Prior to the World Conference on Racism, a three-day Human Rights Education Symposium was held in Durban, South Africa on August 25-27, 2001. Supported by the Ford Foundation, this meeting brought together representatives of six institutions that engage in human rights education (HRE) on a regional basis in North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Middle East (see participant list below).

Initially participants shared their personal and professional experiences of HRE, explained the work of their institutions, and reported on the state on HRE in their respective regions of the world. The group then sought to define HRE as it is perceived and practiced in their experience.

The second day of the Symposium was devoted to in-depth discussions of theoretical questions and practical challenges to HRE. First Symposium participants sought to clarify the common questions they grapple with in their HRE work, as well as some possible ways of addressing them.

* What is the goal and role of HRE?
* How to balance the "political" aspect of HRE?
* How can HRE address critical social problems?
* How to overcome resistance to and misunderstandings about the meaning of human rights?
* How to assess HRE needs and respond to them with accuracy?

The Symposium then addressed the question of what research, resources, skills, and tools are needed to meet these challenges and questions and to further human rights education globally and regionally. Principal among the needs identified were the following:

Participants held a far-ranging discussion on the role, advantages, and limitations of HRE as a means of combatting racism and planned a workshop to be presented later in the week at the NGO Forum. Finally Symposium participants explored concrete ways to develop mutual support, to extend the network of human rights educators, and to develop shared projects to address the needs and challenges the group had identified, In particular, the Symposium planned a collaboration project to respond to the world-wide lack of well-prepared trainers for HRE.

During the subsequent NGO Forum at the World Conference Against Racism, Symposium participants, using the name Global Alliance for Human Rights Education, presented a workshop on using HRE as a tool against racism.

Theresa Limpin: For a start, here is the definition used in ARRC’s HRE Pack:

HRE is a participatory process which contains deliberately designed set of learning activities using human rights knowledge, values and skills as content aimed at the general public to enable them to understand their experiences and take control of their lives. (p. 30)

• The definition needs to mention something like "towards the aim of creating a civil society."
• - It should also include "A life-long process by which people of all ages learn respect for the dignity of others and the means of respect in all societies."
• The definition needs to mention training as well.

Abdelbasset Ben Hassen: The basis of HRE is an understanding the UDHR and other instruments to develop a culture of participation, of liberty and justice, and of tolerance. The AI works to give people the tools to make their lives better with new participation. These goals compare to UNESCO’s HRE definition. The AI emphasizes the interdependence of social-economic rights and their universality and interdependence. "For us HRE is education about participation. In the Arab countries, where there is a general lack of justice, participation and equality."

Abraham Magendzo: Why after 15 years do we need to ask the definition of HRE?. What is missing? (He tells a story about training in Guatemala highlands where the question was asked. One woman answered "That the soldiers and the guerillas will let us cultivate our lands.") "From this story I conclude that it HRE is not abstract, it’s concrete about people’s everyday life."

Nancy Flowers: But HRE must also be grounded in some international HR document.

Theresa Limpin: But the essence is not in documents but in the principles. These principles are the most important factor.

Abdelbasset Ben Hassen: The definition given by the UN Decade for HRE is the result of a lot of discussion in a participatory process that included NGOs, indigenous peoples, refugees, etc. I don’t think we need a new definition in itself, but perhaps we need to make a distinction between education in general and HRE because HRE is a very specialized step beyond classical education. It’s not about authoritative giving of information but about making contact, transformation, enable people to understand the world and their own lives and the lives of others. And to accept others.

Abraham Magendzo: Most people day would say that about education generally, that it's about personal transformation and understanding the world, but without a human rights component.

Abdelbasset Ben Hassen; Yes, but HRE includes understanding rights and knowing how to defend your rights and those of others. These definitions enable us to establish guidelines for our work, for example "participatory" – is the program really participatory?

Chuck Scott: Given the historical problems of racism and political ideologies in South Africa, the key outcomes of the Center for Social and Legal Studies (CSLS) are respect and tolerance for others, respect for the rule of law, and an understanding of how the legal system works. "We aim for a realization beyond simply being able to recognize and recognize rights. We also work for the recognition of their inherent, implicit responsibilities, and an understanding of the institutions that support and protect rights."

Abraham Magendzo: What’s the different between a child who has received HRE and one who has not? Or an adult? How can we tell? We can’t measure the individual alone. We have to measure the whole society and its progress toward realizing human rights values. We must put HRE into the context in which it is occurring – war, poverty, etc. It’s not a religion but a process of transformation.

Abraham Magendzo: No, but there are differences among societies where there is greater and lesser respect for others and respect for life.

Kristi Rudelius-Palmer: A workshop at WCAR will be on just that, indicators and standards for racism and the social impact of CERD in a society.

Theresa Limpin: Philippines Normal University is also working on indicators, esp. for family, school, and organizations. Also Indian Institute of HR. And some others in Asia have come up with scientific indicators.

Abraham Magendzo: I have the feeling that this question will be asked again and again – this is a good thing. I think HR educators will ask and so will others. And the answer will also change.

Nancy Flowers: Does that mean that we will never share a common definition?

Theresa Limpin: A synthesis: we have a common definition of HRE. We can separate HR work from HRE. We also recognize that there is not a single meaning of HRE in the way HRE is practiced. And there is not shared set of indicators for evaluating.

• To empower? The individual? People in society as a whole?
• To transform society?
• To heal? The psycho-social component?
• To develop "good citizens"? To develop active/engaged citizens?

• Theresa Limpin: "Here Buddhism and Hinduism may have limitations as they are focused on behavior, not accepting."

• To build democratic institutions?
• To reinforce the intersections of HRE with other "educations," (e.g., peace, development, values education etc.)?

• Isabelle de Grandpré: "Why call it human rights if HR principles are not involved?"

• Abraham Magendzo: "What is the relation of rights, which are unearned, and responsibilities, which do not deprive you of rights if you don’t meet them?"
• Abdelbasset Ben Hassen: "For example, the word "movement" was a problem at our first all-Africa HRE meeting. We had to take the word "politics" to mean "to change the city," not "to have/get the power." The latter is the role of political parties, not HR NGOs."
• Abraham Magendzo: "How do we deal with globalization and HRE? How related to cultural identity, free market conception of life? We must!"

• E.g., poverty, racism, war, corruption, violence, discrimination
• Can HRE do this?

• Isabelle de Grandpré: "How to add the responsibility aspect of rights?"
• Abdelbasset Ben Hassen: "The social problems in our region are so great (e.g. Palestine, Iraq) and we cannot ignore them. People are struggling to overcome very difficult problems, but if you try to suggest these are human rights issues, they respond, ‘No, that is a western concept.’"
• Kristi Rudelius-Palmer: "It’s also the language. To make HR accessible to people."
• Abdelbasset Ben Hassen: "People don’t recognize the universality and interdependence of HR"

• Do we need to overcome this polysemy and get down to a more specific definition?

• Abdelbasset Ben Hassen: "These concepts are not easy to translate into vernaculars accurately."

Abdelbasset Ben Hassen: "You can’t do HRE with speeches and lessons. You have to practice and discover this through new methods that are participatory."

Abraham Magendzo: "HRE needs to be implemented in stages, depending on the specific situation: first empower, then transform."

1. GENERAL NEEDS
   

• Need to develop better methods of monitoring and reporting HRE projects so that educators can share and learn from each other’s experience.

• Need to build partnerships among HRE NGOs to address common needs and challenges.

• Need to develop effective ways to measure results of HRE training?

• Kristi Rudelius-Palmer: "We need to show that HRE works."

• Abraham Magendzo: "We need to get results."
• Nancy Flowers: "Evaluation needs to be built in to project design from the beginning."

• Urgent need to develop effective needs-assessment mechanisms

• "Organisations often undertake something because they CAN do it, not necessarily because it is needed."

• Need to provide organisations doing HRE with capacity-building training in strategic planning for HRE,

• Need research and sharing of experiences to develop this significant new dimension of HRE.

• Great need for translation of publications and trainings, but very difficult to finance and evaluate.
• Translation is especially difficult to obtain in minority languages.

• Develop common standards of citation.

• Kristi Rudelius-Palmer: "The ethics of taking materials without citation is a constant problem."
  

• Abraham Magendzo: "How many teachers are we reaching? So many to reach – we can only reach a tiny minority."

• Theresa Limpin: "Warning: it’s not just numbers trained, but also the follow-up that matters."

• "Labeling" or pigeonholing of HRE in limited subject areas (e.g. values, citizenship, government, etc.) rather than using a holistic approach.

• HRE projects need to Involve whole community, including institutions of civil society and parents in order to promote idea of HRE.

• Theresa Limpin: "The practice and philosophy of ‘participatory methodology’ vs. ‘banking system’ remains a challenge."

• Cultural mindsets can restrict students’ and teachers’ ability to understand and apply participatory methodology.
• Teachers are often threatened by loss of the authority that is needed in a participatory methodology.

• Need for networking and sharing between the regions about the curriculum.

• "Reform" should include raising the sensitivity of the school system to HR issues.

• Abdelbasset Ben Hassen: "Religion is usually not taught from a historical or value-assessment view but as religion/truth that requires faith, not understanding."

• Abdelbasset Ben Hassen: "Even where HRE is required, great differences exist about what HRE means."

• Nancy Flowers: "This is a major need for the legitimization of HRE in the educational establishment."
  

• "This is especially true for those working in NGOs, which usually have with many different goals and commitments, of which education is only one."

• Theresa Limpin: "HRE is often undertaken without really assessing the community needs and culture."

• Theresa Limpin: "People must know the community which they are attempting to reach."

• Trainers need skills in adapting participatory methodology to suit the needs of target groups especially in terms of time and space.

• Chuck Scott: "Issue-based activists often don’t want to add HR to their frame of reference. "

• Attitudes and feelings of "exclusivity" still prevalent with many HRE practitioners.

• Only a few reported examples of use of outside evaluators (e.g., MDF, Netherlands, gave training on strategic planning and evaluation; Ford grant to HRUSA included evaluation).

• Abdelbasset Ben Hassen: "In my region many NGOs are training judges, prison wardens, etc. about issues (e.g., violence against women). The challenge is to have techniques but not to be technicians, to make HR seen as ‘concern about people.’ We need to approach society in collaboration with media, trade unions, religious organizations, etc., NOT work alone."
• Abraham Magendzo: "This is about power."
• Abdelbasset Ben Hassen: "HRE is not about getting power but about empowering."
  

• Fair distribution of resources among NGOs.

• Especially need more time and money for the training of teachers in the formal sector.

• Theresa Limpin: "But that requires caution. A plan alone is not enough. Implementation is the key."

• Generally many NGOs lack understanding of how to make an effective strategic plan.

David McQuoid-Mason: "Street Law has a model that also includes gender and inequality, which are always linked."

• E.g., Fishbowl Methodology: pairing with someone from a different ethnic background. Explore your differences and commonalties. (can also be someone of a different gender, age, class, etc.).
• E.g., Fishbowl Methodology: asking students of the same kind of background to discuss in front of others what they like and don’t like about being their minority group.
• E.g., affirmative action activities in Human Rights for All.
• E.g., exploring conflicts between universal human rights and indigenous legal systems, for example, using case studies on employment. practices.

Audrey Osler: "Racism is a neglected and invisible area of HRE.

David McQuoid-Mason" In the past way the best way to introduce a discussion of racism was to ask students, ‘Who has been arrested by the police?’ and then asking black and white kids what it’s like to be arrested. You don’t have to say the word ‘racist," but it will come out in the presentation."

Abraham Magendzo: "The role of education in Latin America has been to make all distinctions among minorities ‘invisible,’ i.e., denying that they exist. My research shows that schools are build on very discriminatory bases, and thus reproduces discrimination in explicit way. For example, Guatemala has 70% indigenous peoples, but their curriculum leaves them out totally, especially their contribution to society. For example, Chilean curriculum ignores non-Catholic faiths. Discrimination is built into the language itself.".

Audrey Osler: "It’s easy for us as HR educators to identify the problems in institutions. but it’s a challenge to us when we consider racism in our training and TOT. It’s easy to focus on the positive and leave out the negative emotions. The racism issue, however, does not permit people to distance themselves from emotions that they don’t want to deal, especially in trainings.

Rita Maran: "Why is racial discrimination different from other human rights issues? Because most people have not experienced torture or homelessness, but everyone has experienced racism one way or another, as well as other forms of discrimination."

Abraham Magendzo: "Nobody in schools wants to touch these things. They don’t want to get into conflict. And this evasion provides students with the tools for discrimination, e.g., exclusion, bullying."

Audrey Osler: "The focus model vs. the permeation model. The focus is needed lest race be permitted to be evaded. Gender issues are identified with ‘women’s issues’ but race equality in North American and Europe is approached as ‘white identity’ and ‘whiteness studies.’ `