HREA and the University College Roosevelt (UCR) will co-organize the 6th International Human Rights Education Conference in Middelburg, the Netherlands on 17-19 December 2015. For instructions for the call for papers and to register, please visit the conference website: www.ihrec2015.org.
“Translating Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms to Today’s World” is the theme of the conference. In 1941, at the height of the World War II, US President Franklin Roosevelt famously called for the protection of four essential human freedoms everywhere in the world: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. These freedoms were an inspiration in the writing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted over two years by the Commission on Human Rights under the chairmanship of Eleanor Roosevelt. Since its adoption in December 1948, the Universal Declaration has sparked struggles for social justice all over the world. At the same time, Roosevelt’s four freedoms are still far from realization – in many corners of the world.
Human rights education (HRE) has often been identified as the key connection between the lofty language in human rights treaties and a more just global and local order. Education is key in strengthening knowledge of human rights, supporting them and developing skills to realize them. Since the start of the UN Decade of Human Rights Education twenty years ago, enormous strides have been made in this field. At the same time, many questions remain. To what extent, in today’s context of globalization and fragmentation, can human rights be translated into local action? What gets lost in claims for human rights? How to introduce human rights-based approaches in fields such as health care, education and combating poverty?
The International Human Rights Education Conference is an annual event that brings together experts and scholars of human rights education from all over the world. Past conference speakers include Nobel Peace Prize winners, government ministers and ombudsmen from various countries, members of regional and international organizations, senior government officials, and scholars from leading universities and research centers and civil society. After earlier editions in Australia, South Africa, Poland, Taiwan and the United States, the 6th edition of the International Human Rights Education Conference will take place in the Netherlands.
For instructions for the call for papers and to register, please visit the conference website: www.ihrec2015.org.