[hr-education] Re: First phase of the World Programme for HRE

Dear all,

I would like to express my deep gratitude for comments on the WPHRE first
phase from many interested persons which until some time ago lasted for
several weeks online, and also some comments to the question on human
rights education and the UN Special Procedures on human rights. They all
provided very valuable insights that I appreciate very much.

Also, I apologize for my late message at this point of time. My office has
been in process of relocation since some weeks ago taking a lot of my time
and with difficulty in internet use, which is still ongoing for some weeks
more. Also, for some comments I directly received were written in Spanish.
I apologize for my ignorance in the Spanish language but I sincerely thank
all who kindly sent me those emails in Spanish.

I found several common elements in most of the online comments.

- A number of projects/ programmes are in process of implementation
according to the Plan of Action for the first phase of the WPHRE.
- They need more time to proceed but the time left for conclusion of the
first phase won't be sufficient.
- The WPHRE is not yet known either well or widely. 
- Human rights education needs to be promoted in many ways at both the
national and the international levels but the ways must be effective and
well elaborated.
- Etc. 

I have an impression that in addition to the comments through HREA's
online global message service, there could be potentially a large number
of national initiatives and projects being undertaken in relation to the
first phase of the WPHRE in many countries, but not known to anybody other
than the national actors or anybody outside the country.

For example, I had a chance to participate at an international conference
on human rights education held in Murmansk, Russia, 28-29 March 2007,
organised by the Norwegian Helsinki Committee in collaboration with the
Norwegian and Murmansk authorities on education. The participants included
representatives from UNESCO offices in Moscow and Oslo, many teachers and
local NGOs and school related personnel.

It was clear that in those two countries, various initiatives have been
taken in civil society and by the local authorities both, as well as in
collaboration between them in accordance with the Plan of Action for the
first phase. However, with regard to Russia particularly, those
initiatives are not known well, even to the knowledge of the Office of the
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Not to mention, the language
barrier could be one challenging factor. Participation at this conference
provided me with a significant occasion of learning.

Again, reading the messages on the first phase of the WPHRE, there seems
to be a question - what would be the best way to promote human rights
education in relation to the UN human rights institutions. The two
positions could be summarised as follows:

- Promotion of human rights education should be focused by means of the
WPHRE and already established UN "programmes" (if there is any of such
apart from WPHRE) on human rights education, rather than mainstreaming or
integrating human rights education in other human rights institutions and
mechanisms. A new programme is not necessary any more.

In contrast: 

- Since human rights education relates to all human rights issues,
human rights education should be mainstreamed and / or integrated in
many of the already established UN mechanisms and institutions on
human rights, having the WPHRE as the main UN programme for human
rights education. 

I am of the latter opinion myself. 

The UN Special Procedures is one of the potentially many examples. Mandate
holders of the Special Procedures have been carrying on their study on a
specific human rights issue, either thematic or country-oriented, and make
recommendations in their reports. It is very rare that those reports
emphasise the role or effectiveness on human rights education or include
the term "human rights education." The Plan of Action for the first phase
of the WPHRE itself is calling for inclusion of human rights education in
the UN Special Procedures on Human Rights in paragraph 42 as follows:

"42. Furthermore, all relevant thematic and country mechanisms of the
Commission on Human Rights (e.g. Special Rapporteurs and representatives,
in particular the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, as well as
working groups) will be called upon to include systematically in their
reports progress in human rights education in the school system, as
relevant to their mandate."

The UN treaty bodies also called for dealing with human rights education
in monitoring implementation by the Member States of each instrument on
human rights.

I also noted particularly two important and valuable observations on the
WPHRE.

1. The WPHRE feels to be a product of an international conference room and
staying there, and far distant from the actual field of implementation of
human rights education including the rural community level.

2. Difficulty to implement human right education at the national level due
to many factors such as a lack of the political will, a lack of
understanding in civil society and authorities, less priority given in
face of other serious and urgent issues of the nation, a lack of finance,
etc.

In my view, both are very true in reality of many countries to my
knowledge.

My own position, or personal feelings and understanding, to those two
challenges to human rights education / WPHRE would be:

When it comes to human rights, every single issue is political. Human
rights education is not exception even though it is less controversial
compared to other human rights issues. Realisation of a human right or a
fundamental freedom, including the right to human rights education,
requires a political will, awareness of it by people themselves, financial
and human resources of course, and most importantly, the national-level
implementation is what it counts for. If human rights education is not
possible to realise, other human rights are not possible to realise. If
other human rights are not possible to realise, human rights education is
not possible to realise. Many human rights violations are occurring and
ongoing as I hear in debate and discussion at the UN where the Member
States and NGOs/ civil society gather and speak. It would be crucial that
the national actors determine themselves whether the international efforts
are merely a process limited to the international level within a
conference room leaving the actual human rights violations unchanged at
the national level, or such efforts are for the national actors to utilise
the outcome from the conference room into the actual situation at the
national level to redress the human rights violations.

The process is no different about the global policies on human rights
education in my view. I am certain of that, recalling my experiences when
I had been active, many years ago, in taking more of protection approaches
to human rights violations instead of promotion (human rights education).

Once again, I thank you all very much for the lesson you provided and I am
determined to keep those elements in my mind and I will continue my work
to my best.

Sincerely yours, 

Kazunari Fujii 

Chair, 
NGO WG on HREL, Geneva 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
SGI UN Liaison Office 
Geneva 






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