Dear Colleagues,
Today education is one of the most important functions of State and local
governments. It is required in the performance of our most basic
responsibilities. It is the principal instrument in awakening the human
beings to cultural values, non-judgementalism, tolerance, and in preparing
them to adjust to complex environments where rights and duties cooperate.
There is growing consensus that education in and for human rights is
essential and can contribute to both the reduction of human rights
violations and the building of free, just and peaceful societies. Human
rights education (HRE) is also increasingly recognized as an effective
strategy to prevent human rights abuses.
To receive HRE is also a human right to which everyone is entitled to by
virtue of being a human being. In the present Indian society poor people
have been ignored as far as education is concerned. They too are entitled
to HRE so that they become aware of all the rights to sustain a life, full
of dignity.
The irony of our times is that on the one hand we have a human rights
jurisprudence which has reached its peak of glory and on the other we see
human rights violations all around and this keeps happening in newer and
newer forms-ethnic, displacement from homeland, etc. to name a few.
Last decade was dedicated to the concept of Education For All and it
primarily focused on access to education. However, after a decade of
action, the results show that access to education is not enough. More than
that a right to access education, each person has a right to participate in
a quality education. There is growing consensus that education in and for
human rights is essential and can contribute to both the reduction of human
rights violations and the building of free, just and peaceful societies.
Human rights education is also increasingly recognized as an effective
strategy to prevent human rights abuses.
HRE is stressed in all human rights documents as ?an essential contribution
to the development of a global human rights culture?.
Universally, HRE is defined as training, dissemination, and information
efforts aimed at building a universal culture of human rights by imparting
knowledge and skills, and moulding attitudes. This kind of education is
needed to identify and eliminate from the school system all that is
prejudicial to the human rights. Moreover, it would lay down certain
guidelines to translate conceptual clarity and focus for each stage.
Under the present conditions of market mechanisms in economy, the greatest
part of the society considers it impossible to achieve rule of law and form
a civil society without creating new ideology, which should combine revival
or our national ideals with the universal democratic values. Just Human
Rights and freedoms represent the main values and fundamental elements of
rule of law. The strategic line of modern civilization?s spiritual
development is to consider human rights the supreme value and bring up the
society to respect and protect human rights. The society which is based on
violence, hostility and hatred, lacks vitality, it has no prospects. Since
the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights in 1948 UN and
UNESCO constantly appeal to the governments of different countries to give
more information about human rights in the society, spread various
international documents in primary and secondary educational institutions.
Judicial response in India
The Constitution shapes the country?s concept of human rights. The
Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties, and Directive Principles
of State Policy are concrete steps toward the realization of human rights.
There are various provisions in the Constitution of India that provide for
implicit right to HRE. Article 21 incorporates right to live with human
dignity. When humane treatment is guaranteed in the Constitution then
awareness of human rights follow suo moto. Constitution being the supreme
law of the land guarantees that no body shall be deprived of his right to
life and personal liberty. The need for a continuing and well-organized HRE
is absolutely essential in view of new trends in the world order to meet
the ever-growing challenges. It can be done only when people at large are
informed of the existing provisions by way of HRE as a separate subject in
the curriculum. Knowledge of human rights will broaden the mind of young
students and will inculcate the feeling of brotherhood and humanity among them.
A number of measures have been taken in the field of environment, realizing
its effect on all levels of human life. A similar approach in the field of
human rights would enhance the process of incorporating human rights
awareness in our day to day activities.
The Hon'ble Supreme Court in M.C.Mehta Vs. Union of India & others (1992)
1 SCC 358 issued directions to enforce as a condition of licence of all
cinema halls and video parlours duty to exhibit free of cost at least two
slides/messages on environment in each show undertaken by them and to make
environment a compulsory subject in school, colleges and universities for
general growth of awareness.
In M.C.Mehta Vs. Union of India & others 2003 SOL Case No. 865
The Hon'ble Supreme Court directed the States and other authorities to
create environmental awareness among the students through the medium of
education ordered to be strictly implemented under the supervision of the
state authorities. The agencies (NCERT) were also directed to prepare a
module syllabus to be taught at different grades providing for
environmental awareness.
When we can have environment studies as a compulsory subject in the
curriculum then why should we not have human rights education?
International and national interventions
* The 1978 International Congress on the Teaching of Human Rights and the
1993 Vienna Conference called upon UN member states to introduce human
rights education at all levels of education.
* READ (Rehabilitation Education and Development) Centre is a grass-roots
non-governmental organization (NGO) promoting participatory development
since 1984.READ had pioneered in health, human rights education,
environmental protection, and economic development in Huliyar and
Handanakere, Tumkur district, Karnataka, South India.
READ has the following general objectives:
- Educate, motivate, and organize community-based organizations (CBOs) to
strengthen their long-term goals for holistic development.
- Train and upgrade skills of community leaders, especially women and
youth, in articulation, legal awareness, education, and local governance.
- Establish appropriate CBOs for women to improve their economic and social
identity through micro credit and self-help group management.
- Share and promote indigenous learning and research methodologies to
improve skills and capacities through participatory rural appraisal and
allied subjects on development approaches.
* The World Congress on Human Rights in Delhi, 1990, urged that human
rights education be understood as encompassing formal, non formal, and
informal education systems, and also reach parents and policy makers. It
aimed to develop awareness of how to translate human rights into social and
political reality.
* The General Assembly also stated in its Resolution 48/127 of 20th Dec
1993 that "Human Rights Education involves more than providing information
but rather it is a comprehensive life-long process by which people at all
levels of development and in all strata of society learn respect for the
dignity of others and the means and methods of ensuring that respect within
a democratic society." India being the world?s largest democracy should be
a definite guarantor of the aforesaid.
In the UN Decade of Human Rights Education no concrete step has been taken
by the governments to incorporate such education so that people become
aware of the existence of various rights to which they are entitled. India
is a democratic country and government is of the people, by the people and
for the people. So government is under an obligation to make the society
aware of their existing rights for their welfare.
* National Human Rights Commission:
National Human Rights Commission, which is a unique body in itself which is
also a body sui generis, created under the Protection of Human Rights Act,
1993, can operate systematically to influence the depth and breadth of
human rights education in all walks of life, and act as a coordinating body
lending weight and credibility to the values underpinning the protection of
human rights.
Therefore, it is hoped that the importance of the HRE will be realized and
our country will be able to overcome the human rights violations.
Over the last five decades, the process of internationalization and
globalization of the concept of human rights has generated the movement
"All Human Rights for All." In a complex country such as India, violations
of human rights at all levels necessitate human rights education at all
school levels in general and teacher education in particular. Hence, human
rights education should find its rightful place in the school curriculum,
teacher training courses (pre- and in-service), textbooks, supplementary
reading materials, educational policies, and school administration. HRE
must exert its influence from early childhood education onward and through
a broad range of disciplines to build a human rights culture. India even
after fifty years of legislative functioning has not been able to fill the
dearth of Human Rights law.
Therefore, the future sounds promising with the greater commitment from all
sectors. And preparation of a sound, realistic plan of action can help us
achieve human rights education for all and transform the human rights
movement into a mass movement to achieve a better social order and peaceful
coexistence. Indeed, this is one of the greatest challenges in the 21st
century.
Poonam Verma
Advocate
New Delhi
India
E-mail: poonamthemoon@rediffmail.com
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