[hr-education] Re: Working definition of HRE

Dear friends and co-workers,

In my recent years as a human rights educator, I have found an increasing
need to address the fundamental principles that not only form our thoughts
and views, but indeed those that incite our passions and form the very core
of our being, especially amongst youth and children.

Human rights education, as an ideal path to reconstruction of self and
society in a conflict-ridden world cannot but acknowledge the essential
likeness and oneness (not sameness) of all citizens of this globe.  Such a
transformation in our mindset will eventually move the human race towards
uniting and consolidating the dichotomies that have been paralyzing our
vision of a world in need of dignity, diversity and development.  In this
light, I wish to share with you the following:

"... the foundation of universal understanding and, therefore, for human
rights education is the oneness of humanity, a spiritual principle amply
confirmed by all the sciences. Anthropology, physiology and psychology
recognize only one human species, albeit infinitely varied. If we see
ourselves as members of one human family, interconnected and interdependent,
we will be unable to violate the rights of another member of that family
without feeling the pain ourselves.

Violations of human rights are sometimes a misguided expression of loyalty.
Human rights education, by applying the principle of the oneness of
humanity, can help people to see that loyalty to a large entity does not
necessarily conflict with loyalty to a small entity. We live and work in
many social units and institutional environments, often nested one within
the other, that are complementary and often mutually supportive. Love of
one's country does not preclude love of family or community, rather, it
enlarges the circle of relationships.

The enlargement of social organization from clan to nation state has opened
new opportunities for the expression of human capacity, as it has expanded
the circle of those deemed deserving of recognition and respect. For
stability in any social organization, the rights of all, including
minorities, need to be respected... The evolution of ever-larger circles of
organic relationships and interactions now embraces the entire planet. As we
educate our children to accept diversity as part of the human condition and
to extend respect and full human rights to the entire human family,
civilization will benefit from an unimaginable wealth of contributions.

In that respect, human rights education could be considered basic education
for life in the modern world. According to the International Commission on
Education for the 21st Century, "learning to live with others," which
necessitates respecting their rights, is "one of the major issues in
education today." The Commission also points out that children and youth are
coping with special tensions that come from living in a contracting and
interdependent world. Among them are the tension "between the global and the
local: people need gradually to become world citizens without losing their
roots"; the tension "between the universal and the individual: culture is
steadily being globalized, but as yet only partially"; and the tension
"between the spiritual and the material." Human rights education grounded in
the principle of the oneness of humanity, can provide children and youth the
tools and the philosophical framework to enable them to resolve these
tensions for themselves."

 >From a statement presented by the B.I.C. to the 53rd session of the UNCHR in
March 1997, in Geneva.



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