thesis on human rights education in schools

1

“Human Rights Education:

A New Language for a New World”

THESISSubmitted to the Indian Instute of Human Rights (IIHR)

New Delhi, India in partial

fulfillment of the requirements for the award of theTwo Year PG Diploma

inHuman Rights

Submitted by

Dheeraj Mehrotra

Roll No: 1191/HR/2007

Research Guide

PROF. RICHARD ENNALSKingston University

LondonU.K.

Co-superviserParesh Kathrani

Visiting Lecturer in Human Rights, Kingston UniversityDirector, Centre for Global Morality Ltd, London

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Human Rights Education: A new language for a new world.

2

December, 2008

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the dissertation entitled “Human Rights Education: A New Language

for a New World”submitted for the PG Diploma in Human Rights is my original work and the

dissertation has not formed the basis for the award of any degree, associateship, fellowship

or any other similar titles.

Place:

Date: Signature of the Student



3

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the dissertation entitled “Human Rights Education: A New Language

for a New World” is the bonafide research work carried out by Mr. Dheeraj Mehrotra

student ofIndian Instute of Human Rights in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award

of the Two Year PG Diploma in Human Rights and that the dissertation has not formed the

basis for the award previously of any degree, diploma, associateship, fellowship or any other

similar title.

Signature of the Guide

Research Guide

PROF. RICHARD ENNALSKingston University

LondonU.K.

Co-superviserParesh Kathrani

Visiting Lecturer in Human Rights, Kingston UniversityDirector, Centre for Global Morality Ltd, London




4

EMAIL FROM THE GUIDE

From: Richard Ennals <[email protected]> | Add to Address Book | Block SenderTo:”’attention’” <[email protected]>,<[email protected]>Subject: RE: RE: Greetings from LucknowDate: Tue, 16 Sep 08 21:41:38 ISTCc: “‘Kathrani, Paresh’” <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>,<[email protected]>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>,<[email protected]>, <[email protected]>,<[email protected]>, <[email protected]>

Dheeraj MehrotraHead, TQM in EducationCMS Degree College, Lucknow

I am convinced that everyone needs Human Rights Education. This meansthat it is vital that people like you, leaders of the next generation ofteachers, gain the qualifications. We then need to think very carefully asto how HRE is to be introduced and developed. We are likely to need avariety of approaches.

For example, in my teaching at Kingston University I want to test theview that Human Rights should be central to business. In particular thisyear I am leading a module on International Human ResourceManagement. I will argue that IHRM should be based on principles ofhuman rights.

As you will understand, I can write expressing my commitment to serveas your supervisor, and stating my background and institutionalaffiliation. It is for you to give the assurances that the work is not beingused elsewhere.

My suggestion is that I should co-supervise with my colleague PareshKathrani. We are the founding directors of the Centre for Global Morality.We will of course seek advice from colleagues such as Hilary Hunt.

As well as your request this week, Paresh has received a similar requestfrom Mauritius. I am suggesting that he and I can also co-supervise inthat case, adding to the portfolio of CGM.

Paresh is due to visit CMS Lucknow for the conference of Chief Justicesof the World, in December. The following week I will be in Mauritius.

Richard Ennals

Professor, Kingston UniversityBoard member, UK National Commission for UNESCOVice-chairman, World Council for Total Quality and Excellence inEducation


mailto:<[email protected]>













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LIST OF CONTENTS

Page No.

CHAPTER 1 : Introduction 6

CHAPTER 2 : Ideology of Human Rights & Data Analysis 18

CHAPTER 3 : Review of Literature: How can Human Rights education help in spreading

Value Education. 39

CHAPTER 4 : What methods or curricula can be developed? 49

CHAPTER 5 : How can we ensure that states will apply this universally given cultural

preferences? 64

CHAPTER 6 : Current Movements and Improvements Further. 89

CHAPTER 7 : Recommendations towards improvements. 99

CHAPTER 8: Advantages and Disadvantages of Model of Human Rights

Education 105

CHAPTER 9 :Conclusion 112

CHAPTER 10: References 120




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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION:

The project increases awareness of human rights and thus changes reality and improves it, it

integrates research, creation of knowledge and active initiatives to transform people’s life.

This way it sets an example of academia that doesn’t hide in an ivory tower, but one that

maintains a dialogue with the different constituents of society; teachers, politicians, media

etc.

The importance of Human Rights education can not be taken as a clear routine but an honour

for all the citizens of the world in totality. The fact that the Literacy is incomplete without the

concepts of Rights one is of possess as a proud citizen of this world, the smartest of all

creatures by GOD. It is undoubtedly clear of the view that “Human Rights Education is

certainly A New Language for a New World”. My learning through the inception of Human

Rights has been a great source of Inspiration to laminate the implementation of this source of

image and knowledge in real life. I am more convinced with the concepts and have been in

response to the actual implementation of the same through various opportunities which I

have been getting from time to time. The brief report of the complexity of my learning is

narrated through the following context of reality.

What is meant by Human Rights?

• Human Rights are the are the articulated and formulated form of dignity and rights for all human individuals.



7

Human Rights Education

What is the Human Right to Education?

Every woman, man, youth and child has the human right to education, training and information,

and to other fundamental human rights dependent upon realization of the human right to

education. The human right of all persons to education is explicitly set out in the Universal

Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenants, the Convention on the Rights of

the Child and other widely adhered to international human rights treaties and Declarations —

powerful tools that must be put to use in realizing the human right to education for all!

Human Rights education can be defined as education, training and information aimed at

building a universal culture of human rights. A comprehensive education in human rights not

only provides knowledge about human rights and the mechanisms that protect them, but also

imparts the skills needed to promote, defend and apply human rights in daily life. Human

rights education fosters the attitudes and behaviours needed to uphold human rights for all

members of the society.

The very term, Human Rights Education in Indian Schools has had a little off the track scenario

inspite of the initiatives by many organisations over the years.

To the fact, the report as follows:




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The Institute of Human Rights Education (IHRE), a non-governmental body which has initiated

human rights education in schools across 11 states says that it hardly finds any takers in

Delhi. “We had introduced IHRE’s education module in Delhi, but it did not sustain. Therefore

although schools in 11 states are teaching the module for three years in middle school, there

are none in Delhi,” Henri Tiphagne, advocate, who is a part of the IHRE initiative, said in the

capital on Wednesday.

“We had identified 40 schools in New Delhi in 2006 for imparting human rights education, but

somehow the initiative could not take off,” Tiphagne said. IHRE, which is 10 years old, started

their programme in Tamil Nadu with just nine teachers educating students of classes 6-8 on

human rights. The programme was then rolled out in 10 more states - in both government and

private schools - including Chhattisgarh, Bihar, West Bengal, Tripura, Rajasthan and

Karnataka.

(Report by: Headlines India.com)

Human Rights Heritage

• Human Rights are inherent and inalienable rights which are due to an individual by virtue of his/ her being a human being irrespective of one’s race, religion, nationality, language, sex or any other factor.

Towards Human Rights Education

Any sustainable development has multi-layer approach, encompassing educational, eco-

nomic, social, political, geopolitical and developmental dimensions. In order to achieve such

goal, it is imperative to create a society with least differences at any continuum of life-scale.



9

To achieve this and make our present society, which is going through a drastic social and

political transformation, develop, there is a need to set in the dimension of Human Rights

Education in regular university curriculum across the nation, which is far too diversified in

terms of language, population and geographical boundaries. It is in this regard and in line

with the mandate of the commission, that efforts have been made to bring about Human

Rights Education module at various levels of Higher Education for introduction at the univer-

sities and colleges.

As a matter of fact, the human rights activities should convey the fundamental human rights

principles like equality and non-discrimination, while affirming their interdependence,

indivisibility and universality. At the same time, activities should be practical - relating human

rights to learners’ real-life experience and enabling them to build on human rights principles

found in thier own cultural context. Through such activities, learners are empowered to identify

and address their human rights needs and to seek solutions consistent with human rights

standards. Both what is taught and the way in which it is taught should reflect human rights

values, encourage participation and foster a learning environment free from want and fear.

How are Human Rights reflected in Practice?

• As a matter of fact, the principle of equality in rights, recognized in natural law, was long accepted in many societies, yet discrimination continues to exist due to ignorance, prejudice and fallacious doctrines which try to justify inequality.

http://humanrightsforall.wetpaint.com

With the march of time, it has been sensed that the international community is increasingly

adopting intergovermental frameworks at the global level, such as the World Programme for

Human Rights Education, which aims at encouraging the development of sustainable national

strategies and programmes in human rights education. There has to be a proposed concrete


http://humanrightsforall.wetpaint.co



10

strategy and practical guidance for implementing human rights education in primary and

secondary schools.

UNESCO: A Watch Dog.

• UNESCO has a procedure for handling complaints from alleged victims or any person, group of persons, or national or international non governmental organisation having reliable knowledge of an alleged violation of human rights in the Organizations’ fields of competence, like Education, science, culture and communication.


To help make human rights a reality in every community, the World Programme seeks to

promote a common understanding of the basic principles and methodologies of human rights

education, to provide a concrete framework for action and to strengthen partnerships and

cooperation from the international level down to the grass roots.

We must understand to the fact that:

- The human right to education is inextricably linked to other fundamental human rights

— rights that are universal, indivisible, interconnected and interdependent including:

- The human right to equality between men and women and to equal partnership in the family

and society.

- The human right to work and receive wages that contribute to an adequate standard of

living.

- The human right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief.


http://humanrightsforall.wetpaint.co


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- The human right to an adequate standard of living.

- The human right to participate in shaping decisions and policies affecting one=s community,

at the local, national and international levels.

CELEBRATION OF THE 60th Anniversary of the UDHR:

The celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with

the theme, Dignity and Justice for all of us, has been of great importance to the world

community at large. It encapsulates and recognizes the inherent dignity and of the equal and

inalienable rights of all members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice

and peace in the world. A common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the

greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge. And therefore, the General Assembly,

proclaims that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a common standard of

achievement for all the peoples and all the nations, to the end that every individual and every

organ of the society, keeping this declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and

education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures,

national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance,

both among the people of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories

under their jurisdiction.

UDHR:

The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights is by far the foremost statement of the rights

and freedoms of all human beings. The declaration adopted by the United Nations General

Assembly in 1948, consists of a preamble and 30 articles, setting out a broad range of

fundamental human rights and freedoms to which all men and women, everywhere in the

world, are entitled, without any distinction.




12

The declaration was drafted by representatives of all regions and legal traditions. It has over

time been accepted as a contract between governments and their peoples. Virtually all states

have accepted it. The Declaration has also served as the foundation of an expanding system

of human rights protection that today focuses also on vulnerable groups such as disabled

persons, indigenous peoples and migrant workers.

ABOUT HUMAN RIGHTS DAY:

The UDHR was adopted on 10th December, 1948. The date has since served to mark Human

Rights Day worldwide. The High Commissioner for Human Rights, as the main UN rights

official, and her office play a major role in coordinating efforts for the yearly observance of

Human Rights Day.

OFFICE OF THE UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER:

The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), a part of

the United Nations Secretariat, is the global authority on human rights. It represents the

world’s commitment to universal ideals of human dignity and has been given a unique mandate

to promote and protect all human rights. Headquartered in Geneva, the Office is also present

in some 40 countries. Headed by the High Commissioner for Human Rights, a position

established by the General Assembly in 1993 to spearhead the United Nations’ human rights

efforts. OHCHR offers leadership, works objectively, educates and takes action to empower

individuals and assist States in upholding human rights.

Being an educator, I would like to laminate the core requirement of education, which incepts

to the components of human rights education in the primary and secondary school systems

with the following approaches:

a. Each country’s context has a considerable influence on its possibiliteis and strategies for

promoting the inclusion and practice of human rights education in the school system. However,



13

beyond the ensuing diversity, common trends and approaches can be identified for developing

human rights education. The five components as per the studies revealed by the Human

Rights Commission tend as to set out in the present appendix in a generic fashion, based on

existing worldwide successful experiences as well as studies and research, including

consultations carried out in preparation of the present plan of action and the midterm (2000)

and final (2004) evaluations of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, 1995-

2004. These components compile good practice, which the main actors of this plan of action

are invited to strive towards gradually and progressively. The components are indicative and

not prescriptive. They propose options and recommend possible courses of action, and

should server as a reference tool. They will need to be adapted to each context and national

education system in line with the national implementation strategy of this plan of action.

To the matter of content and observation, the education policies are understood as clear and

coherent statements of commitments. Prepared at the relevant government level, mainly

national, but also regional and municipal and in coopertion with all the stakeholders which

contribute principles, definitions and objectives and serve as normative reference throughout

the education system and for all educational actors.

Also as a matter of fact, the very human rights education, which promotes a rights-based

approach to education is to be stated explicitly in objectives of educational policy development

and reform as well as in quality standards of education. Further the rights based approach to

education implies that the school system becomes conscious of human rights and fundamental

freedoms. Human rights are and ought to be infused and implemented in the whole education

system and in all learning environments. With the pace, the human rights are included both as

an educational aim and as quality criteria of education within an arena of learning for better

and to be informed further. The need of the reference here incorporates the need of key

reference texts like that of constitution, educational policy frameworks, educational legislations

and the national and the international educational agenda and programmes for the design of

the curricula of learning for all at all levels.




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Need of Quality Education:

On and on with initiative to Human Rights information and education, there is an urgent need

of Education for all priority and as one of the prime aspects of Human Rights in action and in

particular. Not only this the talk of Quality education dwells the inception of the skills required

to the pace of Information Technology as an expertise and requirement as a mandatory asset

towards literacy.

What needs to be done is to have fulfilment of the International Obligations on human rights

education towards:

a. Promotion and ratification of the International Instruments concerning the right to education.

b. The need is to adopt a participatory approach to policy development by involvinb non

governmental organization (NGOs),

Important Terms which dwell into the better

understanding of the Human Rights Initiative for All:



15

ICCPR


¨ It is the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)

¨ This covenant elaborates the political and civil rights identified in the Universal Declaration, which include the rights to life, privacy, fair trial, freedom of expression, freedom of religion, freedom form torture and equality before the law.

RESPONSIBILITIES of the United Nations Centre for Human Rights

http://humanrightsforal l.wetpaint.com

ó The UN Centre for Human Rights serves as a focal point for United Nations activities in the field of Human Rights. It was created in 1982 by Resolution 37/437 of the General Assembly by the redesignation of the former Division of Human Rights. The Centre which is located in Geneva with an office in New York, is headed by an Assistant Secretary General.

Human Rights are inherent and inalienable rights which are due to an individual byvirtue of his/ her being a human being irrespective of one’s race, religion, nationality,

language, sex or any other factor.Fundamental Rights and Freedoms:

A MUST KNOW FOR ALL:






16

Role of UNESCO & ILO


ó USESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organizationó ILO: International Labour Organization.ó These are the two United Nations Specialized Agencies within which procedures for the protection of Human Rights within their

own fields of competence have been established.

UNESCO: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization


ó It extends to the rights relating to education, science, and culture and communications, which also includes freedom of opinion and expression and freedom of press.

One can have the vision and mission at schools and other academicinstitutions towards Human Rights Literacy





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BE LITERATE OF YOUR RIGHTS.

FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHTS

–HUMAN RIGHTS.

May Peace Prevail on Earth

May Peace Be in all the nations of the world.

Contribution of ILO

http://human rig htsforall.w etpaint.com

¨ International Labour O rganization seeks to achieve social just ice through its activit ies in the social and labour fie lds. It lays down standards in such fields as conditions of work, occupational safety and health, social security, industr ial relations, employment policy and vocational guidance and provide for the protection of spec ial groups, such as women, migrants and indigenous and tribal peoples.





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CHAPTER 2

IDEOLOGY OF HUMAN RIGHTS & DATA ANALYSIS

My Observations to the Ideology of Human Rights:

Human rights are dynamic. They evolve as human experience evolves to identify different

persons and different circumstances where rights are at risk. But they all stem back to the

values of the UDHR and the two International Covenants which together make up the

International Bill of Rights. The major international human rights treaties include these two

Covenants – on Civil and Political Rights and on Social, Economic and Cultural Rights, the

Convention (and Protocol) on the Status of Refugees, the Convention on the Elimination of all

Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or

Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of

Discrimination Against Women, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the Convention

on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. Two

new Conventions have recently joined the family – the Convention for the Protection of All

Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with

Disabilities.

Many undertrials are too poor to get paid legal services.

Some of the most important characteristics of human rights are: they are founded on respect

for the dignity and worth of each person; they are universal, meaning that they apply equally



19

and without discrimination to all people; they are inalienable, in that no one can have his or

her human rights taken away (except in specific and temporary situations); they are indivisible,

interrelated and interdependent because it is not sufficient to respect some human rights

and not others. In practice, the violation of one right will often affect several other rights. All

human rights should therefore be seen as having equal importance and as being equally

essential to the dignity and worth of every person.

A Quoted Case of Injustice/ Violation of Human Rights:

A Jesuit priest of 33 years in Kerala, India has been dismissed without justifiable reasons,

physically assaulted and left without any means of livelihood. The reason for such abuse was

some criticisms made by him of some persons of his order.

Children’s rights

Human rights violations are widespread across Afghanistan

Children are fully human persons. The UDHR recognised their special status in Article 25:

“Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether

born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same protection.”

Forty-one years later, in 1989, and after protracted negotiations among the adults at the UN,

the Convention on the Rights of the Child emerged, out of the growing realisation that children’s

human rights were not being given due attention worldwide, and that the systematic denial

and abuse of their rights required much more of the “special care and assistance” identified

in 1948.




20

Now, another eighteen years on, it is time for adults to take stock of how much more they can

do to fulfil their obligations to children for their rights. Learning about them is an essential first

step.

A Quoted Case of Injustice/ Violation of Human Rights:

Unimaginable? Yes.....A tale of fiction?....No.

A suit was filed in the United States District Court of Georgia, charging that the judge involved

in the case, as well as the man, his new wife, his prior attorneys, the guardian ad litem, and a

local area psychiatrist, had deprived the mother and her 5 year old daughter’s constitutional

rights under color of state law. The complaint and mandatory interrogatories allege that the

defendants manufactured evidence, suppressed evidence, obstructed legitimate criminal

investigations, misrepresented evidence, and committed various illegal acts.

CHILD MARRIAGE: Human Rights Violation

Child marriage is a violation of human rights and is prohibited by a number of international

conventions and other instruments. Nonetheless, it is estimated that in the next ten years

more than 100 million girls are likely to be married before the age of 18 [6].

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) states that men and women of full

age are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. Marriage



21

shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending parties.

REPORTED CASES OF HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS:

1. On 19 April, 2007 one Pia Das alias Pria Das, aged 25, wife of Shnakr Das under Silchar

Police Station in Cachar, died abnormally in Silchar Medical College Hospital, Silchar when

she was admitted there in a very critical condition. According Kiran Sharma, and Rahul Das,

the mother and minor son of the victim, Pia was badly beaten by Shnakar Das, her husband.

They allege, he used to torture, abuse and beat her always during her conjugal life for dowry.

That day he hit her on the head with a stool to which she succumbed. Afterwards Kiran Sharma

went to Gunghoor Outpost to lodge FIR but Sub Inspector N R Das, in-charge of the Outpost

denied to register the case and bullied and her demanded her five thousand rupees as the

price of registering the FIR. She lodged complaint to the Deputy Commissioner and

Superintendent of Police. But till the date no action has been taken regarding the investigation

of her case and delinquent police officials.

2. One Hashmat Ali, aged about 40, of village Burunga, Bihara under Katigorah Police Station

in Cachar was gunned down by a police team led by S I Sewa Singh, in-charge of Bihara

Outpost in the intervening night between 30 April and 1 May of 2007 at his house. There was

a quarrel between his father Imam Uddin and Uncle Kamal Uddin over the right to use of the

ghat of their ancestral pond. In the morning of 30 April Kamal Uddin filed a complaint against

Imam Uddin and his son Hashmat Ali, the victim alleging threat to his person and property

from the accused. It should be noted that such cases come under section 107 of Criminal

Procedure Code which are filed with executive magistrates. In the night at about 11pm Sewa




22

Singh arrived at the house of Kamal Uddin with a police team. They attacked the house of

Hashmat Ali at about 12 O’ clock when inmates were sleeping. Police broke down the doors,

entered the house and started breaking and destroying household things. Being terrified by

this sudden heavy attack Hashmat jumped through a window and ran towards paddy field.

Police opened fire and shot him dead. The district administration and police are trying to

explain the case away terming it as an accidental death in stark contradiction with the facts

known to all.

3. The police posted at Kailain Patrol Post under the Katigorah Police station in cachar killed

one Motahir Ali Tapadar, aged 38, son of late Akaddas Ali Tapadar of village Bhatgram,

Kalain under the same police station on 21 September, 2007. The victim was in their custody

at the time of his death. He was arrested by the police on 20 September in connection with a

complaint against him. This complaint was resulted from a quarrel of his family with a

nieghbouring family over the toys of the kids of the two families. In the evening of the day of

arrest Olimun Nesa visited the said PP with some respectable person from their village to

see her husband. They saw that S I Narain Tamuli and other police personnel were beating,

abusing and humiliating her husband. When she tried to dissuade the men in uniform they

beat and kicked her too. In the morning next day, that is 21 Septebmer, Narain Tamuli brought

Motahir out of PP house to take him to the court. Olimun Nesa came and beseeched Tamuli

to release her husband. Tamuli demanded her ten thousand rupees and he threatened her

that otherwise he would kill Motahir. In fact he again started to beat and kick him in full public

view. When the condition of Motahir deteriorated beyond limits Narain took him to the Kalain

Primary Health Centre. Here also he tortured, beaten and kicked Motahir. At about 1.30

Motahir breathed his last. After the death local people gathered in front of Kalain PP and

shouted slogans demanding arrest of Narain Tamuli. Police started administering lathi-blows

on the member of crowd at which people started to throw stones. Police opened fire and shot

80 rounds wounding a boy of 17 namely Saidur Rahman of Dhumkar who was wtching the

incident from roof top of a nearby house. Being terrified people got dispersed. But then the

police themselves set fire on the PP house Gaon Panchayat Office building and burnt them

down. As per their plan police lodged an FIR charging falsely one Faruk Ahmed and other

unidentified five hundred people under many non-bailable sections of the IPC including 309.In



23

connection with this fake case police arrested Faruk Ahemd, Imamul Hoque, Ibajul Hoque

and seriously wounded Saidur Rahman.

4. It was reported in the news papers on 23 October, 2007 that on 22 October at about 10am

five Central Reserve Police Force personnel belonging to Gharmura Camp of E-147 Company

shot dead one Jamir Uddin Laskar of about 35 years of village Boinchera (also known as

Bhaichera) under the Katlichera Police Station in the district of Hailakandi in Barak Valley of

Assam. Members of the Barak Human Rights Protection Committee talked with family

members, relatives and nieghbours of the deceased, local journalists, CRPF personnel of

the said camp and police personnel of Katlichera Police Station. According to the sources,

other than the two mentioned last, the victim Jamir Uddin Laskar was a poor daily wage

labourer. He is an innocent peace loving and law abiding citizen. There were no complaints

whatsoever against him in police records. His nieghbour Moijun Nesa states that in the morning

of the day of incident the victim was collecting grass to graze his cattle from a paddy field

adjacent to her house. At about 10am she saw five CRPF men accompanied by one Rezwan

Uddin, who is known to be a CRPF informer, going towards the paddy field where the

deceased was working. She smelt something wrong and informed Sajna Begum and Anwara

Begum, sister and wife of the victim respectively. When three of them went to the place of

occurrence they saw Rezwan Uddin identifying the victim was asking the men in uniform to

shot by pointing his fingers towards Jamir Uddin who was dumbfounded at the sight. At that

moment Sajna and Anwara started to cry and beseech the men with arms to spare the life of

Jamir Uddin at which they were beaten, kicked, abused and humiliated. As per the accounts

of the eye-witnesses named above, at the instance of Rezwan Uddin a bullet was shot targeting

Jamir Uddin which was missed, the second shot also missed but the third bullet hit on the

back of the target, who had already started to run away, and piercing his chest exited. The

critically injured victim was sent to the Silchar Medical College Hospital, Silchar where he

was declared dead at 6.30pm that day.

5. A pioneering case study by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties - Karnataka has shown

that sexuality minorities in India, who include gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals,




24

face intense discrimination and violation of their human rights at the hands of the state and

society. The report, the first of its kind brought out by a human rights organisation in India, was

released this morning at the Press Club of Bangalore and simultaneously in five other Indian

cities. It is primarily based on data collected in Bangalore through interviews with lesbians,

gays, bisexuals and hijras, as well as members of the police force and medical establishment.

It examines the forms of discrimination perpetrated by the state — namely, the law and the

police — and society, whose ambit spans the family, household, public space, workplace,

the medical establishment, and popular culture.

The report has found that the most notorious form of legal discrimination against sexuality

minorities takes the form of the antiquated Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which

criminalises homosexual behaviour. While the Indian Constitution prohibits discrimination on

grounds of race, caste, creed, sex and so on, it does not specify sexual orientation. Does this

mean that sexuality minorities can be harassed at will? It would seems so, from the attitudes

of the enforcers of the law.

6. BREAST MILK DENIAL : A Human Rights Violation

A pioneering case study by the People’s Union for Civil Liberties - Karnataka has shown that

sexuality minorities in India, who include gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals, face

intense discrimination and violation of their human rights at the hands of the state and society.

The report, the first of its kind brought out by a human rights organisation in India, was released

this morning at the Press Club of Bangalore and simultaneously in five other Indian cities. It is

primarily based on data collected in Bangalore through interviews with lesbians, gays, bisexuals

and hijras, as well as members of the police force and medical establishment. It examines



25

the forms of discrimination perpetrated by the state — namely, the law and the police — and

society, whose ambit spans the family, household, public space, workplace, the medical

establishment, and popular culture.

The report has found that the most notorious form of legal discrimination against sexuality

minorities takes the form of the antiquated Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which

criminalises homosexual behaviour. While the Indian Constitution prohibits discrimination on

grounds of race, caste, creed, sex and so on, it does not specify sexual orientation. Does this

mean that sexuality minorities can be harassed at will? It would seems so, from the attitudes

of the enforcers of the law.

7. A U.S.-based human rights group on Thursday accused Pakistani security forces of using

torture and other rights abuses in Pakistan’s part of Kashmir. “Most incidents of politically

motivated torture recorded by Human Rights Watch involved the ISI, or the police acting on

the military’s behalf,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report, referring to the military’s

Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). HRW issued a similar report on Indian Kashmir last week in

which it said that rights abuses continued there unchecked. In the 71-page report on Pakistani

Kashmir, HRW noted that there had been a reduction in infiltration of Islamist militants into

Indian Kashmir, but it was still taking place. “Most of those interviewed were of the view that

though the level of infiltration had decreased substantially since 2004, there have been no

indications that the Pakistani military or militant groups had decided to abandon infiltration

as policy.”

The report said the Pakistani military still maintained a close relationship with the militant

groups in Kashmir. It said last year’s devastating earthquake in the region was used an

“opportunity to craft a new image for the militant groups rather than as an opportunity to disband

them”. Charities linked to militant groups took a high profile in relief work after the devastating

earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people last October.

8. The police resorted to cane charge and lobbed tear gas shells here today to quell




26

demonstrators of both the mainstream opposition and separatist political parties protesting

against the alleged human rights violations at the hands of security forces in Kashmir.

The police in action against Hurriyat Conference activists who hold a demonstration to protest against thealleged human rights violations, on the occasion of Human Rights Day, in Srinagar.

9. The displacement or forced migration of people within their own countries is today a

common international phenomenon. Such migration may be caused by internal armed

conflicts, situations of general violence, ethnic fights, mass violation of human rights, violations

of international humanitarian law or natural disasters.

According to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights “in more than 50 countries



27

and practically in every world region, Africa, South and North America, Asia, Europe and

Middle East, more than 25 million people are actually considered as displaced people just

as a result of violent conflicts and human rights violations”. This number increases by several

millions with those who have been uprooted by natural or manmade disasters.

As per the reports, the displaced people are highly vulnerable. They suffer from discrimination,

experience significant deprivation and are frequently impoverished. Marginalised within their

own society and facing the emotional trauma of their uprooting experience, displaced people

turn into excluded people who suffer loss of economic opportunities, breakdown of cultural

identity, loosening of social and familial structures, interruption of schooling and increased

poverty levels. They also suffer from grief relating to dead or missing family members and, in

extreme cases, resort to delinquency and begging in order to survive.

10. Human Rights Violations in Darfur :The conflict in Darfur has resulted in massive

widespread movements of refugees and internally displaced persons [IDPs]. The fighting

has led to allegations of impunity and human rights abuses such as:

Attacks on IDPs and the burning of civilian villages, often accompanied by accusations of

spying and corroboration with opposing factions;

The looting of possessions, most vitally livestock that constitute a major part of the livelihood

of the villagers;




28

Attacks on IDPs returning to their fields during the hours of daylight to tend or harvest crops;

Attacks on humanitarian relief vehicles and relief workers;

Gender based violence, mainly rape of women and girls when they go to collect firewood

outside IDP camps;

Denial of food and provisions, and of humanitarian aid;

Recruitment and use of children in armed conflict;

Banditry and breakdown of the conventional law and order regime.

Source: AMIS

Torture by POLICE

11. An Egyptian human right activist with chained hands protests against torture in police

stations in Cairo, 25 January 2007. Egypt’s politically active blogger community has brought

to light another torture case against the regime’s security services amid a rising tide of outrage



29

over police brutality

12. Shahnawaz Khan from the Daily Times reports on the cases of Police torture - only the

ones that were reported. Now, this is alarming. Imagine how many go unreported? Its time

Punjab Puls would start implementing the accountability provisions within the new Police

Order! “One hundred and seventy-seven incidents of police torture have taken place

in the city during the past six months, more than in any other city of Pakistan, according to




30

data compiled by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) Madadgaar. The information

showed that the Punjab Police led the list with 406 cases of torture, followed by

Sindh with 304 cases, the NWFP with 29 and Balochistan with four cases. It showed that out

of a total of 743 cases, 416 incidents took place at police stations, 252 at victims’ workplaces,

66 at victims’ residences and nine in public places. Among the leading cities of Punjab,

Gujranwala exhibited the least amount of police torture with only 10 incidents. “The trend of

less reporting in Balochistan and the NWFP does not mean that there is less violence in

these areas. The reason behind the situation is a very strong tribal and illegal judicial system,

which is prevailing in these provinces. Because of the biased customs, victims and their

families do not have the courage to come out and report what has actually happened to

them,” the report stated. It said that he most common methods of police torture included

beating with a baton or whip, making the arrested stand for hours with their arms outstretched,

hanging them by the ankles and burning them with cigarettes. “Women are also raped in

custody,” it added. The research work showed that the police tortured people to extract

confessions, show efficiency in investigation and extort money. It showed that 9,364 cases of

police torture had taken place during the last nine-and-a-half years (between January 2000

and June 2008). Around 231 of those cases were reported in 2000; 555 in 2001; 996 in

2002; 838 in 2003; 1,260 in 2004; 1,356 in 2005; 1,662 in 2006; and 1,723 cases in 2007.

13. The widow of Rajeev Sharma, an alleged victim of police torture, holds his photo as the

family sits outside their home in Meerut, India. Next to her is Sunil Sharma, who says police

had beaten his younger brother “very badly.”

MEERUT, India — Rajeev Sharma, a young electrician, was sleeping when police barged



31

into his house a month ago and dragged him out of bed on suspicion of a burglary in the

neighborhood, his family recalled.

When his young wife and brother protested, the police, who did not show them an arrest

warrant, said they were taking Sharma to the police station for “routine questioning.”

“Little did we know that we would lose him forever,” said Sunil Sharma, Rajeev’s brother,

recounting how he died while in police custody. “Their routine questioning proved fatal,” he

added, sitting beside his brother’s grieving widow.

Rajeev Sharma, 28, died at the police station within a day of his detention. Police said he

committed suicide, but his family charges that he was beaten and killed.

The case highlights the frequent use of torture and deadly force at local police stations in

India, a practice decried by human rights activists and the Indian Supreme Court. A little more

than a decade after Parliament established the National Human Rights Commission to deal

with such abuses, police torture continues unabated, according to human rights groups and

the Supreme Court. According to the latest available government data, there were 1,307

reported deaths in police and judicial custody in India in 2002.

14. A Modern Case of Torture:

Government-sponsored neglect of asylum seeker children under the Australian mandatory

immigration detention regime




32

“The physical and mental wellbeing of detained children is in jeopardy. The institutions of law

and medicine have been hijacked for the purpose of political gains, with the result that

Australian domestic law has removed protection and justice as a realistic outcome for child

refugee applicants.”

15. Israeli Occupation Forces Continue to Bombard Gaza

Posted by terres on February 29, 2008: Four Palestinian children were killed in an Israeli

attack bringing the total death toll in Gaza Strip to 36 in as many hours



33

16. Forced to Eat Meat Laced with Urine: Black workers made to eat meat laced with

urine and perform degrading acts by white university students has sparked outrage in South

Africa.

17. Two Girls Burnt Alive for vising friends in Diwali:

BHIWANI: As Kaluvas, a village just three km from Bhiwani, celebrated Diwali, the festive

smiles amid the din of firecrackers and ritual exchange of sweets may just have hidden a

horror no one has till now either dared or wanted to speak about.

Almost 13 days after the incident, it now transpires that Rajender Shivran, who claims he

couldn’t sleep under the weight of the unspeakable crime, had on November 1 given a written

complaint to the Bhiwani SP’s office saying two teenaged girls of the Dhanak community

were “attacked by machetes and axes and stones as soon as they got down from a car on

Diwali night (October 28).

The villagers had waited for them after getting wind of their movements. They were

unconscious, but alive, when some of the men brought out jars of kerosene and set them on




34

fire.”

18. Human Rights Violation against Tamils in Sri Lanka:

Navy sailors rape teenager

Three Sri Lankan Navy (SLN) personnel abducted and raped 16 year old school girl from

Arasady road in Vaddukoddai, 9 km. north.west of Jaffna centre, on Saturday October 17

around 9.30 p.m, said sources there

‘Jayasikurui’ affects 15000 school children - union

At least 70 schools in the Vanni region have been either destroyed or closed down due to the

Sri Lanka Army (SLA)’s ongoing ‘Operation Jayasikurui’, said the teachers union in

Karathuraippattu, Kilinochchi district.

Child die in hospital due to lack of medicine

An eight-year old boy, M Kiriraj, bitten by a dog yesterday died of rabies in Puthukudiyiruppu

hospital (Mullaitivu) as there was no anti-rabies vaccine available. Few days earlier, another

Tamil baby, 3-year old Sujeevan from near by Sivanagar, also died of rabies after being

bitten by a dog. The Sinhalese government since 1990 has banned food and medicine to the

Tamil region.

60,000 Tamil Children In Vanni Denied Right To School

Sinhalese military activities in Tamil Eelam are devastating the lives of thousands of Tamil

children. The Sinhalese government denies the entry of medicines to Vanni, it blocks the

transport of properly nutritious food to children and it conducts military operations which have



35

displaced youngsters in their tens of thousands.

6 Tamil refugees killed in shelling

Six Tamil refugees huddled inside the Valaichchenai refugee camp in Batticaloa have been

struck and killed by shellfire from Valaichchenai police station

150 Tamil women and children raped:

“ Human rights activists claim more than 150 women, mostly minority Tamils, were raped by

police and armed forces personnel last year.

Seventeen Tamil civilians, mostly children killed

Seventeen Tamil civilians, mostly children and the aged were killed by Sri Lanka helicopter

gunships on 16 March 1996 in the village of Nachchikuda in the East. About sixty were seriously

injured. The affected people had earlier fled Jaffna when their homes came under military

attack during the time the Sri Lankan armed forces launched a military offensive to capture

Jaffna from October 1995 to December 1995. Particulars of the 16 killed, released by official

sources in Nachchikuda

19. In February 2004, armed rebels overthrew Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Since then, reliable

evidence of the frequency and severity of abuses has been scarce. Neither the UN nor the

Haitian government have had a firm estimate of the numbers or perpetrators of violations,

with claims ranging from several hundred to more than 100 000 incidents. Supporters of

Aristide, the interim government, and foreign peacekeeping troops were accused of abuse.

Royce Hutson and Athena Kolbe of Wayne State University, Detroit, USA, did a random survey

of households in the greater Port-au-Prince area of Haiti. Participants were asked if they or

anyone in their household had suffered any human rights violations such as murders, rapes,

extra-judiciary arrests, larceny, or physical assaults in the 22-month period from February




36

2004 to December 2005. They were asked the date and location of incidents, as well as the

perpetrator.

The results showed human rights abuses were frequent occurrences. The estimates suggest

about 8000 individuals (around 12 per day) were murdered during the period, and sexual

assault was common, especially against children, with the data suggesting 35 000 women

and girls were raped in the greater Port-au-Prince area. Criminals, the Haitian National Police,

and UN peacekeepers were frequently identified as perpetrators.

The authors conclude: “The frequency of human-rights violations, and especially the prevalence

of sexual violence against women, demands a serious and thorough response from the

international community, the new Haitian government, and non-governmental organisations

working in the region. The new administration should take steps to stop any ongoing human-

rights abuses through various domestic and international systems.”

A Lancet Online/Editorial comments that the United Nations has an important role to play:

“UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has spoken out firmly against exploitative behaviour by

UN peacekeepers . . . Annan’s stand needs to be followed by stronger action to restore both

international and local confidence, without which local security cannot be assured. Severely

traumatised populations remain vulnerable, and as Hutson and Kolbe show, suffering does

not stop when peacekeepers arrive. UN peacekeepers must no longer add to that suffering.”

Initiatives towards Wake of Human Rights ViolationsThe Need of the Hour



37

DATA ANALYSIS:

Based on any Incident or happening concerning human rights education, training,

awareness or incidents of Human Rights Violations.

MORE ‘NO’ To Branding ‘Terrorists’ Before Trial

(Ref: Report by Hindustan Times: Sept. 7, 2008)

Are lawyers violating Human Rights?

As per our experience, I regard of the know how, should one be branded a terrorist simply on

the basis of police version? Should the media echo the police view alone? Should lawyers

not take up cases of terror accused?

There was a unanimous “no” from the advocates, intellectuals and human rights activists

participating in a discussion organised by the People’s Union for Human Rights (PUHR) and

People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) on Saturday.

The discussion was on ‘Role of advocates in the judicial process.’ When Mohd Shoaib, a

practising lawyer in Lucknow with 35 years of experience, recounted how he was bashed up

by a section of lawyers recently because he took up cases of those accused of carrying out

blasts in UP courts, the august audience was shocked.




38

Shoaib, his right eye yet to heal completely later told HT Lucknow Live, “We are hurt and

shocked by the reaction of some of the men from our fraternity. But we will resist them with all

our might.”

Also in view, Former Lucknow University Vice-chancellor Prof. Roop Rekha Verma, now

associated with Saajhi Duniya, an NGO fighting for the rights of women, said. “A section of

lawyers are bent on unleashing terror and subverting the entire judicual system. This is most

shameful.”

Jamal Ahmad, an advocate, who was similarly attacked by a section of lawyers in Faizabad

for taking up cases of terror accused said, “Both me and Mohd Shoaib have been banned by

our bar associations. Can you believe it?”

Also in view, a consensus emerged after the discussion about the need to form a panel of

lawyers to take up case of terror accused. “An individual can be terrorised. But it would be

difficult to pressurise a group. So we will work in this direction, “ Mohd Shoaib said.

Ravi Kiran Jain, a senior advocate and national vice president of PUCL, Uttar Pradesh Chapter

said such discussions would be held across the state to mobilise public opinion.

He said, “There is an urgent need to think on whether it is fair to hold one community responsible

for acts of terror in the country.



39

CHAPTER 3

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:HOW CAN HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION HELP IN

SPREADING VALUE EDUCATION?

Children are strong, rich and capable.All children have preparedness, potential, curiosity,

and interest in constructing their learning,negotiating with everything their environment brings to them.

Loris Malaguzzi

Human Rights Education in India:

Human Rights Education in Indian Schools is the report of a research project conducted in

India as a part of a four country study sponsored by Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information

Center, Osaka, Japan. The project was mainly designed to provide an independent and critical

review of the state of human rights education in the participating countries that included,




40

besides India, Japan, Philippines and Sri Lanka. Besides a brief analysis of some aspects

of the broad framework of the national policy on education and of curriculum, the report presents

the findings of a survey of awareness of human rights among secondary school students.

DATA ANALYSIS

QUOTE:

“The Need as the the Report: THE HINDU, Teach human rights in school,

says seer “

BANGALORE, JUNE 27.

The seer of Nidumamidi Math, Veerabhadra Chennamalla Swamiji, has called for

introduction of human rights as a compulsory subject in schools and colleges.

He was speaking after inaugurating the State-level public hearing on atrocities on Dalits to

mark the United Nations Day in Support of Victims of Torture, on Saturday. The function

was organised by the South India Cell for Human Rights Education and Monitoring

(SICHREM).

The swamiji said: “Though there are many laws which guarantee security to the oppressed

castes, India has failed in the strict enforcement of them.

Laws cannot achieve everything. What is needed is an attitudinal change. Hence, the

introduction of a subject on human rights in schools and colleges is essential.” The seer

said the educated Dalits were escaping from reality and leaving the uneducated Dalits to

face the atrocities by higher castes. “It is unfortunate that the educated Dalits are

sanskritising themselves. They have no willingness to fight the injustice heaped on them

by the upper castes,” he lamented.



41

If racism in the West had a history of 350 years, untouchability in India had a history of over

3,500 years, the seer said. “There is a concerted effort by the upper caste groups to see

that untouchability is perpetuated as there is much gain for them by doing this,” the swamiji

said.

“Though capitalism ruled our economic system, our cultural and social system still remains

feudal,” he said. In the public hearing that followed Dalits from various parts of the State

narrated their experiences of torture by people of the upper castes. “

Unquote:

Children should know what rights they have and should also know how to explore and use

them. To achieve this schools should allow for a wide range of learning experiences in children’s

rights education. To encourage children to do so, the challenge for the teacher is to create a

setting that is governed by the spirit of democracy and human rights .

The sample selected for the survey, consisting of 2039 students drawn from 29 schools located

in seven states and the National Capital Territory, sought to represent, even if not fully, the

heterogeneity of the country and the variety of types of schools. Some of the findings of the

field survey - for example, students from educationally backward states and from relatively

lower social strata have a greater awareness of human rights than those from educationally

advanced states and higher social strata - tend to negate many commonly held notions

regarding certain aspects of education and school administration. The report will be found to

be of interest to those concerned with educational policy making, curriculum development

and educational administration as well as all those concerned with promoting human rights

and human rights education. Source: Human Rights Education in Indian Schools 2004-05

Dinesh Sharma D. Lahiry Arjun Dev

The Present Scenario of Education Arena:




42

Today, the world faces the threat of 36,000 nuclear bombs, international terorism, lawlessness,

a third world war & global warming. The life of 2 billion children of 200 countries of the world

and the generations yet-to-be-born in these 200 countries is threatened. No one is willing to

step forward and take the responsibility of putting an end to this madness. Even the United

Nations has expressed its helplessness and has proved that it is incapable of uniting the

world. Then who is going to fight for the cause of the future of the world’s children and

generations yet-to-be-born? Should it be the United Nations or a single country or the United

States of America- the biggest veto power of the world? The people of India should be proud

that they have the philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam’, ‘Jai Jagat’ enshrined in its

constitution, which makes it unique. Our constitution is based on this philosophy and it is a

matter of great pride that Baba Saheb Bhimrao Ambedkar was the chairman of the Drafting

Committee of the Constitution and that it advocates equality of caste, colour, creed and rights

of women.

The States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to (a) the

development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to

their fullest potential (b) the development of respect for human rights and

fundamental freedoms...

Article 29, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989

Human rights education is quality education:

We all have the right to know our rights and this right is enshrined in all international human

rights standards and treaties. The international community’s repeated commitment to universal

human rights as the prerequisite for world peace, justice and sustainable development is

indisputable. Yet also indisputable is a patchy record in ensuring that we, the citizens of the

world, are all well educated in the 3Rs – rights, respect and responsibility.



43

“Education … is the key to unlocking other human rights”Katerina Tomasevski, former UN

Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education. He further addes to the queue that the education

is at the heart of human rights, and human rights education is part of that heart. Human rights

education is integral to every child’s right to quality education.

The UN defines human rights education as:

Knowledge and skills:

This includes learning about human rights and mechanisms for their protection, as well as

acquiring skills to apply them in daily life

Values, attitudes and behaviour:

It features in developing values and reinforcing attitudes and behaviour that uphold human

rights which are as follows:

Action: This involves taking action to defend and promote human rights which should aim

at:· The strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms

· The full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity

· The promotion of understanding, tolerance, gender equality and friendship among all

nations, indigenous peoples and racial, national, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups

The enabling of all persons to participate effectively in a free and democratic society

governed by the rule of law

· The building and maintenance of peace

· The promotion of people-centred sustainable development and social justice

As a result we conclude of the fact that, ultimately,

“Human rights education is much more than a lesson in schools or a theme for the day; it is a

process to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity.”

Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-GeneralHuman Rights Day 10 December 2004




44

The obligation to human rights education is a thread running through the international human

rights system. Every international treaty contains some obligation for States to ensure that

people are educated in rights, for the peace of the world.

Article 26 UDHR establishes this right.

“Everyone has the right to education … Education shall be directed to the full development

of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and

fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among

all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations

for the maintenance of peace.”

The CRC is more explicit and detailed about the right to education.

Article 29 says:

1. States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to:

a) The development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to

their fullest potential;

b) The development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and for the

principals enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations;

c) The development of respect for the child’s parents, his or her own cultural identity,

language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living,

the country from which he or she may originate, and for civilizations different from his or

her own;



45

d) The preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society, in the spirit of

understanding, peace, tolerance, equality of the sexes, and friendship among all

peoples, ethnic, national and religious groups and persons of indigenous origin;

e) The development of respect for the natural environment.

Article 42 of the CRC goes further, reinforcing adult responsibilities towards children. It obliges

States “to undertake to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known,

by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike.”

The Progress in India over Human RIghts Education:

The initiative to provide human rights education to school children has received a thrust with

the State Government extending the implementation in Adi Dravidar schools by one more

year. As per the June 9 order issued by the Department of Adi Dravidar Welfare, HRE will

now be imparted for the Standard VII children in all Adi Dravidar welfare schools.The initiative

is a project of the Madurai-based Institute of Human Rights Education (IHRE) to spread human

rights education in schools and colleges during the United Nations Decade for Human Rights

Education.

Under a phased programme, the IHRE, which has many educationists, including five former

Vice-Chancellors and one present Vice-Chancellor on the advisory committee, has been

introducing HRE in school and college curriculum since 1997, when the scheme was launched

in Chennai, covering Standard IX students in nine schools. From 2002, 258 Adi Dravidar

welfare schools were included in the programme, with the objective of making the children

from oppressed sections aware of their rights. Students of these schools were introduced to

HRE last year and the programme has now been extended to the Standard VII. So far, the

HRE initiative has covered 1.02 lakh students in 794 schools in the State. The Lady Doak

College here is the first institution of higher learning in the country which introduced HRE as a

compulsory course for undergraduate students in 2000, with IHRE assistance. The Holy Cross




46

College, Tiruchi, offers a postgraduate course on Human Rights under a memorandum of

understanding signed with the IHRE.

The Joint Director of IHRE, I. Devasahayam, says the response from both teachers and children

in Adi Dravidar welfare schools has been positive. The HR module prepared by the IHRE for

Standard VI children lays stress on human dignity, values, communal amity and equality. The

IHRE has completed preparation of a new module for Standard VII students. A series of

orientation programmes is to be held throughout the State in July for teachers on syllabus

formation. The HRE programme in Adi Dravidar schools has been praised by the NHRC and

the National SC/ST Commission, according to Henri Tiphagne, Director, People’s Watch -

Tamil Nadu, which runs the IHRE. The initiative has achieved good results in terms of creating

human rights awareness at the grass roots and shown signs of becoming a model for the

country. If the programme is implemented in all Government schools, it would signal a pioneering

effort on the part of Tamil Nadu to spread human rights education before 2004, when the UN

Decade for Human Rights Education comes to a close, says Mr. Tiphagne.

Source: The Hindu, July 1, 2003.

What is the reality now for children and young people?

in 2007, in terms of human rights education as a way of life? How have adults fulfilled their

responsibility to children and young people for Articles 29b and 42 of the Convention on the

Rights of the Child? These are questions I offer to this distinguished audience to consider in

the light of their own experience and aspirations.

All children have the equal right to education and to equal quality of education. Yet human

rights education is not a way of life for most under-18s. The reports of the UN Committee on

the Rights of the Child repeatedly testify that the adult record, worldwide, is generally patchy

in fulfilling Articles 29.1.b and 42 for children. In Britain, for example, there is little evidence of

national policy-makers using the enabling environment of the International Decade for Human

Rights Education (1995-2004), and the continuing World Programme for Human Rights



47

Education (2005-2007 and 2008-2009) to develop human rights education policies, plans

and practices for the benefit of all children. The importance of children’s education is highlighted

by the fact that the ongoing World Programme for Human Rights Education is centred on

primary and secondary schooling. A priority for putting human rights education into practice

is, for example, to embed human rights education in all teacher training programmes.

A pioneer 3Rs programme in Hampshire (UK), where schools base their whole school ethos

and curriculum on the CRC, is already showing how learning about and through rights can

enhance children’s development into active, responsible, rights-respecting citizens.

UNESCO and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights lead international

work on human rights education, assisting States to implement their obligations. Human rights

education is clearly defined as an integral part of quality education.

UNESCO says:Quality education:- supports a rights-based approach to all

educational endeavours. Education is a human right, and therefore quality education

supports all of the human rights; - is based on the four pillars of Education for All –

learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and with others, and learning

to be (Delors, et al., 1996); - views the learner as an individual, a family member,

community member, and a global citizen and educates to create individual

competency in all four roles; …

Quality 3Rs education provides knowledge about human rights and the mechanisms that

protect them, and imparts the skills to promote, defend and apply human rights in daily life. It

is explicitly about human rights. It provides a global vocabulary and language of universal

values, a powerful tool for us to explore the complexities of our shared world and to understand

how to live peacefully together, wherever we are in the world. The more human rights we can

talk, the more human rights we can walk.

WORLD CITIZENSHIP: AN INTIATIVE AS THE NEED OF THE HOUR.




48

A world of peace, justice and freedom is grounded in respect for human rights, and we can

confidently respect our own and others’ rights only if we know them. The concern of our era is

sustainable development – how will our planet and species survive, let alone prosper,

peacefully. The UN defines three interlinked key areas in quality education for sustainable

development: the social environment, the natural environment and the economy. Human rights

literacy is essential to build and maintain a sustainable social environment, for us all. Our

indivisible and interdependent human rights were described as the foundation of the triangle

of development, freedom and peace by Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General, when

talking about the importance of the Millennium Declaration for the world.

People all over the world strive for the realization of human rights according to their

circumstances and in their own way, and the international human rights system is based on

the explicit recognition that each country has the responsibility and ability to make its own

decisions on how to implement human rights for all, within the framework of international

scrutiny for the maintenance of peace in the world.

Human rights are those basic standards without which we cannot live in dignity. Human rights

make each one of us a fully human person. Human rights are held by all persons equally,

universally and forever. We all have the same human rights but our individual and collective

responsibilities can be different depending on our own cultures, traditions and aspirations.

Universal human rights are a powerful tool for peace. The Universal Declaration of Human

Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child are keys to Quality Education for Peace.

Reference: Ms Hilary Hunt, Council for Education in World Citizenship, UK, November 2007



49

CHAPTER 4

WHAT METHODS OR CURRICULA CAN BE DEVELOPED?

Critical pedagogy towards improvement:

Critical pedagogy tries to examine how educations relate to issues of equality and inequality,

discrimination, human dignity, freedom and social justice. It is a pedagogy that studies racism,

sexism, classism, body ablism (discrimination against people with disabilities) and other

forms of prejudice as portrayed and learnt in education, it questions the stratification of children

through education and it tries to offer alternatives for a more just and equal education.

The World Conference on Human Rights considers human rights education is essential for

the promotion and achievement of stable and harmonious relations among communities and

for fostering mutual understanding, tolerance and peace. The “National Program for Human

Rights Education in Schools” is implemented in different states in India, in consonance

with the objectives of the World Programme for Human Rights Education.

To sensitize the students in the general principles and aspects of human rights, the seven

units of instruction include the values of human rights and duties, philosophical and historical

foundations, international human rights norms and mechanisms for implementation of human

rights and duties in India. The course shall identify some societal problems and strive to

examine, analyse and internalize them in the course of field work/project undertaken in addi-

tion to class room interactions.

The Introduction of Human Rights Education in schools is the result of a deep reflection that

the value of rights can be firmly established only when we instill into the tender minds of

children this value as a social virtue, as a value to be safeguarded and protected as something

stable and indestructible.




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The following are the ways and modules which may be of importance to the learning of the

concept of the Human Rights Education and must be given a preface towards learning as of

the importance has been subdued to the the recognition of Environment Sciences at all the

respective boards of Education in the Country.

Now EVS has been made a compulsory subject with the classes and schools as a mandatory

subject of choice for all to study.

Similary the Human Rights Education module may figure out with inception through the

following:

a. Through Practice and Projects for action.

b. Debate and discussion about values.

c. Promotion of imparting knowledge of HUMAN Rights through stories.

The subject related module works fine with inception and manipulation of the content of taught

by the teachers in the class.

The following phases of learning with particularity of the subject of study stand of importance

and relevance :

a. The stories provide a wide range of possibilities for bringing home to children the fact that

the Earth, which provides food and water belongs first of all to the whole human family and

must be preserved; that the community in which children live needs their participation and

affectionate commitment; and that respect for others is fundamental.



51

b. Stories can be told or read by the teacher in the PRIMARY level and taken up by the

children, who then invent ‘how the story goes on’.

c. The universal declaration of Human Rights and the convention on the rights of the child

should be systematically presented, displayed and studied.

d. Educational Fora and Formats.

If we have a right to know our rights, then we must start by learning about applicable international

norms. We do this in many ways, and people learn about human rights through many channels

and in many places. Some distinctions are in order regarding the format and locus of education,

whether formal, non-formal, or informal. Formal education refers to the normally three-tier

structure of primary, secondary and tertiary education for which governments generally have

the principal responsibility. Non-formal education is any organized, systematic educational

activity carried on outside the formal system to offer selected types of learning to particular

subgroups in the population, adults as well as children. Informal education may or may not

be organized, and is usually unsystematic education, having its impact on the lifelong

processes by which every person acquires and accumulates knowledge, skills, attitudes and

insights from daily experiences and exposure such as through meetings at coffee ceremonies,

and getting information from radio, television and the print media. Typically, government is

responsible for formal education, NGOs for non-formal education, and the media for informal

education. Of course, there are exceptions such as parochial formal education, NGO-

sponsored informal education, etc. Through all of these sources and educational formats, we

get some of our understanding of human rights.

e. The subject of MATHEMATICS provides statistical data analysis on literacy, enrolment

ratios and access to higher education by means of tables or graphs.

f. The study of Computer Science provides search for information on the Internet or any topic.




52

A class can select a human rights topic and set up its own site to communicate with other

students on the subject.

g. The LITERATURE allows presenting the origins of concepts and principles of human rights

and present- day societies. Teachers can encourage students to read a variety of works,

either as a whole or selections from them.

h. Also the care and study of the History and Social Studies, give way to the study of the fight

for national independence of countries and lessons on contemporary issues give a good

knowledge about the Human Rights.

In addition, according to Richard Pierre Claude, Professor Emeritus, University of Maryland,

while goals reflect long-term programmatic purposes, educational objectives refer to short-

term expected learning competencies designed for students and participants. Groups

concerned with HRE may pursue many different pedagogical objectives.

These include:

(1) attitude changes (e.g., teaching tolerance among political influentials toward Ethiopian

tribal groups not well represented in government structures or tolerance toward refugees

among British and German “skinheads”);

(2) value clarification, (e.g., critically exploring the negative implications of the common use

of “manmade” language relating to gender references in formal writing as well as in everyday

conversation);

(3) cognitive skills in matters of law, government and society (e.g., learning and understanding

the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international

instruments);



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(4) the development of solidarity attitudes (e.g., African American studies programs which

engender concern and sympathy for the peoples of Africa and their problems related to food

distribution, health and welfare); and,

(5) participatory education for empowerment (e.g., enabling people to define and meet

their own needs). No doubt, this list of HRE objectives is not exhaustive.

In addition to the diverse goals and objectives specified for HRE, the problem of describing

and analyzing various methodologies is compounded by virtue of the fact that the objectives

and the means used to attain them, such as those listed above, will differ in relation to the

target group involved: grade school children in primary schools; adults in a literacy program;

peasant farmers involved in subsistence agriculture; police and military units; government

officials and bureaucrats; health professionals involved in a program of continuing education,

etc.

Illustrating Magendzo’s suggestion that new methods are needed to teach human rights, we

will present an exercise using participatory means to teach the UDHR, but before introducing

it, some new perspectives and definitions are needed, many of them unfamiliar to teachers

such as those in Chile accustomed to highly formal methodologies. To introduce more

participatory techniques, we first set out some (1) guidelines and (2) definitions as well as an

explanation of (3) a recommended standardized format.

(1) Some Guidelines for Facilitators/Teachers

Hereafter, we will often refer to teachers as facilitators (and those who teach them as trainers)

and students as participants. This terminology helps to emphasize that HRE requires a

participative and dialogic approach. For example, it is often a good idea for those leading an

educational exercise to consult with participants at the beginning of the program as teachers

seldom do in formal education. This can conveniently be done by starting the program and




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each exercise by introducing the subject matter and the scope of the session. Against this

background, the facilitator asks what the expectations are of the participants, given the subject

matter identified. The facilitator should ensure that people offering their views do not spend

too much time making speeches, but the facilitator should act as if there can be no “wrong

answers” to this question. To demonstrate that s/he has been listening, the facilitator should

very briefly summarize the groups expectations in relation to the topic covered.

In the exercises presented hereafter, some general guidelines may be helpful and should be

understood and followed by the teacher/facilitator:

*Be very clear on your role

*Get people to introduce themselves and try to make them feel relaxed

*Explain the subject matter and scope of the program and solicit the opinion of participants

regarding their expectations.

*Introduce the subject of each exercise and solicit participants expectations. Assume the

participants are looking for a response to pressing problems, so the subject matter should

be explicitly interconnected to local community needs.

*Elicit the related experience of the participants on the subject of each exercise

*Explain approximately how much time you have and allocate sufficient time for discussion.

See if everyone understands

*Introduce ideas and questions. Do not enforce your views. Be sure to give participants

plenty of opportunities to talk of their own experiences

*Your eyes, ears and voice are important. Maintain eye contact with participants. Be



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aware of your own voice —try not to talk too much or too loudly, but be sure everyone can

hear you and other participants

*Be aware of how you approach people in the group, for example, not picking on the

same people all the time and asking them what they think

*Do not get into arguments or allow them to develop. At the same time you should allow

and encourage different opinions

*Do not allow people to interrupt each other

*Be firm with dominant people and say that they should allow others a chance to speak

*Give people time to think and to explain what they mean

*Explain and summarize briefly when necessary, for example, with difficult words or

concepts

*Check if people understand before going on to the next topic, and allow for any further

questions

(2) Some Definitions Helpful for Various Methodologies

In exercises and examples of methods presented in this essay, some terms are used which

will be new to the facilitators, trainers and participants. Here are some definitions of terms

often used in various educational and training programs when a vocabulary for participation

is needed.

Brainstorm:

This defines quickly coming up with ideas or proposals without, at first, defending them or




56

prioritizing them. Then open up discussion on ideas or proposals.13

Buzz groups:

This predicts that each participant turns to her/his neighbor (left and right) on a one-on-one

basis for a short discussion.

Case-study:

It applies to a brief input on a scenario or description of how a problem, for example, one that

has arisen in the past, was dealt with and responded to by people. It can be historical or

hypothetical, but should be related to the actual experiences of participants.

Debate:

Here the participants take up different or opposing sides on a problem and argue for a

response or remedy different from that on the other side.

Drama:

This is a format of a prepared play in which those involved have practiced their parts in

advance.

Expectations:

This involves a method by which participants say what they hope to get out of an exercise or

program.

Facilitator:

This is a person as a group leader who is clear on the exercise to be followed, the questions

to ask, and the objectives of the exercise.

Floating:

This is the situation when participants break up into small groups for discussion, the facilitator

and volunteers move around (float) in a quiet way from group to group checking if everyone is

clear on the questions and reminding people how much time they have left.



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Go-arounds:

This involves all participants get a chance to speak without interruption, one at a time, for

example, going around the entire group and missing no one.

Icebreakers:

These involve an activity, usually at the beginning of a session, to get people to loosen up and

relax, for example, by shaking hands and introducing themselves to others.

Inputs:

This involves a planned talk by the facilitator or someone else, usually of short duration.

Participant:

This pertains to those in the learning group who are necessarily involved in the activity of an

exercise and who are treated by the facilitator and other participants as equals, not passive

students absorbing knowledge.

Roleplay:

Here the participants become “part of the action” by pretending to act a particular role, e.g.,

that of a police officer or of a human rights victim, but the role is not practiced beforehand (as

in drama).

Reporting back:

This defines when participants have broken up into small groups, one person should report

back to the larger group the results of the small group discussion or the decision of the small

group deliberations.

Speaking from Experience:

Under this situation, One of the participants talks about his or her experience of the issue or

problem you are discussing.

Talking Circle:




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This involves all participants arrange chairs or otherwise sit in a circle so they can see each

participant face to face.

Wordwheels:

Here the people stand in two circles of equal numbers, one inside the other so that each

person in the inside circle faces someone in the outside circle, e.g., to introduce themselves.

The wheel can rotate (left or right) so that each person has addressed each other person in

the group on a one-on-one basis.

(3) A Recommended Standardized Format for HRE Exercises

Formatting educational exercises is not a scientific endeavor. It is simply an orderly way of

presenting the lesson plan for the facilitators’ use. The format employed here has the advantage

of being pretested, used and recommended by Betty A. Reardon, a professor of peace and

global studies at Columbia Teachers College in New York.14

Overview:

Here the facilitator/trainer/teacher is alerted to the operative norms and issues linked to the

exercise, as well as aspects of “the big picture” as to why the problem presented is significant

and may be of interest.

Objectives:

The facilitator is told of the desired objectives of the exercise from the point of view of the

participants/students and of the desired learning competencies expected for them.

Procedures:

The facilitator is given some brief advice on how most effectively to guide the participants so



59

as to achieve the sought for objectives. In every case, whether the exercise is presented for

role playing, simulation, debate, or discussion, the facilitator should benefit from techniques

suggested here by those with past experience. Of course, the facilitator need not feel

dogmatically bound by the suggested procedures.

Materials:

The facilitator should know that the exercise will be most successful if used in combination

with identified materials, e.g., graphics, documents, posters, a tape recorder or alternative

use of a person designated to record discussion, etc. Again, facilitators should use their own

creativity, recognizing that learning is enhanced by appealing to different senses: hearing,

sight, talking, touching, etc.

Sequence:

Step by step advice is given to the facilitator about what to do, first, second, third, etc.

Facilitators should talk to their colleagues about the utility of various exercises and their

experiences using them. Sharing suggestions with other facilitators is strongly recommended.

Moreover, facilitators should take the initiative to devise various techniques for program

evaluation as well as participants’ evaluations.

An normal traning programme must indulge in the following to develop skills of learning on

Human Rights Issues by the masses in schools and the colleges:

Objectives:

The participant should gain an understanding that:

- Basic human needs are universal.




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- Every identifiable human need is connected to a human right according the UDHR.

- The UDHR represents a “hoped for world” supplying the goals as the basis for judging

our own society.

- Our society, like others, comes up short by international standards where needs are not

met and where human rights are violated.

The Procedure which may be followed can be:

Introduce the subject of this exercise and use the expectation setting method . Use an

icebreaker method, such as the wordwheel to get started. The first activity in this introductory

session should take about ten minutes. The other steps twenty minutes or more. Two sessions

may be needed if the group is ready to go beyond step 5.

Materials:

The “Simplified Version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (Appendix)

Sequence:

Step 1. Ask the participants to help you make a list of all the basic needs that are inherent in

being a human being. This step can build on a discussion of how human beings are

distinguished by their characteristics from various animals and other living things.

Step 2. Use the buzz group method or break up participants into groups, one for each need,

reporting back whether they think the one need on which they focused is, in fact, met in our

society. Characterize our society as to whether it allows individuals to meet their needs, use

their potentialities and helps them develop their qualities as human beings?



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Step 3. Ask each group to envision and characterize the goals of a society which they think

will allow them to use and meet their basic needs and to develop their potentialities as human

beings.

Step 4. Ask each group to report back its discussion through a few words. Listening to these

presentations, the facilitator should construct a chart divided into three columns: (1)

characteristic basic needs of a human being; (2) characteristics of the present society and

whether the identified needs are met for most people; and, (3) characteristics of the desired

goals for society.

ENHANCING COGNITIVE SKILLS FOR USING THE UDHR

Understanding and Analyzing the Universal Declaration.

Where the objectives of human rights education are concerned, several formulations exist.

For example, a Council of Europe publication offers this list of goals which stresses the

development of historical understanding and cognitive skills, but —typical of formal education—

is notably devoid of any but the most elliptical reference to empowerment as a goal:

*Knowledge of the major ‘signposts’ in the historical development of human rights.

*Knowledge of the range of contemporary declarations, conventions, and covenants.

*Knowledge of some major infringements of human rights.

*Understanding of the basic conceptions of human rights (including also discrimination,

equality, etc.)




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*Understanding the distinctions between political/legal and socio/economic rights.

*Understanding the relationship between individual, group, and national rights.

*Appreciation of one’s own prejudices and the development of tolerance.

*Appreciation of the rights of others.

*Sympathy for those who are denied rights.

*Intellectual skills for collecting and analyzing information.

*Action skills.

Objectives associated with these goals are largely cognitive and attitudinal, though “action

skills” implies learning for behavioral change.

Groups concerned with HRE may pursue many different objectives:

(1) attitude changes;

(2) value clarification;

(3) cognitive skills;

(4) the development of solidarity attitudes; and,

(5) empowerment.

For beginning students, particularly those in formal educational programs where the traditional



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pedagogy emphasizes understanding, memorizing, analyzing, and testing for applied

knowledge, the chief objectives often entail the advancement of value clarification and facility

in the use of cognitive skills.

To promote better understanding of the UDHR and to enhance analytical skills for beginning

students, a reading selection is set out below that has been found useful in the Philippines

and elsewhere. The selection focuses on the vision of one of the drafters of the UDHR, Ren

Cassin. He wanted people to see the way the articles of the UDHR were organized as a

coherent set of rules clustering around various organizing ideas which are simple to

understand, even if the rules are somewhat complex. His vision was that of a temple.

The ultimate goal of education for human rights is empowerment, giving people the knowledge

and skills to take control of their own lives and the decisions that affect them. Some educators

regard this goal as too political for schools and appropriate only to nonformal education.

Others see it as essential for becoming a responsible and engaged citizen and building civil

society.

In addition, training workshop for selected educational staff on the use of IT in general, Human

Rights Website and interactive e-learning materials help in developing the interest in the

theory and practical aspects further.




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CHAPTER 5

HOW CAN WE ENSURE THAT STATES WILL APPLY THIS UNIVERSALLYGIVEN CULTURAL PREFERENCES?

Considering the fact, I have also analysed the probability of the fact that many of the states

may not apply to the learning methodology of Human Rights as reasons not to be highlighted

due to various cultural preferences. But this does not mean that we end the process and

start the neglect. We need to counsel the society of this nature for the benefits of the education

concerned.

Cultural Relativity towards Human Rights Education:

The resulting confluence of peoples and cultures is an increasingly global, multicultural world

brimming with tension, confusion and conflict in the process of its adjustment to pluralism.

There is an understandable urge to return to old conventions, traditional cultures, fundamental

values, and the familiar, seemingly secure, sense of one’s identity. Without a secure sense of

identity amidst the turmoil of transition, people may resort to isolationism, ethnocentricism

and intolerance.

This climate of change and acute vulnerability raises new challenges to our ongoing pursuit

of universal human rights. How can human rights be reconciled with the clash of cultures that

has come to characterize our time? Cultural background is one of the primary sources of

identity. It is the source for a great deal of self-definition, expression, and sense of group

belonging. As cultures interact and intermix, cultural identities change. This process can be

enriching, but disorienting. The current insecurity of cultural identity reflects fundamental

changes in how we define and express who we are today.

Source: The Challenge of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity, by Diana Ayton-Shenker, http://www.un.org/

rights/dpi1627e.htm


http://www.un.org/


65

More over, as human rights are essential to democratic development and to citizenship

education. Several recent social and political developments both in Europe and in other places

of the world, such as economic interdependence, racism, terrorism, political apathy, growing

social gaps or the mediatisation of politics, challenge the foundations of a culture of peace

and human rights and thus, endanger democratic stability. This is why human rights education

and education for democratic citizenship have become key priorities of governments and

even more non-governmental organisations in the last decade.

Human rights education and education for democratic citizenship go hand in hand as both

aim at education for democracy. Both forms of education lead young people to acquire

knowledge, set core values and develop skills. Education for democratic citizenship puts the

‘child citizen’ into the focus and aims to educate children to be active and responsible members

of their communities. Human rights education, on the other hand, emphasizes the human

being promoting equality, human dignity, participation and empowerment for everyone. Human

rights education includes citizenship as one of its key themes, and education for democratic

citizenship builds on human rights values. Whatever their differences, both approaches serve

the development of democracy, human rights and peace.

Assuring Human Rights Education In Schools:

The various issues involving the Human Rights as per the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights follow the following with implications further.

Article 1: Right to Equality

Modules for Primary Section Students in Schools:

* Students could hold a penny drive to help fund developments of sister-schools across the

Globe.




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* Put on an international concert displaying the uniqueness of each culture while emphasizing

the equality each group deserves. Choose traditional music from other countries and cultures

to play or sing at a concert. Give background explanations to the audience.

5th - 8th:

* Research a country or specific culture. Each student represents a different part of the world.

Help the students find people from their particular countries or cultures to interview. Have

each student present his or her country/culture to the class.

* Set up a cross-cultural relationship with students from another state, community in Minnesota,

or country. If resources are available, set up an e-mail/internet relationship with another class.

Learn about the differences and compare similar needs, goals, and dreams of the other

class.

Modules for 9th - 12th Classes (Mature Group/ Senior Section):

* Volunteer with a team of high school students and travel to another state, country, or community

in Minnesota to work with students. Build friendships and create understanding across cultural

boundaries.

* Volunteer with an organization, which stresses equality among racial groups. Help out in

various ways with the Association for the Advancement of Women.

* Work to ensure that all persons with developmental disabilities have equal rights. Equality

includes the opportunity to realize their goals of where and how they will live, learn, work, and

play.

Article 2: Freedom from Discrimination



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Primary Module:

* Experience different physical disabilities for the day. Learn how to live with “your” disability

at school and the mall.

Junior Module:

* Exchange letters with pen pals suffering from discrimination. Write to Bosnian refugees in

camps who have been exiled from their homeland due to discriminatory practices based on

nationality, ethnicity, and religion.

Senior Module

* Help expand your acceptance and understanding of people from different cultures and parts

of the world. Promote a program enabling cultural exchanges for students.

* Help tutor English to a recent immigrant in an English as a Second Language Program.

Article 3: Right to Life, Liberty, and Personal Security

Primary Module:

* Help track down missing kids: Police across the country can find children more easily if they

have fingerprints on file to help trace the children. Talk to your local police about setting up a

table at the mall, at fairs, or at your school where fingerprints can be taken.

* Write letters to the President, urging him to help end fighting. Explain the reasons why you

believe a current war is unjust, what human rights are being violated, and what you believe the

President can do to help.

Junior Module:




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* Write to young shooting victims. One of the best ways to turn your back on crime and hatred

is to connect with other young people. Send letters to young people who have gotten in trouble

with gangs.

Senior Module:

* Make a quilt depicting children’s rights and donate it to a needy child. Focus on a child’s

right to a life consisting of freedom and personal safety.

* Put on an information fair for children home alone. There’s a lot to learn about being safe at

home alone. Contact your local police, fire department, and phone company to find out all the

details about what to do in case of an emergency or you get scared.

Article 4: Freedom from Slavery and Involuntary Servitude

Primary Module:

* Draw a poster of what slavery means to you. Hang them around your school to educate

others about the importance of ending slavery.

Junior Module:

* Draw a poster or write a story, poem or song about the history of slavery in the U.S. Display

your work in your school.

* Investigate companies that employ child labor and write a letter asking the company to stop

using sweatshops.



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Senior Module:

* Visit a migrant workers camp or interview migrant workers.

* Research and give a presentation on forced child labor in sweatshops in the U.S. and other

countries.

Article 5: Freedom from Torture and Degrading Treatment

Primary Module:

* Create a mural for a shelter for battered women.

Junior Module:

* Create a mural with children at a homeless shelter.

* Tutor children at a homeless shelter.

* Become an Amnesty International Freedom Writer or member of the Children’s Edition of

Amnesty International Urgent Actions.

* Create a workshop or presentation on the importance of ending violence in your community.

Senior Module:

* Help mothers at a shelter for battered women. Take care of the children while single mothers

study or apply for employment.

* Become an Amnesty International Freedom Writer.




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Article 6: Right to Recognition as a Person before the Law

Primary Module:

* Learn about peace mediation and start a program in your classroom.

Junior Module:

* Invite your team attorney or an attorney from a legal aid organization to speak to your class.

Learn about the right to bring a case to court.

* Distribute flyers for a legal aid organization.

Senior Module:

* Observe misdemeanor court. Discuss what you learn from the court proceedings with an

attorney from the Public Defender’s Office or a legal aid organization.

* Distribute flyers for a legal aid organization.

Article 7: Right to Equality before the Law

Primary Module:

* Learn about peace mediation and start a program in your classroom.

Junior Module:



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* Learn about the rights of children in court and what you can teach other students about their

rights.

Senior Module:

* Learn about Guardian Ad Litem programs in your area and volunteer opportunities.

Article 8: Right to Remedy by a Competent Tribunal

Primary Module:

* Ask a local judge to speak to your class about courts and his or her role as a judge.

Junior Module:

* Start a youth court. Help resolve problems between students. Students argue their cases in

front of a student jury and guidance counselor judge.

Senior Module:

* Start an alternative dispute resolution process at your school.

Article 9: Freedom from Arbitrary Arrest and Exile

Primary Module:

* Interview a refugee or an asylee from a country where arbitrary arrest or exile is common.





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Junior Module:

* Interview a refugee or asylee who was arbitrarily arrested or exiled by his or her country.


Senior Module:

* Research political prisoners in the Country. Prepare a display about political prisoners for

your school or community center.


Article 10: Right to a Fair Public Hearing

Primary Module:

* Visit your local Minnesota Human Rights Commission.

Junior Module:

* Visit your local Human Rights Commission. Learn how complaints are filed. Interview a

member of the Commission. Talk to your parent(s) or guardian about what you learned about

the role of the Commission of Human Rights in your country.

Senior Section:

* Visit the Human Rights Department. Interview a member of the Department. Learn about



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the role and responsibilities of the Department. Talk to your parent(s) or guardian about what

you learned about the role of the Commission.

Article 11: Right to be Considered Innocent until Proven Guilty

Primary Section:

* Draw what it means to be innocent and what it means to be guilty.

Junior Section:

* Hold a mock trial. Invite your parent(s) or guardian to be a part of the jury.

Senior Section:

* Hold a mock trial for younger students.

Article 12: Freedom from Interference with Privacy, Family, Home and

Correspondence

Primary Section:

* Visit your local Post Office. Learn about the mail system of your country.

Junior Section:

* Learn about student rights and locker searches.

* Contact the civil rights organization. Ask a representative to speak about how the




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constitutional rights relate to international human rights and how individuals can file complaints.

Senior Section:

* Request a Freedom of Information Act.

* Learn about your rights and responsibilities as a U.S. citizen. Teach younger students about

their rights and responsibilities.

Article 13: Right to Free Movement in and out of Country

Primary Section:

* Interview family members to find out how your family came to India.

Junior Section:

* Interview refugees and asylees to find out from which countries they came, how they left their

countries, and how they entered India.

Senior Section

* Research the requirements that you, as an India citizen or legal permanent resident, need to

meet in order to travel to USA, UK and other countries. Find out what you can take into other

countries and bring back to India.

Article 14: Right to Seek Political Asylum

Primary Section:



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* Collect clothes, housewares, and toys for the Center for Victims of Torture or other refugee

shelters.

Junior Section:

* Visit the Center for Victims of Torture or another refugee shelter.

* Interview asylum applicants. Learn about their countries and their decision to seek political

asylum in India.

* Write to other young people in refugee camps around the world.

Senior Section:

* Research and write an article about political asylum in the U.S., Canada, and countries in

Western Europe.

* Prepare a poster display for United Nations Day.

* Write to asylum seekers in European camps or U.S. detention centers.

Article 15: Right to a Nationality and Freedom to Change It

Primary Section

* Celebrate other cultures. Celebrate the cultures around the world. Learn about how

indigenous peoples live in different countries. Learn a dance or celebration ceremony from

another culture.

* Celebrate your family’s culture(s). Learn about your family’s cultural traditions. Share these




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traditions with your class.

Junior Section:

* Attend a naturalization ceremony. Speak with the newly naturalized citizens. Ask them what

it means to them to be a citizen of India.

Senior Section

* Create your own country. Learn about how people become citizens in India and other

countries.

Decide on rules for becoming a citizen in your new country. Carry out a naturalization ceremony.

Ask your local cable access channel to show the video.

Article 16: Right to Marriage and Family

Primary Section

* Visit a local homeless shelter.

* Draw a poster of different kinds of families that you know.

Junior Section

* Organize a neighborhood picnic.

* Start a block club for all types of families.



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Senior Section

* Babysit the children of single parents for an afternoon.

* Deliver food baskets to elderly persons who do not have family nearby.

* Visit the residents of a local nursing home regularly.

Article 17: Right to Own Property

Primary Section

* Exchange stuffed animals with a pen-pal.

Junior Section

* Hold a clothing and funds drive for survivors of a natural disaster.

* Visit a local food cooperative. Learn about the differences between a cooperative and a

large grocery store.

Senior Section:

* Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

* Hold a clothing and funds drive for survivors of a natural disaster.

Article 18: Freedom of Belief and Religion




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Primary Section

* Draw a picture about what your religion means to you.

Junior Section

* Visit a religious service different than your own. Discover how religions differ and how they

are similar.

* Discover the different religions practiced in your area.

* Learn about religious freedom in India and around the world. Discuss why religious tolerance

exists in some countries and not in other countries.

Senior Section:

* Babysit or play with young children during religious services.


Article 19: Freedom of Opinion and Information

Primary Section:

* Write an article for your community paper about human rights.

Junior Section:

* Start a children’s page at your local newspaper. What are your classmates’ opinions of the



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news? Talk to the editor of your local newspaper about starting a page just for kids, with a

student editorial board. Get to the heart of how children feel about world events.

Senior Section:

* Write your Country’s Representatives and Senators about an issue important to you.

* Create a high school human rights page for your school on the World Wide Web.

* Write an article to send to the community and city papers and children’s magazine.

* Research who can access the Internet and what can be put on the Internet.

Article 20: Right to Peaceful Assembly and Association

Primary Section:

* Create a poster or display about the environment or children’s rights in your school’s

neighborhood. Participate in a local parade.

Junior Section

* Create a poster or display about a human rights issue or children’s rights. Participate in a

parade to educate the public about the human rights issue or children’s rights.

Senior Section

* Attend a demonstration.




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* Organize an environmental or children’s rights rally in your school district.

Article 21: Right to Participate in Government and in Free Elections

Primary Section

* Interview people after they have voted.

* Take survey of your parent(s) or guardian(s) and neighbors about their voting history.

* Develop a “Bill of Rights” for your classroom.

Junior Section:

* Identify a national or local issue that you care about and/ or affects your neighborhood.

Contact your government representatives. Ask them to support or oppose the issue, depending

upon how you feel about it. Write letters to the editors of local newspapers and magazines,

expressing why the issue is important to you, and what you feel should be done about it.

Primary Section

* Volunteer for a political campaign. Even though you are not old enough to vote, you can

exercise your influence on who represents your interests in the government. You can become

part of the political process by stuffing envelopes, distributing flyers, and learning about how

the process works.

* Petition for a student position on the community council, school board, or any state or local

agency. Many communities allow students to become school board members. Check with

your local school board. If they don’t allow student members, ask them to change their policy.

* Register people to vote. Contact your League of Women Voters or voter registration office



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and ask what you can do to help get people registered to vote. Get registration forms to

register people on the spot, leave mail-in registration forms at homes, inform residents of

registration times and places in their neighborhood, or hand out absentee ballots for seniors,

people with disabilities, or people who will be out of town during the elections.

* Sponsor a debate between local candidates.

* Drive or walk with retired citizens to the polls.

* Volunteer to help at the election polls.

Article 22: Right to Social Security

Primary Section:

* Hold a food drive for a local food pantry.

Junior Section:

* Hold a food and clothing drive for a homeless shelter.

* Volunteer at a soup kitchen.

* Volunteer at a community or school blood drive.

Senior Section:

* Hold a food and clothing drive for a homeless shelter.

* Volunteer at the near by Blood Bank.




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* Volunteer at a near by Restaurant.

* Research and analyze state welfare policy. Create your own welfare proposal and send it to

your state representatives.

Article 23: Right to Desirable Work and to join Trade Unions

Primary Section

* Make posters promoting jobs that involve peace and denounce violence.

Junior Section:

* Create a brochure for Minnesota Jobs With Peace.

* Create your own trade union at school. Make crafts to sell at school. Learn how to function

as a trade union. Donate the profits from your sales to a trade union or cooperative in the

developing world.

Senior Section:

* Research the International Labor Organization and its relationship with the United Nations.

Write letters to support trade unions and trade unions leaders who have been persecuted for

their activities. Contact Amnesty International for names of union leaders needing support.

Article 24: Right to Rest and Leisure

Primary Section:

* Remake a playground. Paint equipment and fundraise to turn a run-down, unused playground



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into a place where children can hang out.

* Draw a poster of the right to leisure.

Junior Section:



* Write a story about the right to leisure.

Senior Section:

Plan a blast at your local senior center or residence home. Help staff plan refreshments and

entertainment. Find out what music the seniors enjoy, decorate the room, make tissue paper

flowers for the guests to wear, and plan activities for the evening.



Article 25: Right to an Adequate Living Standard

Primary Section:

* Trick-or treat for food. Instead of chocolate or other sweets, ask for canned goods and

grains. Deliver the goods to a shelter or food bank.

* Make drawings or decorations for shelters.

* Clean the beach or riverbed. State beaches and riverbeds need help bagging litter that




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collects throughout the year.

Junior Section:

* Collect and distribute blankets, pillows, and clothing to the homeless.

* Plant a garden to feed the hungry. A small garden patch can provide cantaloupes,

strawberries, broccoli, and spinach. Ask local garden stores to donate the supplies. Start

weeding, planting, and picking to a more beautiful and less hungry community.

Senior Section:

* Paint and rebuild neglected homes.

* Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.

* Sponsor a food drive. At a local supermarket, collect cartons of food for hungry people by

asking shoppers to buy and donate items, such as canned foods, rice, pasta, baby foods,

and other nonperishable items. Deliver the items to a local food pantry.

* Sponsor a hunger banquet. Raise awareness of the world’s hunger problem. Invite guests

to a hunger banquet in your school lunchroom or community center.

* Work on group projects which ensure the continuation of the Neighborhood House.

Article 26: Right to Education

Primary Section:

* Learn about educational systems in other countries.



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Junior Section:

* Create a library. Most families on your block have books they do not want, but do not want to

throw away. Consider starting a local library in a neighborhood community center where

neighbors can share the books collected.

* Read books to younger children.

Senior Section:

* Tutor academically-at-risk students. Help ensure that all students not only have a right to

education, but that they choose to exercise this right by tutoring students who need extra help.

* Teach a human rights lesson to an elementary class. Create a simple human rights lesson

and teach it to younger students, demonstrating their right to education, while helping them

learn about the human rights of all people.

Article 27: Right to Participate in the Cultural Life of the Community

Primary Section:

* Read books about indigenous cultures or traditions from different areas of the world.

* Exchange cultural stories with indigenous children. Become penpals with indigenous children

in other countries, such as the Atlantic Coast in Nicaragua.

Junior Section:




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* Create a play on human rights. Choose one or all the articles of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights on which to base your play, both teaching the audience (parents and/ or other

students) about human rights while demonstrating the Right to Participate in the Cultural Life

of the Community.

Senior Section:

* Write a letter to the governments to support publication the stories of indigenous peoples.

* Create a play on human rights. Choose one or all the articles of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights on which to base your play, both teaching the audience (parents and/ or other

students) about human rights while demonstrating the Right to Participate in the Cultural Life

of the Community.

Article 28: Right to Social Order Assuring Human Rights

Primary Section:

* Create posters depicting the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Display

the posters in your school, at school events, and around your community, reminding people of

their right to social order assuring these human rights.

Junior Section:

* Create posters depicting the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Display

the posters in your school, at school events, and around your community, reminding people of

their right to social order assuring these human rights.



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Senior Section:

* Conduct a mock non-violent protest. Choose an issue which is disturbing you, and enact a

non- violent protest. Research successful non-violent protesters, such as Mahatama Gandhi

Article 29: Community Duties Essential to Free and Full Development

Primary Section:

* Draw a picture of what your responsibilities are as a student relating to one of the rights

listed.

Junior Section:

* Create a list of classroom responsibilities relating to each of the rights listed.

Senior Section:

* Create a list of individual responsibilities within the school and local community relating to

each of the rights listed. Publicize your list and discuss it with members of the community.

Develop a plan to make your community a safer and better place to live.

Article 30: Freedom from State or Personal Interference in the above Rights

Primary Section:

* Learn what the local police and fire department do to protect you and your family. Take a

field trip to your local police or fire station.

Junior Section:




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* Learn what the local police and fire department do to protect you and your family. Ask officers

from the police and fire departments to speak to your class about their responsibilities.

Senior Section:

* Find out what the police forces in your community are authorized to do. Ask an DIG from the

Police Department of your area to speak to your class about your constitutional rights and

freedom from state and personal interference. Learn how to respond if the police stop you on

the street.



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CHAPTER 6

CURRENT MOVEMENTS AND IMPROVEMENTS FURTHER

Introduction of Human Rights Education in Schools towards an Excersise:

Schools in general are conservative. As the principal institution for the socialization of children,

as well as the source of basic education, they usually embody the values of the communities

in which they exist. In addition, they may reflect government efforts to use schools to pursue

political objectives, such as shaping attitudes on patriotism, religion, family planning, alcohol

and drug use, and minorities. Some governments necessarily regard teaching human rights

in schools as contrary to their own interests.

As a matter of fact:

UNESCO plays a major role in the implementation of the World Programme for Human Rights

Education (WPHRE). As a follow-up to the UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-

2004), the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the World Programme on 10

December 2004, in order to advance the implementation of human rights education

programmes in all sectors

Further more, Amnesty has a number of school’s resources available; including DVD packs

with lesson plans, human rights through citizenship packs, and a number of books which

teach human rights through Maths, History, French and Spanish. There is also the downloadable

bi-monthly Teach Rights! resources.




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However, even educational authorities that enthusiastically promote human rights education

tend to focus on citizenship, historical and legal learning, and interpersonal relations. They,

as well as parents, are wary of having the schools used for perceived “political purposes” and

are unreceptive to programs that seem to manipulate students to take social action beyond

the classroom. Further more, while educators have recognized methods for delivering, testing,

and evaluating cognitive learning, few feel as comfortable with learning that aims at attitude

change. For all these reasons, human rights education in most schools remains primarily

limited to “learning about human rights.”

School students are generally taught the three Rs - writing, reading and arithmetic. However,

the 4th R - education about rights, is largely ignored. This is despite a significant body of

international law mandating that children learn about human rights.

It is the duty of the educational institutes to offer the modules of learning with the following

practical approaches:

a. Introduction of Human Rights:

This module explores three central questions: where do human rights come from, who protects

them and what is included in these rights?

You are introduced to human rights by exploring contemporary issues in depth, including the

use of torture and indefinite imprisonment without charge. The module is appropriate for

students with no human rights experience, as well as those with a professional or personal

interest in this area.

b. Bringing the Conflict Context into the Programme Cycle:



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In order to bring the perspectives of development and conflict transformation together, we are

offering a practical way to bring the conflict context into the programme cycle. Our courses

are designed in three stages, based on the programme/project management cycle. These

courses will enable programme staff to bring a conflict sensitive approach into their

programmes in an easy and practical way – starting with the planning process, through

implementation to the evaluation phase. In each phase, by drawing on the conflict

transformation approach, the context will be linked directly with your programme ensuring

conflict sensitive practice.

The in practice records of the University of Leeds, Department of Education quotes of the

fact and view as the need of this kind of education and states that:

The Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights Education (CCHRE) was established to promote

and develop research, consultancy and postgraduate studies in citizenship education

and human rights education. It is a leading international centre in this field and welcomes

students and researchers from around the world.

The Centre’s work is inter-disciplinary and we actively promote the involvement of institutions,

agencies and professionals. CCHRE is involved in a range of activities at local, regional,

national and international levels.

The Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights Education is committed to developing more

democratic and inclusive approaches to education, based on the principles of freedom,

equality, justice and peace. We are particularly interested in issues of ethnic diversity, gender

and race equality, children’s rights and in policy-orientated research.

CCHRE provides a focus for those researching or engaging in citizenship and human rights

and education and who wish to address issues of democracy, justice, equality and diversity.

CCHRE aims to disseminate research and good practice in citizenship and human rights




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education and to work in partnership with schools, colleges and a range of organisations

working in formal, informal and norn-formal education both in the UK and internationally.

A Proposed Syllabus towards Human Rights Education:

Quoting the details from Amnesty International, the following are the modules to be covered

for the needful in excellence towards the understanding of the initiative towards betterment of

interest of Human Dignity and by law.

It is more about understanding the nature of the law and the rights towards living and enjoying

the life of an individual.

Most of the syllabi have been used in courses offered in U.S. institutions of higher education;

a few are from institutions in other countries.

Faculty at institutions of higher education are frequently engaged in human rights activities

outside the walls of the academy. For those seeking pedagogical support in bridging the gap

between activism and academia, between the practice and the teaching of human rights, the

syllabi will, we hope, facilitate the process.

Purposes of “Syllabi for the College Classroom”

- To make available a collection of classroom-proven syllabi for the teaching of courses

on Human Rights

- To stimulate the creation of new inter- and cross-disciplinary courses involving human

rights

- To make it possible for instructors of disciplines other than human rights to utilize portions



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of human rights syllabi to enrich their course curriculum.

Disciplines

The point of departure of human rights courses tends to reflect the field of expertise of the

instructor, be it international affairs, religion, disability rights, economics, philosophy, women’s

rights, anthropology, and on. The syllabi are gathered here under the various headings.

However, since it is not uncommon for courses to cover topics that span more than one

discipline, browsers are encouraged to scan the complete collection.

College level

Some of the syllabi specify that they are used in undergraduate classes; some specify their

use in graduate classes; some do not specify.

Syllabi format

The syllabi are reproduced here as received from individual instructors, and thus reflect diverse

approaches. Uniformity was not a criterion in compiling the website.

Bibliographies

Most syllabi contain bibliographies which the reader should find helpful in planning reading

lists for human rights courses. The Appendix contains a brief bibliography and related

references.

· Starting up - introductory activities

· You and me - activities about diversity

· Who, me? - activities about responsibility




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· Rights for Life - activities about the universality of rights

· What’s fair? - activities about justice

· My rights/Your rights - activities about situations where rights conflict

· Action! - taking human rights beyond the classroom

Process Used in Collecting Syllabi

The course syllabi were gathered from colleagues teaching human rights. An extensive list of

instructors was invited to submit a course syllabus, with the understanding that it would be

available on the website.

The following are the topics which cover in totality and can be enriched for better design by

the Universities and Educational Institutions for better and polished:

a. Anthropology

b. The Child

c. Crimes Against Humanity

d. Cultural Relativism

e. Disability

f. Education



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g. Food

h. Foreign Policy

i. Genocide

j. Geography

k. Globalization

l. Health and Medicine

m. Hindu Ethics

n. History

o. Holocaust

p. Human Rights Clinic

q. Indigenous Peoples

r. Interdisciplinary

s. International Organization

t. Labor

u. Language




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v. Law

w. Literature

x. Music

y. Philosophy

z. Political Science

az. Refugees

bz. Religion

cz. Science and Technology

dz. Slavery/Racism

ez. State Crimes

fz. Truth Commissions

gz. War and Conflict

hz. Women

A Common Methodology:

Inception of the following:

Starting up - introductory activities



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You and me - activities about diversity

Who, me? - activities about responsibility

Rights for Life - activities about the universality of rights

What’s fair? - activities about justice

My rights/Your rights - activities about situations where rights conflict

Action! - taking human rights beyond the classroom

In addition to the above the following content may mark up the need towards the senior section

syllabus as:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Simplified Version of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Simplified Version of the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Summary of Rights from the Convention on the Rights of the Child

The above must become the need and parcel of the course curriculum and they need to be

well versed for the needful further.

The Human Rights Education Handbook quotes that “Learning about human rights is largely

cognitive, including human rights history, documents, and implementation mechanisms. All

segments of society need to understand the provisions of the UDHR and how these international




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standards affect governments and individuals. They also need to understand the

interdependence of rights, both civil and political and social, economic, and cultural. Human

rights should be the “4th R,” a fundamental of everyone’s essential education, along with

reading, writing, and “rithmetic.”



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CHAPTER 7

Recommendations towards improvements

Looking at my study, I presume and recommend the following modules towards learning/

teaching scenario in the educational sector towards the upliftment of the course of study in

schools for the New World Order.

The nature and magnitude of the areas of study are such as it may become necessary to

sponsor and promote independent departments of human rights education over a period of

time. Furthermore, the multi-level inquiries inherent in human rights discipline also tend to

create problems of nomenclature: whether the discipline ought to be desecrated as “Human

Rights – Duties Education”, or “Human Values Education”, or simply “Human Rights

Education”. Some clue to this can be found in the Protection of the Human Rights Act, 1993

itself, which under Section 12 has laid down a wide range of functions for the Commission

under the relevant sub-clauses, thus :

(a) undertake and promote research in the field of human rights;

(b) spread human rights literacy among various sections of society and promote awareness

of the safeguards available for the protection of these rights through publications, media,

seminars and other available means.

(c) encourage the efforts of non-governmental organizations and institutions working in the

field of human rights and

(d) such other functions as it may consider necessary for the protection of human rights.




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What is needed is a new language and the skills today.

The capsules which include of tribute and recognition to the pertext of learning Human Rights

come to for the following issues in particular:

Conceptualization of the right to education has not advanced a great deal as is evidenced in

the absence of a clear-cut answer to a simple question: when is the right to education fully

realized? Our failure to secure schooling for all children tends to focus all attention on the

needed but lacking schools, funds, and teachers. This keeps attention focused on the means.

Securing them does not automatically mold education towards desired ends, provided that

there was a global agreement on what education is for.

Varying ends are laid down, in theory and in practice, ranging from vocationalist to

liberationist. The field of human rights is a rare exception in having defined both the ends

and the means of education hence there is a legal framework to guide education. It is,

regretfully, poorly known outside the human rights community, which is small and often

dissociated from the world of education. This text aims to provide a quick overview of the

questions that should be posed so as to bring education and human rights closer together,

ultimately to fully integrate (or mainstream, as the currently fashionable terms has it) human

rights in education. The postulates embodied in educational policies and laws sometimes

repeat the need for education to include teaching about human rights, but these are notoriously

wide apart from what happens in the classroom. Our knowledge is inversely correlated with

the importance of the object of our interest: we know a great deal about the postulates of

education policies and laws since these are available, usually in a codified form.

We know less about the inputs in the process of teaching and learning, and least of all about

what children and young people actually learn. Discussing human rights in education is thus

not luxury but necessity. Without a clear vision of the inter-relationship between the right to

education and rights in education, promoting human rights education or human rights through

education remains impossible. UNESCO has had this to say about the need to make the



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curricular messages compatible with the process of education: Consistency between the

methods used in international education and its messages is an imperative. The institutional

environment of schools and the processes of teaching and learning must be consistent with

the objectives of peace, co-operation, justice, human rights and ecological sustainability.

Studying experiences in putting into practice requirements of international human rights law

in different regions and countries reveals a great deal of similarity and difference. The realm

of the possible is delineated by minimal standards which should be sought worldwide and

the full realization of the right to education is often expressed in terms of optimal standards.

A unique task of governments is to elaborate educational strategy, regulate education by

setting and enforcing these standards, carry out continuous monitoring, and undertake

corrective action whenever it is necessary.

A thing to ponder and act upon:

In many countries education constitutes both a right and a duty of the child. School attendance

is enforced for children within the compulsory school age and the child’s behaviour in school

is strictly regulated. Serious offences entail expulsion. Thus a child finds herself in the midst

of a conflict of laws – according to one, she should be attending school, but another precludes

her from doing so because she committed a grave offence, which is often pregnancy. The

notion of education as a duty is much older than that of education as a right and the

specification of the child’s duties in school is far more widespread and detailed than

enumerations of the child’s rights. The imbalance favouring duties at the expense of rights is

gradually being altered. In particular, restrictions upon school discipline have considerably

increased in the past decades to protect the learners’ – especially the child’s – dignity against

humiliation or degradation. They have been subjected to much challenge.

Thoughts on Education:

The process of creating curriculum through dialogue and exploration of the reality in order to




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act on changing it is empowering one. It connects the individual to his/her own powers and

also the group to their strength and richness of working together.

Enabling learners to have control and influence over their studies is a reflective process where

being critical, questioning and researching applies also to the self and the group, who are

part of society. Freire wrote about the humanistic role of the oppressed to liberate themselves

and their oppressors. The liberation process is not a reversal of the roles, whereby the

oppressed become the oppressor and vis versa. This situation may happen because often

the oppressed internalizes the oppression and start believing that it is an inevitable natural

social order. A structural change is needed, rather then the reversal of roles that would continue

to maintain the same unjust structure. Freire introduced liberating education through dialogue,

through looking critically at the reality and by re-creating the knowledge and new consciousness

that lead to activism toward social change.

Also it is urdent clear of the fact that Liberating education stimulates critical thinking, enhances

and sharpens reflection on reality, observation, analysis, identification of interests and planning

for change. It rejects and opposes inequality and, human rights violation as natural fact of life.

Such education is relevant to the learners, is interesting rigorous and is meaningful.

Critical Analysis:

The promotion of critical pedagogy is the promotion of the case of human rights and education

for a culture of peace. Critical pedagogy is subversive pedagogy as it strives for structural

social change. Its principal objectives are the creation of awareness for human rights, the

rejection of violation and discrimination against different segments of population. Like Human

Rights, critical pedagogy is universal and maybe applied everywhere. Any other country that

may adopt in future the Turkish model of examining the violation of human rights in textbooks,

is likely to reach the same conclusions as issues of class, gender, race, ethnism, ablisim, etc

are common to most countries.



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Therefore critical pedagogy, a dialectic un-restful pedagogy is the pedagogy of human rights

since it promotes critical social thinking and a challenge to automatic obedience and

submission. Yet critical pedagogy is bound to create tensions between values of Human

Rights and nationalistic ideas that put ideals of state’s values higher then citizen’s well being,

national security priority and the perceived rights of the collective higher then human right that

each and every individual is entitled to.

Teachers’ View of Human Rights Education: (HRE)

As per Ms Paula Gerber, Deputy Director, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Some

examples of how teachers defined human rights education are:

“The teaching of human rights is not confined to teaching students about documents which

are supposed to give rights to individuals, but about attitudes to others at age specific

times, which broaden their concepts not only of rights, but responsibilities. These ideas

should be explored and discussed so that a personal philosophy of inclusiveness should

be developed.”

“To learn about treating people with respect and compassion on a physical and emotional

level within the immediate/local and international areas.”

“Human rights education to me is being able to impart a sense of responsibility towards

other human beings within your community, and to me it is developing strategies that make

us able to see that not everything is in black and white, that there are shades of grey and

that not everybody is the same, and that we need to respect and understand those differences.

So it’s breaking down the barriers between different groups so that we can co-exist.

Also of reference, Some teachers expressed frustration with not knowing where HRE fits

within the broader curriculum. Examples of responses to the question “What do you perceive

to be the obstacles to human rights education in your school?” included:




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* A classroom context – what ‘subject is it in’

* Disappearance of real humanities subjects (history etc…) to be replaced by the wishy

washy nature of SOSE [Study of Society and the Environment];

* Where you fit it into the curriculum? Do you make a subject called Human Rights? Do

you link it into Civics and Citizenship? Does it fit within English? Does it fit within Geography?

This obstacle could be overcome by greater clarity/direction about HRE in the curriculum

frameworks. There were two schools of thought expressed by teachers about the form this

should take.

One philosophy is that human rights should be a separate subject. Dealing with HRE in this

way allows for depth of coverage, but unless it is made a mandatory subject (unlikely), students

who don’t take the elective miss out altogether.

The other approach is that human rights should be integrated across the entire curriculum.

Arguably, this creates less burden for teachers, but runs the risk that HRE ‘falls between the

cracks’; with individual teachers feeling they don’t have to address human rights because

students will be getting it in all their other classes



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CHAPTER 8

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF MODEL OF HUMANRIGHTS EDUCATION

Advantages/ Merits:

Keeping the intelligence in perception to the importance of education clubbed togetherwith issues and regulations of Human Rights, there is an ardent requirement for thesame towards a better living and learning for living.

The inception of Human Rights issues with the children as targeted towards “CatchThem Young and innocent’ has had a successful resultant to the periodical formats andpractical real life experiences further. There lies the outcome which is targeted withmethodologies for the success at work place and knowing each other with the rights asof an individual and dignity one feels with the literacy in that direction. Perhaps, for the

first time in our histories we are about to witness a significant change in our educational

system with regard to education on human rights.

There have been many attempts to identify specifically Asian aspects of human rights byexamining religions, cultures and social traditions in Asia.

Of course with the inception of the new model for the HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION we canowe to identify and applicate the values among the citizens making them Quality Citizensworld wide.

Some of the values that have been identified are :-

- truth telling;

- compassion and loving kindness;




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- care for other beings as a central component of good behavior;

- good humor as an essential aspect of all human relationships including social and

political relationships;

- tolerance;

- food sharing;

- special concern for the poorest;

- rulers’ duty to be wise and humble;

- special place for children;

- combination of material and spiritual development;

- harmony of human species with the rest of nature (environment);



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- pursuit of wisdom as ultimate goals of life;

- unity of human family irrespective of gender, race etc.;

- special care for the disabled persons;

- trust and not contract as the basis of social relationship;

- subordination of politics to ethics and morality.

As a matter of fact, the study reveals of the following:In several countries in Asia, human rights are taught in schools and universities and several

others are discussing the issue seriously. Text books are being written on human rights,

curriculums are discussed and even effective teaching methods are been experimented with.

As in some subjects like in religion and literature, in human rights education story telling,

drama, cartoons and audio visuals are been used. When creativity and goodwill are combined

many good things happen.

In societies which have become so much disintegrated as ours we need common reference




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points that bring it together. Human rights could provide that reference point. Particularly in

our South Asian societies where communal differences are so deep human rights may become

the foundation of a dynamic social discourse. Human rights could achieve this as it begins

with recognition of the dignity of everyone and equal rights of everyone. Where communal

considerations whether they be based on religion or race tend to stress partial and sectarian

considerations, human rights education could help to foster a more harmonious social ethos

as it is based on our common humanity.

The quintessence of human rights is also the basic essence of all religions, Love, compassion,

loving kindness are the same. Unfortunately we also know that we have disgraced religions a

great deal by using its name for our petty ends.

Therefore, while teaching religions we confined the obligations arising from these doctrines

only to their followers. Human rights could bring in a universal aspect to moral and ethical

education. And we in our divided societies are in great need of this. On the other hand in the

context of rapid secularization we could still retain a basic common ground for respect for

each other. We could still be our brothers’ keepers and withstand value systems which only

promote selfish ways of life.

It is also believed that When one part of the education stresses one set of ideals and another

part undermines or belittles such ideals, children are exposed to a very unhappy situation.

The researchers feel that this integrated approach must be linked to participatory democracy.

In such an environment there is no conflict between rights and duties. Perhaps such an

approach to education would have an impact on some South Asian philosophies of education

which stress only duties leaving aside rights.

Perhaps this may help overcome the graded character of our societies, because to maintain

social grading duties has to be stressed as against rights. In graded societies, some people

have all the rights and no duties and some have less rights and more duties and some no

rights and only duties. The influence of such philosophies is very deep in our societies and all

of us are very unhappy about it. Human rights education when related to education on

participatory democracy may help us to overcome this philosophical debacle.



109

Also as a matter of fact, an important part of school work is learning discipline. In this sphere

too, human rights education can make a useful contribution. In a hierarchical society, people

are trained into a duty based type of discipline. It is, thus, a discipline imposed from outside.

A rights based concept of discipline emphasizes mutual respect for each others rights. It

encourages discussion as part of the process of maintaining discipline. It encourages

collective responsibility achieved through consensus rather than discipline enforced by a

superior. In this way, a child is prepared for facing the rapidly changing modern society, where

hierarchical model of discipline often results in anarchy. In graded societies there is stress on

secrecy. But relationships in the modern world are very much based on the right to information.

To form an opinion and to participate in social interactions one need to be informed. The

children who are brought up in such an atmosphere where the right to information is respected

will have an advantage in participating in society as responsible adults. People who are

educated in such an atmosphere will have little difficulty in playing their roles as leaders,

bureaucrats and holders of other important positions, whereas people trained in hierarchical

model will have great difficulties in adjusting to a world where parity in communication is a

primary demand. Such are the advantages of an holistic approach to human rights.

The ultimate is the merits in direction of what goes to the child, the learner, who may or may

not be a school going individual but nearly anyone.

Why Human Rights Education one may question?

The summary include the following:

1. Produces changes in values and attitudes

2. Produces changes in behaviour

3. Produces empowerment for social justice

4. Develops attitudes of solidarity across issues and nations

5. Develops knowledge and analytical skills




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6. Produces participatory education

An examination of the recently published manual, “Understanding Human Rights: Manual on

Human Rights Education”. By Janice Duddy

“Understanding Human Rights: Manual on Human Rights Education”. Wolfgang Benedek

and Minna Nikolova (eds.). Produced by European Training and Research Centre for Human

Rights and Democracy (ETC): Graz. 2003. http://www.etc-graz.at/human-security/manual/.

“Understanding Human Rights”, a recently published manual, starts from an understanding

that the assurance of human rights is a necessary step in the struggle for human security.

As Dr. Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs, explains in the ‘Preface’

of this manual, “Human security is ‘people-centred’ - it takes individuals and their

communities as its principal point of reference. Establishing a global political culture based

on human rights for everyone is an indispensable requirement for advancing human

security” (3).

Dis-advantages of the Implementation of Human Rights Education:

At the same time in relation to the modulation and preface, Any education to be effectiveneeds to be contextualized too. Thus it is not enough to teach abstract principles ofhuman rights taken from United Nations’ documents or our Constitutions. Our historicalcontext as nations as well as local contexts need to be reflected in human rights education.Hence, in periodical functionality, the contextualizing of human rights is essential for nurturing

of peace. Creative reflections on local situations from a human rights perspective would help

the schools greatly, to become the societies’ most important peace makers. However,

contextualizing and relativizing needs to be distinguished.

Also as a matter of fact, when we discuss this issue on a global mapping, there is a certain

question and the mark to the Some say that we Asians should have less rights than people

living in Western countries. They say, the human rights concepts are Western. Only people

who have all the rights could say this to people who have much less rights. We keep masses

of humanity without rights and condemn the growing consciousness of rights as a Western

one. This would mean that to be Asian one has to put up with one’s bondage, one must


http://www.etc-graz.at/human-security/manual/


111

remain submissive, one must eat less and work more. Is that what our women, and our children

need to believe. Is that what our workers and peasants need to believe while multinational

companies with the help of our elite take away the fruit of their labours, and the fruit of our

lands. The relativist theory, though couched in nationalist terms is not nationalist at all. It work

for the benefit of big companies Western or otherwise.

CHAPTER 9

Conclusion




112

Towards Human Rights Education:

With my study on Human Rights: The education of which is now the new language of the new

world to be a Quality World Citizen I conclude of the fact as follows:

Now we are living in the modern world. Human beings developed in all the fields.But there is

a lot of difference among the countries in the world.Co-operation and co-ordination are

necessary among these countries.It is necessary and important to educate every one in the

world.It is very important to know what is Human Rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was drafted by the United Nations

Commission on Human Rights chaired by, then first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt. The UDHR was

adopted by the 56 member nations of the United Nations General Assembly on December

10, 1948. December 10th is now celebrated around the world as International Human Rights

Day.There are now 188 member states in United Nations. The initiative must be the Model

for the Human Rights Education for All.

The prevalence of compulsory primary education provides evidence of the global commitment

to ensuring that all children benefit from schooling. The existence of compulsory education is,

however, indicative of the realization of only one component of the right to education because

parental freedom of choice might not be recognized. More often, the rights of the child are not

recognized, which then poses an inevitable dilemma for human rights education: how to

introduce it to learners whose rights are not recognized. Moreover, the rights of their teachers

may also not be recognized and so their ability to teach about something they have not

experienced should not be assumed.



113

Although the child is today treated as the principal subject of the right to education, the child

is not party to decision-making on its realization. International human rights law divides

decision-making between the parents and the state. Each principal actor can – and routinely

does – claim to represent the best interest of the child. The child’s right to education is reflected

in the duty of the parents, community and the state to educate the child as well as the duty of

children to educate themselves. The inter- generational dimension is evidenced in adults

designing education in the best interests of the child and, as often as not, disagreeing among

themselves as to what the best interests of the child might be.

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights has emphasized that the knowledge of

human rights should become a priority throughout the process of education.

Because it is well known that children learn through observation rather than exhortation, the

recognition of their rights in education would greatly facilitate human rights education. The

International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century has singled out as the

first pillar upon which education should be founded ‘learning to live together by developing an

understanding of others and their history, traditions and spiritual values.’

Confidence in education is indeed boundless and a frequent article of faith holds that human

rights education can make a difference in facilitating the process of moving from war to peace.

The material which is prepared by actors involved in such education is forward-rather than

backward-looking and it often presents cheerful images of the ease with which people can

solve their disagreements and conflicts peacefully. Moreover, teaching manuals routinely shy

away from even mentioning the word ‘violation’ let alone describing violations so that learners

could understand what human rights protection entails.

As we very firmly conclude that Everyone has the right to education... Education shall be

directed to the full development of human personality and to the strengthening of respect for

human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and

friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the




114

United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

The concept underpinning human rights education is that education should not only aim at

forming trained, professional workers, but also at contributing to the development of individuals

who possess the skills to interact in a society. Human rights education, human rights into

education aim at providing pupils and students with the abilities to accompany and produce

societal changes. Education is seen as a way to empower people, improve their quality of

life and increase their capacity to participate in the decision-making processes leading to

social, cultural and economic policies.

Human rights education cannot be reduced to the simple introduction of human rights content

in already overburdened curricula. It brings about a profound reform of education, which

touches upon curriculum in-service and pre-service training, textbooks, methodology,

classroom management, and the organization of the education system at all levels.

Human rights education implies the learning and practice of human rights. A holistic approach

to human rights education means that human rights are implemented at all levels of the

education system, and that they are taught through both content transmission and experiences.

Education for human rights helps people feel the importance of human rights, internalize

human rights values and integrate them into the way they live. Education for human rights also

gives people a sense of responsibility for respecting and defending human rights and

empowers them, through learned skills, to take appropriate action.

It is believed that the human rights education and its awareness raising initiatives about

children’s rights should not only be directed at policy-makers, but at children as rights holders

themselves, and at those parents, carers, and teachers who are directly involved in children’s

education and well-being.

The need is felt more along the lines of ensuring that the Human Rights Curriculum for higher



115

education must have an element of practicability, besides the training leading to opening up

of a new vista of knowledge and job opportunities in the present education not only for the

marketability of the concept of Human Rights but also for helping to create a job opportunity

in the changing scenario of globalization of education, in particular and in general, at the

national as well as international level.

The wealth of data obtained through the surveys and interviews of teachers revealed many

interesting issues, which I have only been able to touch upon in this paper.

What is clear is that:-

HRE or Human Rights Education, is not widespread and is only incorporated into the curriculum

in an ad hoc manner and is dependent on the motivation of individual teachers.

There is a high degree of ignorance amongst teachers regarding Human Rights Initiatives.

There are many obstacles to widespread HRE in schools including: the crowded curriculum;

lack of government mandate; lack of resources the dearth of training in HRE; and confusion

about how/where to incorporate it into the curriculum.

The widening space for collaboration in the field of human rights between non-governmental

organizations and government institutions opens a whole new perspective on human rights

training. Representatives of these institutions, which have not traditionally been working as

partners, have begun to join training programs together. In these education activities, the

participants’ shared understanding and commitment toward common goal become primary

considerations. A major part of the training must therefore be devoted to exchange, clarification,

and, hopefully, agreement on views about human rights and/or human rights education.




116

LEARNING COMMENTS BY EXPERTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS

“The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, agreed in 1948, andratified by countries around the world, is a vital building block for humanrights law. It provides a consistent basis on which national laws can bebuilt, and then enforced. We must expect ongoing campaigning to be

necessary, not least because the Universal Declaration deals with manyrights of individuals, which need to be observed by national

governments. This campaigning should be international, and linked toprogrammes of human rights education. We are world citizens, and not

just citizens of the particular country where we live.”

Richard ENNALS

[email protected]

The rights and responsibilities of citizens are learned; first at home,later on at school and finally within the community; including businessworld. In order to teach all these things, what kind of models do theysee? If punishment is the leading philosophy, do they learn to punish

or to reward? Mc Greagor’s approaches must be overviewed, Ibelieve. Yours,

Hayal KOKSAL

[email protected]

INITIATIVES:

Based on the above research work project, the author has developed a


mailto:[email protected]



117

website for Human Rights Education for all with possibility of adding data bythe visitors:






118PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com


119PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com



120

CHAPTER 10

References

The Advantages of Introducing Human Rights Education into School Curriculum

A paper presented at the Human Rights Training Programme for School Principals and Staff, 7 - 9

September, 1996, Bangalore, India.

HOW ARE WE EDUCATED? -International Symposium on Human Rights Education and Textbook

Research -The History Foundation , Istanbul, Turkey,2005

Reference: Ms Hilary Hunt, Council for Education in World Citizenship, UK, November 2007

Compasito: Manual on human rights education for children (European Youth Centre, Strasbourg,

2008). Language(s): English.

www.amnesty.org.uk/image_library/23/26/24415.jpg

www.amnesty.ie/.../HRE/RightsInFlight250.jpg

http://images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/files/images/

learnmore-landing.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/

Ms Paula Gerber, Deputy Director, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law “The 4th R: human

rights education”

http://images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.law.monash.edu.au/assets/images/cc-

gerber-1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/events/2006/conference-

06-1.html


http://www.amnesty.org.uk/image_library/23/26/24415.jpg

http://www.amnesty.ie/.../HRE/RightsInFlight250.jpg

http://images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/files/images/

http://www.campaignforeducationusa.org/

http://images.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.law.monash.edu.au/assets/images/cc

http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancentre/events/2006/conference


121

“Understanding Human Rights: Manual on Human Rights Education”. Wolfgang Benedek and

Minna Nikolova (eds.). Produced by European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights

and Democracy (ETC): Graz. 2003. http://www.etc-graz.at/human-security/manual/.

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/06/28/stories/2004062808140400.htm

The Challenge of Human Rights and Cultural Diversity, by Diana Ayton-Shenker, http://

www.un.org/rights/dpi1627e.htm

Human Rights Education in Indian Schools 2004-05 Dinesh Sharma D. Lahiry Arjun Dev


http://www.etc-graz.at/human-security/manual/

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2004/06/28/stories/2004062808140400.htm

http://www.un.org/rights/



122

CHAPTER 11

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am thankful to my guide, DR. RICHARD ENNALS, Professor, Kingston University,London, UK for the great support in my work towards the above. I also acknowledge with

thanks the wonderful assistance I had from my Co-superviser, Mr. Paresh Kathrani, VisitingLecturer in Human Rights, Kingston University and Director, Centre for Global MoralityLtd, London.

Further it is my great pleasure to acknowledge my International Friends from the KingstonUniversity, UK particularly Prof. Mary Stuart, Dy. Vice Chancellor, Mr. Les Straton, Mr. A.Powell and Ms. Hilary Hunt, for their inspiration and continuous motivation towards myHuman Rights Initiatives. I owe my knowledge and analysis to their assistance and support.

My special thanks to Dr. (Mrs) Vineeta Kamran, Principal, CMS Degree College, Lucknowand Mr. Jagdish Gandhi, Chairman, World Council For Total Quality and Excellence InEducation and Founder Manager, CMS, Lucknow for their inspiration and motivation in making

me do and be what ever I am Today.

I am sure with the project model “Human Rights Education: A New Language for a New

World” shall prove to be a resource towards the inception and modulation of course curriculum

for the schools and colleges particularly in India for the promotion of Human Rights Education,

pertaining to better learning and teaching scenario. I express my desire to support the above

through my wiki on Human Rights http://humanrightsforall.wetpaint.com/

I shall be happy to answer any queries on human rights education out of my study and research

in this direction further through mail responses at [email protected]

(Dheeraj Mehrotra) Lucknow, India 5th December, 2008

http://dheerajmehrotra.com www.computerscienceexpertise.com


http://humanrightsforall.wetpaint.com/


http://dheerajmehrotra.com

http://www.computerscienceexpertise.com


thesis on human rights education in schools

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