Human Rights and the Global Campaign for Peace Education

International Review of Education -     

Peace and Human Rights Education in the Middle East: Comparing Jewish and Palestinian Experiences

The Washington agreement of 1993 gave a new impetus to attempts by Palestinian and Israeli leaders to find a peaceful solution to their differences. The author asks to what extent this process has been accompanied by peace/human rights education programmes for Israeli and Palestinian children. While such programmes exist, they are very limited and have so far made little impact in reversing the long educational legacy of mutual distrust and hostility, which the article examines in detail. Furthermore, the continuing conflicts between the two communities make peace/human rights education difficult. However, despite the enormous obstacles, the author concludes that the efforts of peace/human rights educators are not wasted.     

Human Rights Education and Training for Professionals

Although human rights education (HRE) has a long history, it has only recently begun to realize its transformative potential. A critical catalyst in this process is the emerging global ethos of accountability. Within this context, HRE can play a crucial role in the construction of a universal culture of human rights, inspired by a shared commitment to a humane order and a belief that human beings have both the capacity and the responsibility to make a difference. In such an effort, the training of professionals is vital, especially of those professionals who can influence public debate on accountability and governance. Innovative HRE initiatives, characterized by a commitment to experiential learning and to international and regional cooperation among state and non-state actors, constitute a step in the right direction.     

Consultation and Training for Human Rights Education

International Review of Education -     

Human Rights Education and Training for Professionals

Although human rights education (HRE) has a long history, it has only recently begun to realize its transformative potential. A critical catalyst in this process is the emerging global ethos of accountability. Within this context, HRE can play a crucial role in the construction of a universal culture of human rights, inspired by a shared commitment to a humane order and a belief that human beings have both the capacity and the responsibility to make a difference. In such an effort, the training of professionals is vital, especially of those professionals who can influence public debate on accountability and governance. Innovative HRE initiatives, characterized by a commitment to experiential learning and to international and regional cooperation among state and non-state actors, constitute a step in the right direction.     

Foucault and Human Rights: Seeking the Renewal of Human Rights Education

This article takes up Foucault's politics of human rights and suggests that it may constitute a point of departure for the renewal of HRE, not only because it rejects the moral superiority of humanism—the grounding for the dominant liberal framework of international human rights—but also because it makes visible the complexities of human rights as illimitable and as strategic tools for new political struggles. Enriching human rights critiques has important implications for HRE, precisely because these critiques prevent the dominance of unreflexive and unproductive forms of HRE that lead toward a declarationalist, conservative and uncritical approach. It is argued that Foucault's critical affirmation of human rights—that is, an approach which is neither a full embrace nor a total rejection—provides a critique that can be disruptive to the conventional HRE approach and creates openings that might renew HRE, both politically and pedagogically.     

试论全纳教育与人权

全纳教育作为当今一种最新的国际教育思潮,其核心理念之一便是:教育即人权、反对教育中和社会上的排斥与歧视。自20世纪90年代以来,我国已关注到人权问题的重要性。作为人权的一个重要组成部分——公民平等的受教育权,也成为我国社会发展中关注的焦点。全纳教育正是基于教育即人权的理念,运用人权观,从多学科的视角和方法来分析教育和社会问题,因此具有较为深刻和深远的社会意义。     

Databases on Human Rights Education

International Review of Education -     

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.     

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.     

International Approaches in Human Rights Education

This paper was presented at a working group on Human Rights Education (HRE), organised by Volker Lenhart and Christel Adick, as part of the biennial conference of the German Society for Educational Research (DGfE), held in 2000 in Göttingen. In the spirit of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (1995–2004) it contributes to the global discourse about HRE by summarising its foundations in international declarations and conventions, by discussing some examples for diverse approaches and conceptions of HRE and, finally by introducing some major obstacles or problems. The paper is part of the author's PhD project in the field of HRE and presents only an interim résumé of her recent work.     

International Approaches in Human Rights Education

This paper was presented at a working group on Human Rights Education (HRE), organised by Volker Lenhart and Christel Adick, as part of the biennial conference of the German Society for Educational Research (DGfE), held in 2000 in Göttingen. In the spirit of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education (1995–2004) it contributes to the global discourse about HRE by summarising its foundations in international declarations and conventions, by discussing some examples for diverse approaches and conceptions of HRE and, finally by introducing some major obstacles or problems. The paper is part of the author's PhD project in the field of HRE and presents only an interim résumé of her recent work.     

大学生马克思主义人权观教育探讨

马克思主义人权观教育是大学生思想政治教育工作的必要内容;实践中,要遵循整体性、多样性和客观性原则,要重视大学生的马克思主义人权观教育,要把马克思主义人权理论纳入高校的思想政治教育体系,要借鉴接受理论以把握教育针对性,要善于利用网络以拓展教育途径。     

Human Rights,Diversity, and Citizenship Education

The 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a propitious time for educators to examine its implications for educating citizens in multicultural nation states. The author argues that students must experience democratic classrooms and schools that reflect their cultures and identities to internalize human rights values, ideals, and behaviors. Schools in nations around the world make it difficult for students to acquire human rights ideals and behaviors because they pursue assimilationist goals that do not provide students civic equality and recognition. Citizenship education needs to be reformed so that it will help students to internalize human rights ideals and behaviors.