The Human Rights Center (HRC) at Beirut Arab University organized its Seventh Exhibition of NGOs at Beirut campus under the title of "United Nations Sustainable Development Goals for the 2030 Agenda and Environment Preservation" in the presence of Minister of Environment Fadi Jreissati represented by Mrs. Anna Shaderfian.
HRC Specialist Ms. Salam Zahran opened the exhibition, stressing the fact that "this exhibition is an opportunity to introduce students to human rights issues with the participation of 47 associations and organizations concerned with all that aims to give the individuals their rights to contribute to the development of society at all levels."
BAU Secretary General and HRC Director Dr. Omar Houri stated that “this exhibition in its seventh edition has become an annual tradition for our students to meet with civil society organizations, the unknown soldiers in our country, keep abreast of their progress, discuss social affairs and harness these efforts to serve sustainable development. "
In his speech, BAU President and Chairman of the HRC Board of Directors Prof. Amr Galal El-Adawi indicated that, since its establishment in 2009, the Center has played a major role at the university, Lebanese and regional levels through its relationship with local and international organizations. BAU has also committed itself to achieving the 17 UN objectives both at the levels of research and education at the various faculties. BAU also seeks to achieve sustainable development through the application of the concept of community service which is a key component of its current strategy. El-Adawi, also, thanked the participating associations and organisations for their participation in this exposition.
Afterwards, the attendees toured the booths of the participating associations. On the sidelines of the exhibition, a student discussion session was held which tackled the current environmental challenges and the most important initiatives to solve them. Dr. Safaa Baydoun, Director of Research Center for Environment and Development at BAU Bekaa Campus participated in the session, presenting the most important BAU projects and initiatives within the environmental and sustainable development framework. Ms. Zeina Karameh, representing The Arab Thought Foundation, introduced the Short Story Competition, which was launched by the Foundation as part of the "Arab21" Project aimed at high school students to write texts in Arabic on the importance of sustainable environment and the risks resulting from its neglect. President of Beam of Environment Association (BEA) Engineer Salim Khalife presented the solid waste crisis, its risks and treatment. The session concluded with a speech by Ms. Anna Shaderfian, representing the Ministry of Environment, in which she presented the most important environmental strategies adopted by the Ministry and the existing initiatives to reduce the environment crisis in Lebanon.
The exhibition hosted 47 associations from various fields (environmental, social, health, educational and developmental). The distribution of the associations’ tasks in this exhibition was determined according to the objectives that serve sustainable development.
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