Human rights education

Human rights education is the teaching of the history, theory, and law of human rights in schools and educational institutions, as well as outreach to the general public.

Human rights education and the United Nations

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed it as central to the achievement of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) [cite web|url=http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html|publisher=United Nations General Assembly|quote=Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and "to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.|title=Universal Declaration of Human Rights|date=10 December, 1948] :

Article 26.2 of the UDHR states the role of educators in achieving the social order called for by the declaration:

Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires states to ensure that children are enabled to develop a respect for their own cultural identity, language and values and for the culture, language and values of others. [Murphy, Ruane (2003)]

The importance of human rights was reaffirmed by the United Nations in the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action:

As a result of the Vienna Declaration the decade from 1995 to 2004 was declared the "UN Decade of Human Rights Education". [General Assembly resolution 49/184 of 23 December 1994] [cite web|url=http://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/education/training/decade.htm|title=UN Decade of Human Rights Education|publisher=United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]

UNESCO has a responsibility to promote human rights education, and was a key organiser of the UN's Decade for Human Rights Education [cite web|url=http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=2754&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html|title=UN Decade for Human Rights Education|publisher=UNESCO|quote=UNESCO is called upon “…to play a central role in the design, implementation and evaluation of projects under the Plan of Action of the UN Decade for Human Rights Education”, considering the Organization’s “…long experience in education, educational methodology and human rights and through its network of UNESCO schools, clubs, human rights Chairs and National Commissions”.] UNESCO attempts to promote human rights education through: [cite web|url=http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1923&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html|title=UNESCO's Strategy and Action]

* Development of national and local capacities for human rights education, through its co-operation in development projects and programmes at national and sub-regional levels.
* Elaboration of learning materials and publications and their translation and adaptation in national and local languages.
* Advocacy and Networking Activities.

Following the Decade of Human Rights Education, on 10 December 2004, the General Assembly proclaimed the "World Programme for Human Rights Education", and ongoing project to advance the implementation of human rights education programmes in all sectors:

Human rights education organizations

Organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Education Associates promote human rights education with their programmes [cite web|url=http://www.hrea.org/index.php?base_id=105|title=Human Rights and Service Learning|publisher=Human Rights Education Associates] [Murphy, Ruane (2003) "Human Rights Education is becoming an essential ingredient to all societies in the world in order to encourage respect and tolerance to those around us and build good citizens for the future."] , believing "that learning about human rights is the first step toward respecting, promoting and defending those rights". Amnesty International defines Human Rights Education as a “deliberate, participatory practice aimed at empowering individuals, groups and communities through fostering knowledge, skills and attitudes consistent with internationally recognized human rights principles”. [cite web|url=http://www.amnesty.org.in/pages/hre.aspx|title=Human Rights Education|publisher=Amnesty International]

External links

* [http://www.education.leeds.ac.uk/research/cchre/ University of Leeds Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights Education]
* [http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php-URL_ID=1920&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html UNESCO page on human rights education]
* [http://www.connectinghistory.eu/ EUROCLIO and Europaeum Project Website with database of History Education's approach to Human Rights Education]

Notes

References

* Murphy, F.; Ruane, B. (2003). "Amnesty International and human rights education". "Child Care in Practice" Vol. 9 (No.4) pp. 302-307. Routledge.