Human rights education

Human rights education is the teaching of the history, theory, and law of human rights in schools and educational institutions, as well as outreach to the general public.

The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed it as central to the achievement of the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):

Article 26.2 of the UDHR states the role of educators in achieving the social order called for by the declaration:

Article 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires states to ensure that children are enabled to develop a respect for their own cultural identity, language and values and for the culture, language and values of others.

The importance of human rights was reaffirmed by the United Nations in the 1993 Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action:

As a result of the Vienna Declaration the decade from 1995 to 2004 was declared the UN Decade of Human Rights Education.

UNESCO has a responsibility to promote human rights education, and was a key organiser of the UN's Decade for Human Rights Education. UNESCO attempts to promote human rights education through:

Following the Decade of Human Rights Education, on 10 December 2004, the General Assembly proclaimed the World Programme for Human Rights Education, and ongoing project to advance the implementation of human rights education programmes in all sectors:

The emphasis on Human Rights Education began in 1995 with the beginning of the UN Decade for Human Rights Education, though previously addressed in 1953 with the UNESCO Associated Schools Program, which served as an “initial attempt to teach human rights in formal school settings”. The first formal request for the need to educate students about human rights came about in UNESCO’s 1974 article Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding, Cooperation and Peace, and Education Relating to Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The participants of the International Congress on the Teaching of Humans Rights eventually met in 1978 to form a specific definition of what would be required application of the education in formal curricula. The aims at which the Congress agreed upon including the encouragement of tolerant attitudes with focus on respect, providing knowledge of human rights in the context of national and international dimensions as well as their implementations, and finally developing awareness of human rights translating into reality whether social or political on national and international levels.

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