[hre-asiapacific] Report of Workshop "HRE in Asia Pacific: Defining Challenges and Strategies"

Dear collegues,

Below is the summary of the recent workshop on HRE in Bangkok.

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"Human Rights Education in Asia Pacific: Defining Challenges and
Strategies" Workshop. November 10-12, 2003
Chandrakasem Park, Bangkok, Thailand.

For three days from 10 to 12 November 2003, 60 educators from 42
non-governmental organizations, including 19 regional organizations, 24
national organizations and from the UN Office of the United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Right (OHCHR), the UN Economic and Social Council
(UNESCO) and the National Human Rights Commission of Korea met in
Bangkok for a regional gathering to define the challenges and strategies
for human rights education in the Asia-Pacific.

The Workshop on "Human Rights in Asia Pacific:  Defining Challenges
and Strategies" was organized by the Asia Pacific Center for Education
on International Understanding (APCEIU), the Asia Pacific Human Rights
Information Center (HURIGHTS OSAKA) and the Asian Regional Resource
Center for Human Rights Education (ARRC).  It was conceived as a venue
to:

a. Map out the coverage of human rights education programs in the
     region in terms of educational fields (formal, non-formal, informal),
     sectors, issues and geographical spread;

b. Discuss strengths and weaknesses in the growth and development of
     human rights education programs; and

c. Identify strategies on how to further develop human rights
    education programs in light of the goals of the UN Decade for
    Human Rights Education.

The program of the Workshop followed these objectives.  It addressed
them by way of presentations given by human rights educators working in
the field and parallel working group discussions and presentations.  The
working groups focused on certain sectoral groups of particular concern,
namely:

1.      Indigenous peoples, refugees and ethnic minority groups;

2.      Migrant workers; and

3.      Plantation workers, peasants and the urban poor.

The participants of the Workshop defined the overall aims of human
rights educators in the Asia-Pacific:

- To use HRE more effectively as a means towards achieving
    human rights for all;

- To achieve sustainable strategies that enlarge the community of human
    rights educators as well as the constituencies for HRE; and

- To ensure that HRE addresses those needs that are yet
    unmet, and reaches those groups that are yet unreached.

Many concerns, issues and strategies were raised during the workshop.
The issues that were identified as possessing particular priority were
engaging with governments, the use of regional forums and meetings, the
use of the UN system, promoting ratification of UN treaties, the
evaluation of UN HRE programs and the development of HRE strategies for
NGOs, civil society organisations and individuals. A further, more
extensive, report presenting in more detail the other issues, concerns
and strategies raised in the Workshop will be prepared in due time.




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