国际人权教育的历史和理念

进入20世纪70年代,人权教育倍受国际注目。21世纪乃“人权的世纪”,这正成为世人的共识,在国际人权教育迅速发展的今天,如何全面把握人权教育的历史和理念,推进人权教育的顺利发展,无疑是我国教育工作教育面临的重要而紧迫的课题,为此,本文从历史和国际的视角,就欧洲评议会、联合国教科文组织、世界人权会议、联合国儿童基金会、联合国人权中心关于人权教育的理念进行简要述评。     

The Human Right of Home Education

Abstract

Homeschooling is legal and growing in many countries but is virtually forbidden by law in Germany and a few others. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has reviewed and upheld this ban. Is home education a human right? How do these courts employ their jurisprudence of proportionality to find banning home education does not violate relevant constitutional or human rights norms? Why does Germany forbid home education? Why does the ECtHR uphold Germany’s position? What does this divergence imply about the right of home education and the jurisprudence of these courts? If the promise of human rights is individual liberty then a system that justifies or endorses state control of education for the purpose of cultural conformity can be said to be far too statist for a free and democratic society. In this article, I argue that both the German Constitutional Court (FCC) and the ECtHR have adopted an approach to education rights that is profoundly mistaken. I conclude that home education is a right of parents and children that must be protected by every state. Nations that respect and protect the right of parents and children to home educate demonstrate a commitment to respecting human rights; nations that do not, such as Germany and Sweden need to take steps to correct their failure to protect this important human right.     

Back to Basic Values: education for justice and peace in the world

Abstract

Religious education refers to basic, sacred texts. Education also has basic, secular texts. ‘Back to basics’ should include basic values which are found in human rights instruments. Human rights are sometimes erroneously referred to as a Western and Northern values system, but the article notes an Islamic tradition of acknowledging human rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 ushered in a multiplicity of human rights texts that are international and which educators can confidently use as standards in any circumstances. In schools in which linguistic, cultural, religious and ethnic pluralism is a fact of life, these principles are helpful guidelines for conduct and policy. All major human rights texts start with a reaffirmation of a commitment to equality of rights and equality of dignity. Programmes to develop race or gender equality and to enhance opportunities for those with special needs and disabilities are essentially concerned with human rights.     

Human rights education in Japan: an historical account,characteristics and suggestions for a better-balanced approach

Although human rights are often expressed as universal tenets, the concept was conceived in a particular socio-political and historical context. Conceptualisations and practice of human rights vary across societies, and face numerous challenges. After providing an historical account of the conceptualisation of human rights in Japanese society, this paper examines human rights education in Japan, focusing on implementation of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education. Whilst the Decade’s Action Plan advocates a comprehensive approach, Japanese human rights education focuses far less attention on imparting knowledge and developing learners’ attitudes, placing strong emphasis on aspects of responsibility and harmonious human relations understood in the historical context of Japanese moral education. Pedagogical proposals are made to promote a comprehensive approach, including focus on the role of empowering learners, enabling them to protect themselves by invoking human rights.     

Moral Education through the 3 Rs: Rights,respect and responsibility

We report an empirical assessment of suggestions that education in the appreciation of rights may be an effective agent of moral education. A children's rights curriculum was developed that was incorporated into the existing health and social studies curricula in Grade 8 classes (age 13-15) at five different schools over a 6-month period. The curriculum was designed to teach adolescents about their rights and responsibilities under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in an egalitarian and student-centred manner. Assessment of the impact of the rights curriculum showed that, when compared with their peers who did not receive the rights curriculum, the adolescents who did indicated higher levels of self-esteem, perceived peer and teacher support and increased rights-respecting attitudes.     

Moral and human rights education: the contribution of the United Nations

Moral education can take many forms. With the end of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (UNDHRE) (1995–2004), we critically review developments in human rights education (HRE) during those ten years in the context of moral education. We argue that, despite some modest successes, the decade lacked direction and a major impact and has failed to prepare a sound basis for securing HRE internationally. These outcomes largely account for the United Nations' (UN) decision in 2005 to initiate the World Programme for Human Rights Education. Meanwhile initiatives in defining the goals and practice of HRE have happened outside the UN context. Overall the UN's contribution to building HRE and moral education has, at best, been marginally successful due in large measure to the inherent weaknesses of the organisation as well as the UN's inability to engage member states.     

Girls' and boys' reasoning on cultural and religious practices: a human rights education perspective

Human rights play a vital role in citizens' political, religious and cultural life (Wang 2002, 171). Due to the prominence of human rights in the everyday life of citizens, including those of South Africa, human rights education has been included in many school curricula. Human rights education aims to develop responsible citizens who inter alia foster an understanding of gender, ethnical, religious and cultural diversities. This, it is hoped will encourage and maintain peace, as outlined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Departing from a human rights position, a qualitative study commenced in 2009 to explore how girls and boys reason about the cultural and religious practices of girls in their communities and families. Narratives by girls and boys highlighted their views on girls' positioning in their specific communities. From the findings it became evident that the participants were aware of conforming to particular cultural and religious practices. However, some participants also challenged how they perceived these practices and the roles of girls in their communities. The article highlights the necessity of embarking on a gendered perspective towards human rights education.     

Group Identity,Individual Autonomy and Education for Human Rights

The United Nations Declarations of Human Rights (1948) express an ideal for the protection of cultural rights of everyone. They propose an education that is multicultural and non‐discriminatory and recognise that parents have the right to choose their children's education. Article 13.3 of the International covenant on Economic and Social and Cultural Rights gave parents the right to choose for their children “schools other than those established by public authorities to ensure the religious and moral education of their children in conformity with their own convictions”. The paper feels uneasy with this principle that grants parents the right to educate their children in conformity with their own convictions. Such rights could result in restricting the education of children to the narrow framework of parental beliefs and values that could be antithetical to social harmony, individual autonomy and equal opportunity. The question is, should such a right be extended to all parents including those who believe in racial superiority, in apartheid, Nazism or Fascism or in the inherent intellectual differences between boys and girls? The paper discusses some of these issues and asks how can the best interests of the child be served in a pluralist, multicultural, multiracial society. The paper acknowledges that in a pluralistic democratic society there will always be tensions between the public interests, the interests of the group and the interests or autonomy of the individual. These interests are discussed within the framework of fundamental human rights, common or separate schooling and multicultural education. The paper sees these as interrelated issues which are connected with group identity and equal opportunity. Where these interrelated issues conflict, the paper takes the stance that the rights and the autonomy of the individual should take precedence over the others, especially if the notion of human rights and human dignity is to be preserved in practice. This is obviously a controversial issue and the hope is that the paper will open up these issues for further discussion and debate.     

Children's rights and educational policy in Europe: the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child

This article aims to shed light on the impact of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) on education policy in Europe. The findings are based on a documentary analysis of the published reports of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the Committee) on the implementation of the education rights in the CRC in every EU state. This included: a review of the state of children's rights to education in Europe as perceived by the Committee; a summary of the Committee's key recommendations for governments; and an assessment of whether the CRC can be considered to have influenced domestic education law and policies. The findings suggest that the CRC is having an impact on domestic education policy and that the child rights framework could be harnessed further by those seeking to influence government. The article concludes by reflecting on the factors which affect the processes of translating the CRC into policy and practice and explores the role that educationalists, both academic and practitioners, might play in its implementation.     

National Initiatives within the UN Decade for Human Rights Education: The Implementation of Human Rights Education Policy Reforms in Schools

As the ubiquitous force of globalization further erodes the nation-state and political activity increasingly focuses on global issues, there is renewed attention to models of global education. Within this global context, human rights education emerges as a response to the demands of global education. One of the main objectives of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (1995--2004) is the building and strengthening of programs and capacities for human rights education at the national and local levels. In this essay, an overview of human rights education and the policy guidelines for national plans of action for human rights education developed by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights (OHCHR) are presented. Further, the essay focuses on comprehensive national initiatives within the Decade that are being undertaken in Japan, Austria, and the United States, with particular attention to the implementation of human rights education in formal secondary school settings.     

Sex education and human rights—a lawyer's perspective

The Human Rights Act 1998 is the most significant British statute to have been passed in the last decade. It has already been the catalyst for a series of high profile cases, ranging from the privacy rights of celebrities (Douglas v Hello! [2001] QB 967) to the Home Secretary's sentencing powers in murder cases (R (Anderson) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2002] 4 All ER 1089). Yet, beyond the media spotlight, the real influence of the Human Rights Act 1998 lies in the fact that individuals and groups have, for the first time, been accorded the opportunity to invoke in the national courts a series of fundamental human rights. In this paper I will consider one area that is likely to be affected—the extent to which the Human Rights Act will have an impact on the law relating to sex and relationship education (SRE).     

Moral Reasoning and Homosexuality: The acceptability of arguments about lesbian and gay issues

In the political arena, lesbian and gay issues have been contested typically on grounds of human rights, but with variable success. Using a moral developmental framework, the purpose of this study was to explore preferences for different types of moral arguments when thinking about moral dilemmas around lesbian and gay issues. The analysis presented here comprised data collected from 545 students at UK universities who completed a questionnaire, part of which comprised a moral dilemma task. Findings of the study showed that respondents do not apply moral reasoning consistently, and do not (clearly) favour human rights reasoning when thinking about lesbian and gay issues. Respondents tended to favour reasoning supporting existing social structures and frameworks, therefore this study highlights the importance of structural change in effecting widespread attitude change in relation to lesbian and gay rights issues. The implications of the findings for moral education are also discussed.     

Building Intercultural Citizenship through Education: a human rights approach

This article analyses the challenges posed by traditional ethnic and linguistic minorities in multicultural states and more specifically the problems faced by indigenous peoples and communities. Their educational and cultural needs and demands are increasingly being framed in the language of human rights, based on the expanding international legal and institutional human rights system. The United Nations World Conference on Human Rights, held in Vienna in 1993, endorsed a rights-based approach to development, human rights education is a growing field in educational practice, respect for cultural diversity is now enshrined in international and domestic laws, and the right of every person to education and to culture has become a mainstay of international human rights principles to which a majority of the world's states has subscribed.     

Droit International De L’éducation: Une Discipline Nouvelle?

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION LAW: A NEW DISCIPLINE? – Education is one of the most highly regarded “human rights” and one which has been developed most extensively within the International Human Rights Law, so that its normative corpus already forms a very International Education Law. The right to education means a new right to a new education that, in the Rule of Law, may be qualified as Rightful Education. Such an expression is an operating concept for a human rights-based approach to education; that is, for an education no longer envisaged as a right of man over man. It amounts to a new paradigm. It is therefore high time to systematize the International Education Law in order to promote its study and the introduction of a legal dimension into pedagogic culture.     

苏区对“第二代人权”的保障

自20世纪10年代末"第二代人权"获国际认可,受马克思主义理论和俄国社会主义运动的影响,中国人在人权斗争中较早地摄取了"第二代人权"的理念,并努力将其转化为法定人权,中国的人权运动与人权理论由此获得迅速发展。由毛泽东领导的中华苏维埃是当时摄取和实践"第二代人权"理念的典范,真正体现了中国共产党执政为民的立党宗旨。     

美国人权外交的源起和演变

“人权”作为欧洲资产阶级反对封建专制制度的一面旗帜,在20世纪下半叶东西方两种社会制度的对抗中又成为西方手中的“意识形态武器”,这就是“人权外交”。回顾美国“人权外交”的历史,从威尔逊最初提出“人权外交”的主张,到卡特政府正式提出推行“人权外交”政策,及至当前的布什政府的外交主张,我们不难看出,“人权外交”说到底是为美国的国家利益服务的,是美国在国际事务中谋求霸权地位的工具。     

Les Droits de l'Homme et l'Education

The 21st century will, we hope, be the century of education or, as Jacques Delors put it in his report for UNESCO, the century of "lifelong learning". But this hope will only be realised if education is the subject and aim of a universal right. This right is enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which ought to be recognised in all countries of the world as the set of principles that should guide human action. The recognition of these rights should lead to a functioning democracy within educational establishments, where the rules of life should be the same for all: pupils, teachers and administrators. It is no less essential that human rights should constitute guiding principles for educational practice. The United Nations Decade for Human Rights (1995–2004) is an outstanding opportunity for each state to establish a plan of action for a true programme of human rights education.     

Cripping Human Rights Education with Disability Studies: An Undergraduate Reading List

Aiming to place disability studies in conversation with other antioppressive educational frameworks, this article “crips” human rights education (HRE), a field that, by definition, teaches people about equality, dignity, and respect. A theoretical sampling of HRE journals and an online library database uncovers that human rights scholarship largely overlooks disability outside a medical or legal framework, though disability scholars consistently reference human rights in their work. We argue that these absences exemplify the active erasure of disability at the ontological level, and in response we urge scholars to reconceptualize where and how politics, activism, and social change take place. This “visibilizing” project follows Baxi's dictum that HRE must constantly adapt to people’s localized experiences and the needs of future generations. We offer a reading list to begin this “visibilizing” project in undergraduate university settings, proposing that teachers use “Disability and Human Rights Praxis: Intersectional, Interdisciplinary Readings for Educators” to conceptualize how they might pair disability studies in education and HRE texts to facilitate interdisciplinary class discussions and student projects.     

Human Rights and ‘Free and Fair Competition'; the significance of European education legislation for girls in the UK

UK law on education and sex discrimination does not protect the right of girls to equality in education. The European Convention on Human Rights and the Treaty of Rome offer better protection. The Convention provides for the right to education and the right of parents to have their philosophical convictions considered in the education of their child. The European Court of Human Rights’ interpretation of these rights is relevant to those seeking a remedy for sexism in education. The Treaty of Rome has stronger and faster enforcement procedures than the Convention but it makes little provision for education except in vocational training and recognition of qualifications. The form and structure of the EEC legal system nevertheless make it hospitable to a reforming education policy. Educationists need to make sure that the focus on education within the EEC extends beyond vocational training, that the context of the discussion and the definition of education are similar to those of the European Convention and the European Court of Human Rights.     

Children's rights in education

Conclusions The key to the development of any nation is through the educating of its people. No civilized, humane or progressive society can ignore that right to schooling and education of its citizens, particularly its children. Therefore, to implement the right of the child to a development-oriented education is a fundamental condition for improving the child's quality of life, including spiritual and moral dimensions, and his/her ability to function fully as a constructive member of society. The child needs supportive conditions, not only to survive, but also to develop into a responsible human adult. Education must make the present and future well-being of the young generation as its ultimate goal, of which one of the most important conditions is to ensure the full realization of its rights as stipulated by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, for education in the broadest sense continues beyond school and throughout life in a myriad of social contexts. Original language: English Sandra Prunella Mason (Barbados) Chairperson, United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child. She received her legal education at Sir Hugh Wooding Law School. First a private practice lawyer, she became a judge in 1978 and from then until 1992 was in charge of Barbados' Juvenile and Family Courts. She was Barbados' Ambassador to Venezuela, Chile, Colombia and Brazil from 1993 to 1994. She was appointed Chief Magistrate of Barbados in 1995 and Registrar of the Barbados Supreme Court in 1997. She has been a member of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child from its inception in 1991, its Vice Chairperson 1993–95 and Chairperson since 1997.