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IN THIS ISSUE
 From the HREA staff: Appeal to the Tunisian governmentSchool for Human Rights concludes first yearCombating child labour: Conversation with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education
FROM THE HREA STAFF: APPEAL TO THE TUNISIAN GOVERNMENT
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
As you may have already heard, the Arab Institute for Human Rights, a leading human rights organisation in Northern Africa, has had their activities frozen because of actions taken against them by the Tunisian authorities.
The Arab Institute for Human Rights (AIHR) was informed by Tunisian authorities that its financial resources would be examined in a period that would not exceed a few days under the Combating Terrorism and Money Laundering Law. Yet months passed and the Institute suspended its activities for failure to meet its employers' salaries. AIHR has also faced further restrictions including the disabling of Internet, faxes, and mail. To date the Tunisian government has not officially explained these repressive measures.
An appeal has been developed by intellectuals and human rights activists. Please take the time to review the appeal and if you agree, add your name and send it along to the e-mail of the contact person provided.
Our colleagues of AIHR are in a very troubling situation and we must do our best to show our support for them and the important and excellent work that they have done for the last fifteen years.
In solidarity,
Felisa Tibbitts
Executive Director
SCHOOL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CONCLUDES FIRST YEAR
Summer vacation has started for the students and teachers of The School for Human Rights in Brooklyn (New York). We can look back at a successful first year with teaching practices that infuse human rights and extra-curricular activities like film festivals, workshops with human rights defenders, and celebrations of international days such as Holocaust Memorial Day (Yom Ha-Shoah). The core values of 'dignity, respect and responsibility' really shone through.
 A combined middle and high school, The School for Human Rights offers an integrated academic and social skills-based curriculum to challenge its students to think critically and become compassionate, socially engaged young adults committed to the practice of equity, dignity and social consciousness. Human rights values are evident not only in classroom teaching, but in the school’s commitment to meeting the educational needs of every student, and practices such as 'discipline with dignity.'
HREA is The School for Human Rights' lead partner and supports teachers and other staff with resources and professional development. Jessamyn Waldman, the HREA staff member based at the school: "The teachers have done a tremendous job: not only did they start a whole new school but one that is based on human rights values!" In September the school will welcome 150 6th and 9th graders, which will bring the total of students to almost 300.
The school is funded in part by a grant from New Visions for Public Schools, an education reform foundation dedicated to improving the quality of education in New York City's public schools. In the next few months teachers and HREA staff will be busy preparing for the new school year, which includes professional development of new teachers and fundraising. Learn how you can support the School for Human Rights in achieving its mission!
COMBATING CHILD LABOUR: CONVERSATION WITH THE UN SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON THE RIGHT TO EDUCATION
 An estimated 246 million children are engaged in child labour. Ensuring access to quality basic education is critical to eliminate the worst forms of child labour. Governments have an obligation to provide compulsory and quality elementary education for each child. On the occasion of the World Day Against Child Labour 2005, HREA organised an on-line conversation with Vernor Muñoz Villalobos, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, about child labour and the right to education.
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Question by Jeannette Nduwamariya (Rwanda):
In a small country like Rwanda, where children have lost their parents due to the genocide, we have been working with them, providing uniforms and school material etc but now I am coming from a field visit where I met one lady (16 years) who could not attend school as she has to cultivate for her young sister who is 11 years old. She said "I could not leave our small house and if I go what can we eat? I have to cultivate in my neighbor's field in order to get food". What kind of advice can you give me??
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Vernor Muñoz answers:
Dear Jeannette:
Greetings! I hope you are doing well. I would like to thank you for your very important work. In this case, you could be the first step for the answer you are looking for. Enhancing awareness, solidarity and commitment within local and international levels should help understand that emergency situations require creative responses. This specific problem can’t be solved through a conventional educational system. In this case, school must go to the lady, instead of the lady to the school. However, in the ideal context, this girl child shouldn’t have to work, but should be studying. In the real world, my advise would be: create or design special programmes to take education out of classrooms.
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Question from Nedjeljka Sindik (Serbia and Montenegro):
In my country child labour and right to education is a problem of the minority community--mostly Roma population and obvious in refugees and IDP [internally displaced persons, Mod.] population. Is there anywhere else a similar situation (except former Yugoslavia) and any activities or policies in other countries that could help us to develop ours, and to do something about it?
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Vernor Muñoz answers:
Dear Nedjeljka:
Thanks for your question. Yes, indeed, the minority Roma population suffers terrible discrimination in several fields, not only education. As long as I know, this kind of discrimination-exclusion-segregation is present in Central and Southeast Europe, mainly in Bulgaria, Spain, Italy, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, FYR Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovakia (but this is not an exhaustive list). Between 7 to 9 million people belong to these communities and groups. It is said that in some countries Roma have a 70 percent unemployment rate. So you can see how deprived they are, especially in the case of young students, who often times receive a 'second class' education.
Last February, government leaders and Roma activists from Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, FYR Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, and Slovakia signed in Sofia the Decade Declaration for Roma Rights. This event could be considered as a statement of intentions to improve the situation (not necessarily a program for action).
At the United Nations human rights website you can find a lot of information related to the situation of the Roma, as well as links to the treaty bodies.
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Question from Nasser Adawi (Oman):
Most of the countries with high child labour are poor and lacking democratic principles. If such countries could solve the poverty problems effectively, then they will need to set first democratic values into their governing system. The problem of child labour can not be solved by humanitarian organizations alone; political leaders of such countries will have to be involved.
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Vernor Muñoz answers:
Dear Nasser:
I appreciate your participation. Thanks! It is true that many poor countries have high levels of child labour. But it is also true that several industries of rich countries pay for the cheap manual labour and work of these children. Democratic values aren't abstract principles that have to be set once poverty has been overcome. On the contrary, democratic processes have to be learned and practiced within the implementation of public policies and international agreements on human rights for all. Democratic principles mean praxis of respect and opportunities for everyone. When we make a distinction between democracy and welfare, we start dividing dignity.
I agree with you: child labour can not be solved by humanitarian organizations alone.
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Question from Olufunke Oluyemi (Nigeria):
I would like to know whether there is a provision for free education to children and at what levels and whether it should differ from country to country or is universal as enshrined in the child's act [UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, Mod.].
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Vernor Muñoz answers:
Dear Olufunke:
You pointed out a central matter of my mandate, because you have stressed education as a human right, as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (these three documents make up the International Bill of Rights), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child - inter alia - clearly state.
Free of charge quality education is a human right for all people, without consideration of race, religion or nationality. Therefore, the existence of fees in many countries (even in the 27 countries that are considered as having serious difficulties in meeting the target of 100-per-cent school enrolment by 2015) hampers the realization of the right to education.
Sadly, in some of the key international instruments, such as the Durban Declaration, this legal guarantee only covers primary education. In practice, free education is still a dream, not only because the existence of fees, but also because in many countries families are compelled to pay for uniforms, text books and so on, that create barriers to education.
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The full text of the conversation about child labour and the right to education, both in English and Spanish, can be found on HREA's website.
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