IN THIS ISSUE

FROM THE HREA STAFF: THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS


Dear Colleagues and Friends,

Today we share with you the joy of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights! What an extraodinary document this is.

As you know, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is the progenitor of the international treaties that constitute international human rights standards. It is also the inspiration for such principles as equality and empowerment -- a call for "human rights as a way of life" in addition to standards to which we hold duty-bearers accountable.

The preamble of the UDHR calls for "a common understanding of these rights and freedoms [which are] of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge". Human rights education meets this call. It promulgates a basic understanding of the human rights framework but at the same time promotes a human rights culture, one that illuminates how our individual dignity can be cherished in our attitudes, behaviours and relationships with ourselves and others. We hope that you have a memorable 60th anniversary celebration -- wherever you are! And we look forward to sharing with you many more years of progress in our common efforts to promote human rights education.

With very best wishes from the HREA Board and staff,

Felisa Tibbitts
Executive Director



HREA DIRECTOR TEACHES HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION COURSE AT UNIVERSITY FOR PEACE


The University for Peace in San José, Costa Rica hosted HREA Director Felisa Tibbitts as a visiting professor for the Master of Arts in Peace Education program. She taught a three-week course, Human Rights Education, from 13-31 October 2008. Sixteen students learned about theory and tools and how to integrate human rights values, standards and the human rights-based approach into their work as peace educators.

It was a "blended" course, with the first half taking place online and the second half in person in San José. During the first half, students accessed theoretical readings and participated in online discussion forums and chats with the course instructor.

The second half of the course was practice-oriented, introducing a range of examples and tools for teaching human rights, such as planning a human rights education program, writing curriculum, addressing the overall learning environment, planning a presentation and carrying out an assessment. Students developed final projects on topics that included integrating human rights within language learning, the development of curricular units on topics such as modern slavery, and the analysis of national and state curricular standards from a human rights perspective.

The course was highly valued by students and the University for Peace has asked Felisa to teach the course again next year.



HREA INTEGRATES "BROWSEALOUD" INTO WEBSITE


In the past months HREA made great strides towards creating an accessible website for people with disabilities or language barriers. We are now enabled with Browsealoud, software that reads web pages aloud for people who find it difficult to read online. Reading large amounts of text on screen can be difficult for those with literacy and visual impairments. HREA is committed to making its web content as accessible as possible, so that everyone can benefit from our educational resources and online courses and participate in community-building related to human rights education.

Visitors to hrea.org can now download Browsealoud software for free. After installing Browsealoud, all content on HREA's website can be listened to.



HREA has taken other steps to make the site more accessible. For instance, text size can be increased and there is alternative text for all images. Alternative text means that users with text-only browsers or assistive technology can still access information contained in images on our site. If you have visual perception issues, you can also choose between four background colours.

Like the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, HREA believes that it is vital to ensure that, "persons with disabilities can exercise the right to freedom of expression and opinion, including the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas on an equal basis with others".

Visit our Accessibility page for details, including links to tools and information on making the web more available to people with disabilities.

Upcoming e-learning courses

HREA is offering thirty e-learning courses in 2009, including new courses on minority rights; the European Union and human rights; monitoring women's rights; national human rights institutions; and business and human rights. The application process for courses offered in the first trimester (February-April) is 15 December. Find out more about these and other upcoming e-learning opportunities.

HREA speaks at OSCE conference

Europe's largest human rights conference was addressed by HREA Director Felisa Tibbitts. Government representatives, experts and human rights defenders from 56 countries gathered in Warsaw from 29 September-10 October 2008. The "Human Dimension Implementation Meeting" reviewed the progress made by states that participate in the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in fulfilling their human rights and democracy commitments. Read further.

HREA facilitates training sessions at UNICEF headquarters

From 22-24 September, HREA's Frank Elbers facilitated sessions for UNICEF staff members on learning support for implementing human rights-based programming and on monitoring & evaluation. In the coming months, HREA will assist with the revision of learning and training materials on the implementation of the human rights-based approach in UNICEF programming. Read further.

HREA Director Human Rights Fellow at Harvard University

In the academic year 2008-2009, HREA Director Felisa Tibbitts will be a Human Rights Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy. While at Harvard she will be working on doctoral thesis. Read further.

How You Can Help

HREA supports human rights and educational institutions in transitional democracies to develop human rights curricula and training materials. With your donations we can continue to assist our colleagues in their important work. Find out how you can contribute.

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