invited to take part in the project as one of very few academic units focusing on the Kurdish social and cultural reality. Its role in the project will be to provide advice related to peculiarities of the Kurdish culture and assistance in the planned endeavours.

Translated from the Polish text by Karol Kaczorowski