On Friday, December 10, International Human Rights Day, the first public presentation of the library of the House of Human Rights named after Ranko Helebrant. The goal of the Ranko Helebrant library project is the integration of the existing libraries of the Center for Peace Studies, BaBa, Documenta and private libraries Ranka Helebranta into a unique special library dedicated to non-fiction and periodicals in the field of human rights, peacebuilding and democratization.
At the opening ceremony, the US Embassy in the Republic of Croatia, led by Ambassador H.E. James Foley is donated books, office material and financial resources for the needs of the library, and in his introductory presentation, the Ambassador offered the US Embassy's long-term cooperation on this project through the establishment of an exchange with the Embassy library and libraries of similar purpose in the USA.
It was mentioned that currently The library has 4000 titles., but only 2,000 of them have so far been recorded in the computer program for managing the library due to a lack of funds from the House of Human Rights to pay for the work of librarian (still a volunteer) Silvija Radić.
The library is named Ranka Helebranta, aktivista koji se sedamnaest godina hrabro borio protiv svih oblika nepravde, započevši to činiti kao dragovoljac, a nastavivši kao aktivist za ljudska prava. Nesebično se zalagao za zaštitu svih onih kojima je pomoć bila potrebna, kako svojim znanjem, tako i toplom riječi – prvo u Hrvatskom helsinškom odboru za ljudska prava, a zatim vrlo kratko u BaBama gdje je pružao neposrednu pomoć ljudima čija su prava bila povrijeđena. Sudjelovao je u istraživanju o civilnim žrtvama ubojstava nakon vojnih operacija Flash and Storm and created and implemented many projects to advance human rights in Croatia and the region.
Godine 2003. bio je vršilac dužnosti izvršnog direktora HHO-a. Više je godina predstavljao HHO u Balkanskoj mreži za ljudska prava i bio član njenog Upravnog odbora. Vodio je i značajan obrazovni projekt – Školu ljudskih prava za buduće donositelje odluka. Bio je koautor udžbenika o policiji i ljudskim pravima te je više godina koordinirao suradnju HHO-a s Policijskom akademijom na kojoj se posljednjih godina ljudska prava predaju u okviru stalnog kolegija. Autor je ili koautor mnogobrojnih izvještaja i analiza o ljudskim pravima u Hrvatskoj i regiji.
Representatives of the Human Rights House participated as keynote speakers at the presentation of the Ranko Helebrant library project. Sanja Sarnavka and Sandra Bencic , and ambassador Foley, and the event was attended by around 60 representatives of civil society, embassies, the Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia, and members of parliament.
The text is taken from the website of the Human Rights House.
