[hr-education] Re: Follow-up to Decade at the local and national levels (Draft Summary)

Dear members,

Below you will find the draft summary of the recommendations for
activities at the local and national levels to follow-up the Decade for
HRE.  We encourage you to read this summary and make corrections or
additions based on your experiences. These notes will be included in the
final report to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

---------------------------------------------

FOLLOW-UP AT LOCAL AND NATIONAL LEVELS TO DECADE FOR HRE

Participants summarized achievements and obstacles in promoting HRE over
the course of the Decade. The comments from participants suggest that it
is hard to maintain the involvement and interests of those whose mission
is not directly related to human rights education, when this area is not
sanctioned or internalized by formal human rights or education channels,
and when monies are not forthcoming.  This appears to be the situation at
both the governmental and non-governmental levels. In most but not all
cases, temporary HRE structures established by governments have not
resulted in many concrete activities, excepting when NGOs working with the
committees carried out HRE on their own initiative.

At the same time, there are now new platforms for promoting HRE in some
countries, and HRE continues to exist in an embryonic stage. HRE has moved
forward within the education sector when it has been associated with a
related high-agenda issue such as racism.

Many recommendations were made for future actions that might be taken by
national governments, NGOs and civil society, and the U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights in order to help forward the HRE agenda in
countries. Most of these recommendations are dependent upon a combination
of political will and resources.


AREAS OF GAINS, INSPIRED BY THE DECADE FOR HRE

Structural/Policy:

National Committees on Human Rights Education (e.g. Australia) and
Platforms Human Rights Education (Netherlands) were established to promote
HRE nationally. These are usually coalitions/coordinating bodies of NGOs
and government agencies. In Australia a national network of 'provincial'
level HRE associations was created.

In Germany human rights education was specified as one of the supreme
educational objectives in all federal states, to be introduced on a
cross-curricular basis. Human rights are addressed in most civic and
history textbooks there. Human rights is now included as a topic included
in the state (sub-national) curricular program for students of ages 12-18
in California (USA).

In Australia, NGO and governmental partnership were fostered through an
NGO-sponsored "Programs and Policy Reference Group" which brings together
non-governmental and governmental agencies in discussing human rights
education issues.

In Germany and Switzerland, HRE was linked with local and national efforts
to fight racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and the extreme right. HRE
efforts in Germany have also been linked with newly established
institutions -- the German Institute for Human Rights, Nuremberg-Human
Rights City, and UNESCO Human Rights Chair.


Activities:

NGOs and the government have organized public awareness campaigns on human
rights issues (e.g. Germany). In Australia, a national HRE conference was
organised and in the Netherlands the national "Platform" resulted in the
development of policy documents, the setting up of an informational
website, and the exchanging of initiatives. The Parliamentary Human Rights
Sub-Committee in Australia has become interested in human rights education
and has asked advice from human rights educators. Local HRE trainings for
teachers and law enforcement officials were organised in various
countries.


AREAS OF LIMITATIONS

There is a human rights education community, but it has not succeeded in
becoming included within key institutions active in the education sector
(Australia) or having human rights education clearly included in the
national curricula (Netherlands). HRE remains an extracurricular activity
in schools that depends upon the personal commitment of teachers and
school administrators and the hard work of NGOs (Netherlands).

In Germany, the ongoing fight against racism, rather than the Decade for
HRE, has largely been the motor for the HRE activities that have been
carried out.

Lack of funding limits the total number of HRE activities that can be
carried out (Netherlands, Switzerland) and means that HRE activities are
not carried out systematically and comprehensively at the national level.  
There is a lack of collective vision and planning. (Australia)


RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE HRE AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL

NGOs:

The main barriers are financial.


National governments:

Governments could organize roundtables at the national level including
different levels of government and NGOs in order to bring HRE more to the
core of education activities. Government should support HRE in all aspects
(stimulation, involvement, money, communication, dissemination,
implementation).

Institutions of higher education could offer specific courses on HRE in
schools.

Another recommendation was that governments, in conjunction with NGOs,
organize a national campaign on the meaning of human rights for students.  
It would be important to focus on the direct use of human rights for the
students and not only in a developing country or a country in a situation
of conflict.


United Nations:

The Office for the High Commissioner of Human Rights has played, and
should continue to play, a "catalytic" role in forwarding HRE. The
mid-term review, for example, highlighted that human rights education was
in its beginnings and required a cooperation between governments and civil
society.  The UN should assist "by giving clearer definition to the level
of contribution that should be made by governments to enable progress
towards the aim of the UN Decade." One example is details on what might be
included in a national plan of action for HRE.

It was recommended that the Office of the High Commissioner work directly
with Ministries of Education, as it did in China, in promoting human
rights education in the schooling systems.

The U.N. could try to link HRE within efforts to combat racism, xenophobia
and anti-Semitism, under the framework of equality and justice.  Human
rights are also important for those countries that have wealth. Human
rights education should be recognized as part of the processes of
transformation into democratic forms of governance. Finally, the Office
for the High Commissioner could encourage governments to include a human
rights education component in their National Human Rights plans.




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