Dear colleagues and friends of HREA,

On 10 December 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which has become a universal standard for defending and promoting human rights. On this Human Rights Day, I'd like to share with you the story of Premalatha, a school child in a village near Madurai in Tamil Nadu, India. Premalatha is one of the characters in a documentary film produced by HREA and partners that highlights the impact of human rights education, a film which is featured in this newsletter.

"I have been denied my rights. But these rights are my birthright", says Premalatha. She encounters caste and gender-based discrimination. When she fetches water from a well, she and children from other "lower caste" or "Dalit" families are supposed to wait behind children from the "upper caste". In school, Dalits are sometimes not allowed to eat with other children. In teashops, they may be served tea in coconut shells, while members of the upper caste drink from steel cups. At home, Premalatha, not her brothers, is expected to do all the chores. Until the introduction of human rights education in her school, teachers sometimes hit students with sticks.

From her human rights teacher, she learns about the rights guaranteed by the Indian Constitution, the rights of the child, and the principles of non-discrimination and equality. Premalatha and her classmates know they can use the human rights framework to work with their teachers, families and community to change attitudes and help resolve and prevent human rights violations.

The full realisation of human rights requires all human beings to be aware of their and other people's rights and of the means to ensure their protection and promotion. Making every girl, boy, woman and man aware of their human rights is what HREA and its partners aim to do -- be it through training teachers, developing educational curricula and policies, offering e-learning courses for human rights monitors, building capacity of NGOs, or training law enforcement officials.

With your invaluable help and support. Happy Human Rights Day!

With very best wishes from the HREA staff and Board,

Frank Elbers
Executive Director

HREA's Cristina Sganga and Felisa Tibbitts launched new guidelines on human rights education for law enforcement officials and secondary school systems at the annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw organised by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in September.

From right to left: Cristina Sganga, Chair of HREA, Felisa Tibbitts, Founder and Senior Advisor at HREA, Pavel Chacuk and Snježana Bokulić (both OSCE/ODIHR) at the presentation of the Guidelines in Warsaw. Photo: OSCE/Piotr Markowski.

The Guidelines on Human Rights Education for Law Enforcement Officials and the Guidelines on Human Rights Education for Secondary School Systems were developed for the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) to promote effective human rights education and to support OSCE participating states in the implementation of their commitments in this area. The publications offer guidance on developing curricula, enhancing the teaching and learning experience, preparing teachers and trainers, and evaluating the work done.

The Guidelines on Human Rights Education for Law Enforcement Officials and the Guidelines on Human Rights Education for Secondary School Systems are available for download in HREA's online library.