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“Human rights are not innate. There is no magic chromosome. Each individual must learn them,” said Professor Francois Audigier a speaker at a round table to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) on 10 and 11 December.
The round table, “Putting Human Rights into Practice; the role of education”, was one of three events organised by UNESCO’s education sector to mark the anniversary at its headquarters in Paris. |
Opening the round table Assistant Director-General for Education Nicholas Burnett told participants that human rights education (HRE) was fundamental to building peace. He said that although education itself was a human right, 75 million children were still denied access and 55 per cent of them were girls.
He highlighted two aspects of UNESCO’s work to promote human rights: the Education for Holocaust Remembrance project and the first ever survey into the historical and contemporary slave trade.
The round table set out to assess the progress made in implementing human rights education and focused on four themes: strengthened links between research and national policies; the integration of HRE into curriculum, teacher training and student-teacher relations; partnerships, and links between formal and non-formal education.
Speakers from a wide range of countries gave concrete examples of how HRE was being implemented and challenges faced.
Argentina gave a moving account of the road travelled since the fall of the dictatorship in 1983. “If we want to assess progress, 25 years ago delegates from my country came to UNESCO to ask for solidarity and now I am standing here talking about human rights in education,” said Ms Mara Brawer from the Secretariat for Human Rights in Argentina’s Ministry of Education. She explained that children above 12 years old learn about the history of human rights, how to exercise citizenship and how legislation plays a part in strengthening or weakening rights.
Dark chapters from the country’s recent history are integrated into the human rights curriculum both as a specific subject and a cross-cutting theme, she explained. She made reference to the abduction of babies and infants born to imprisoned activists in clandestine detention centres during the country’s ‘Dirty War’. These ‘disappeared’ children as they became known were taken into custody by members of the police or security forces.
“Advances in science enabled blood tests that could establish grandparenthood of those babies, leading to the ‘Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo,’ a group of women who led a campaign to locate their disappeared children,” said Ms Brawer. “Science education teaches that science is at the service of human rights, specifically with regards to the right to an identity,” she explained. The grandmothers also participated in a school project where they recorded stories that they would have told their own children and which were then used in the classroom.
In Burundi oral tradition is used to convey information about human rights, said Ms Victoire Nahimana, Director General of the Pedagogical Bureau in the Burundi Ministry of Education and Science. Schools play an important role in inculcating democratic values and respect, but children also learn at home through folk tales that illustrate values such as respect for life, human dignity, friendship and child rights.
Participants also drew attention to forging stronger partnerships. Augustine Omare-Okurut, Secretary-General of the Ugandan National Commission for UNESCO acknowledged that too many organizations in his country were acting on an ad-hoc basis, leading to a fragmented approach to human rights education.
As a result the National Commission decided to entrench peace and human rights into a strategic plan and to establish a committee engaging all actors. It took part in policy review meetings in the Ministry of Education and Sports and urged the ministry to take a leading role in this initiative.
In addition to the round table an exhibition of learning materials, “Learn about Human Rights Education”, was held from December 2 to 10 and an outdoor exhibition, ““UNESCO Works for Human Rights: A poster exhibition on the street,” can be seen on the railings of the UNESCO Headquarters building until February 27, 2009.
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