HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS AND PRINCIPLES

• Standards: legal principles established in binding treaties and covenants

• Principles:> Equality and non-discrimination> Participation and inclusion> Accountability and rule of law

Human rights education

was emphasized in the UDHR

“…a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge.”

-Preamble of the UDHR

We need to understand our human rights.

We need education in and for human rights.

Education “shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms… education shall enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society”.

-Article 13, ICESCR

THE STRATEGIC CONNECTION BETWEEN EDUCATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS:

Increased human rights awareness and practices among non-state actors (including members of the public, activists, political and cultural elites) increases pressure on state actors to respect human rights and promotes the realization of human rights in everyday relationships among people

HRE Goals for Wider Society

To contribute to the building and defense of a universal culture of human rights, with a view to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms

Human Rights Education Goals

To equip learners with knowledge, skills and understanding; to mold their attitudes and behaviors; and to empower them to contribute to the building and defense of a universal culture of human rights. (WPHRE, CoE Framework Charter)

In this culture, human rights are understood, defended and respected. (Council of Europe)

HRE Goals at the Personal Level

HRE Competencies…. to be addressed later today.

Development of HREDevelopment of HRE

The HRE movement and related networks have expanded exponentially since the early 1990s

Newly established regional HRE Newly established regional HRE networks/ networks/

networks that have a strong HRE networks that have a strong HRE mandatemandate

• Arab Human Rights Education Network [established in 2004]• Asia-Pacific Human Rights Education Listserv [2003]• Balkan Human Rights Network [2002]• Democracy and Human Rights Education in Europe Network (DARE) [2003]• Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (Euromed) [1997]• Human Security Network [1999]• Red Interamericana de Educación en Derechos Humanos (educa-dh) [2001]• Réseau Francophone sur l'Education en Droits Humains [2004]

Membership of the Global HRE List Membership of the Global HRE List (1999-2009)(1999-2009)

Year Membership

1999 290

2000 1,300

2001 2,037

2002 3,013

2003 3,245

2004 3,479 (from 150 countries)

2005 3,571

2006 3,627

2007 4,809

2008 5,384

2009 6,023 (from 189 countries)

Human Rights and School Curricula

An International Bureau of Education (IBE) study

(1996) that examined the number of times the term “human rights” was mentioned in their documents, found a mean of .70, .82 and .64 for countries within the regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe and the former USSR and Latin American and the Caribbean, respectively.

World Programme for Human Rights Education

Phase 1: Formal Schooling Sector

• Laws, policies, and guidelines• Learning environments (including

inclusive schooling systems)• Learning tools (formal and

nonformal)• Evaluation and assessment• Professional development

A conceptual framework for programming:

• normatively based on international HR standards and principles

• operationally directed to promoting and protecting HR

•Recognizes human beings as rights-holders and establishes obligations for duty-bearers.

•Focuses on discriminated and marginalized groups

•Aims for the progressive achievement of all human rights

•Gives equal importance to the outcome and process of programming

What is a human rights-based What is a human rights-based approach?approach?

Human Rights PrinciplesHuman Rights PrinciplesHuman Rights PrinciplesHuman Rights Principles

Equality and non-discrimination

Participation and inclusion

Accountability and rule of law

Equality and non-discrimination

Participation and inclusion

Accountability and rule of law

Duty Bearers

• Duty-bearers are State actors with obligations under international human rights law to respect, protect and to fulfill people’s human rights.

• Examples:• elected and appointed officials• civil servants• representatives of the government and

individuals/organizations (such as CSOs) retained by the government to deliver services

• Duty-bearers can be found from the community level to the national level.

• In some situations, some non-State actors such as corporations and families are viewed as duty-bearers, although not necessarily from a legal perspective.

Rights Holders

• Rights-holders are individuals and groups with valid claims or entitlements for having their human rights met by duty-bearers.

• Rights-holders are individual citizens as well as non-citizens living within a State.

• The interests of rights-holders are sometimes represented by organizations, such as NGOs, INGOs, unions and other civil society groups.

Systems of Rights

Right holder

Duty bearer

Accountability

Participation

Fulfilsresponsibility

towards

Claimsrightfrom