[hr-education-na] Re: Mechanisms for cooperation and coordination at the national, regional and international level

I want to thank Nancy for her insightful ideas for improving
communications amongst people involved in HRE. As a member of AIUSA's
editorial advisory board for Amnesty's HRE publication The 4th R, I find
that many people I meet with are unaware of the publication, even though
they work in HRE. My personal work and research is with refugee youth
resettled in the United States. I have told numerous teachers working with
refugee students, both in and outside of schools, to sign up on the AIUSA
website! It is one communication vehicle. I wonder how many I am unaware
of myself. For instance, I was unaware of USHRN until I read Nancy's
message.

I agree that many people working in HRE are unaware of the connection. I
am also good friends with some individuals working in HRE who are afraid
to put the label to their work because of the negative spin the
conservative sector in the U.S. has put on the term. Again, frequent and
positive communications could help to change the tide of negative
misinformation.

Databases for Human Rights Educators: What a terrific idea! Nancy, you
said that there are steps being taken to create an electronic database of
HRE educators. I am sure we all look forward not only to the initial
launch, but also ways to increase the database through our own contacts,
people who might otherwise not end up on the list.

I would also look forward to HRE conferences. I find myself going to
conferences that have social justice and critical pedagogy as themes, such
as the annual NAME Conference (National Association of Multicultural
Education) and the upcoming Conference on Intercultural Education in
Havana, but never a specifically HRE conference. I, too, attended the 2001
WCAR, and I tried to follow the parts of the program that lent themselves
to education. What I found more were pieces that need to be included in
classrooms, such as the Voices program that highlighted specific, personal
international cases of human rights abuses; and new media that would be
valuable in the classroom. I believe that many of us would welcome an
occasional opportunity to meet in real time.

This conversation has been great. Here's hoping it can extend to some
definite activities with the goal of working jointly and even meeting one
another.

In peace,

Lynn McBrien

Advisory board member, 4th R
Ph.D. candidate, Educational Studies, Emory University
Atlanta, GA




On Sun, 18 Jul 2004, Nancy Flowers wrote:

>
>First of all thank you for the thoughtful contributions that have been
>made to this discussion. It is a good example of the kind of
>"communicating and coordinating HRE efforts" which benefit us all.
>
>Alas, however, it is also a rare example.  These valuable exchanges occur
>far too infrequently. They whet my appetite for more!
>
>I describe below two communication challenges that I think apply at every
>level and offer some suggestions for addressing them. In an earlier
>communication I have already discussed the need for opportunities for HRE
>training, which is certainly another critical aspect of communication
>among human rights educators.
>




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