[hr-education] Re: Human rights-based approaches to education

Hi, 

I am working on my PhD and looking at Human Rights Education as it relates
to northern Uganda which has both an ongoing civil war and a universal
primary education program (UPE), with provison in the curriculum for human
rights education. At this point I am at the initial stages of research,
looking at the topic broadly and from a contextual perspective.

I am wondering whether HRE can bridge the gap between HR as abstract
principles adopted by states and the people whose rights are violated in
the field? My hypothesis is that HRE can help children contexualixe their
rights and that in doing so they gain awareness and therefore may stand a
better chance of having their rights and those they interact with promoted
and protected. 

I am looking closly at:  
- human rights education curriculum in UPE 
- the role of HRE
- HRE for the militia
- whether it is idealistic to consider HRE in a conflict context?
- whether rights really exist for all or whether they are just a western
construct?
- what happens when there are clashes of diversity?
- how do you monitor the unmonitorable and what do you do if rights are
violated?
- which HRE models are most relevent in conflict situations?

I have found J, Spring (1999) book "Wheels in the head : Educational
philosophies of authority, freedom, and culture from Socrates to human
rights" to be helpful. I have loads of references around education in
conflict situations if you are interested. I would appreciate staying in
contact and having an ongoing dialogue around this issue.

Thanks for your query it sparked some thoughts. 

Regards 
Elaine Halsall


 
On 19 September 2005, Clare Magill wrote:
 
>We are developing a set of guidelines and examples where education
>planning and programming is being undertaken from a rights-based approach.
> 
>Key elements of a rights-based approach may be summarised in the acronym
>PANEL - participation, accountability, non-discrimination, empowerment and
>linkages to human rights standards. A rights-based approach to education
>builds on these guiding principles and supports the fulfilment of
>internationally agreed human rights requirements, particularly those that
>are relevant to the education sector. For more details on a human
>rights-based approach to programming, please visit
>http://www.undg.org/documents/3069-Common_understanding_of_a_rights-based_approach.doc
>
>A full understanding of what a rights-based approach means in practice is
>not yet clear. At this stage we are looking for concrete country-based
>examples of programmes or initiatives that have been developed from a
>rights-based perspective, particularly those with a direct impact on
>education. We are especially interested in concrete examples of
>rights-based approaches to education that have:

<snip>

 

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