Standing up for your rights !
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” It implies that rights are universal and inalienable,
interdependent and indivisible equal and non-discriminatory
Prof. Quazi Faruque Ahmed
Human Rights Day was observed world over on 10 December to commemorate the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 on this day. As a follow-up the Assembly passed resolution 423 (V) in 1950 inviting all States and interested organizations to observe 10 December of each year as Human Rights Day .This year, Human Rights Day calls on everyone to stand up for someones rights ! This has come as a consequence of dreadful experiences of many in the continents as to where the world is heading. Disregard for the basic human rights continues to engulf almost all parts of the globe. Extremist movements make people victim to horrific violence. Intolerance, fanaticism, racism seem to reign all over. Although Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights says, All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. It implies that rights are universal and inalienable, interdependent and indivisible equal and non-discriminatory.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said on 2016 Human Rights Day : Let us recommit to guaranteeing the fundamental freedoms and protecting the human rights of all. And UN HIgh Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Raad Al Hussein says on the occasion: Its time for each of us to step up for human rights. There is no action that is too small: wherever you are, you can make a difference. Together, lets take a stand for more humanity.
The genocide in Myanmar, Syria and Iraq are a few examples which amply tells us that the contents of human rights continue to remain more in the garb of theory and less in practice.
Human Rights Education
Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration, the United Nations General Assembly has called on Member States and all segments of society to disseminate and educate about this fundamental document. In 1993 the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna reaffirmed the importance of human rights education, training and public information, declaring it essential for the promotion and achievement of stable and harmonious relations among communities and for fostering mutual understanding, tolerance and peace. In response to an appeal by this World Conference, the General Assembly proclaimed the period 1995 to 2004 the UN Decade for Human Rights Education.
In proclaiming the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education in December 1994, the General Assembly defined human rights education as a life-long process by which people at all levels of development and in all strata of society learn respect for the dignity of others and the means and methods of ensuring that respect in all societies. The Assembly emphasized that the responsibility for human rights education rested with all elements of society--government, nongovernmental organizations, professional associations, and all other sectors of civil society, as well as individuals.
The Plan of Action for the Decade further defines human rights education as training, dissemination and information efforts aimed at the building of a universal culture of human rights through the imparting of knowledge and skills and the molding of attitudes which are directed to:
a) The strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms; b) The full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity; c) The promotion of understanding, tolerance, gender equality, and friendship among all nations, indigenous peoples and racial, national, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups; d) The enabling of all persons to participate effectively in a free society; e) The furtherance of the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
During this Decade, the UN urged and supported all its Member States to make information about human rights available to everyone through both the formal school system and popular and adult education. University of Minnesota in the USA developed `Human Rights Resource Center which has defined human rights education as All learning that develops the knowledge, skills and values of human rights.
Using the older, schools-only conception, many countries established human rights as an essential component of the school curriculum decades ago. As a result their current populations have a high level of understanding about human rights. However, in the United States human rights education is still in its beginning stages. Although virtually every high school in the country requires a course on the US Constitution and Bill of Rights, very few people study human rights in schools or even at the university or graduate level.
In 1986 David Shiman had published the first human rights curriculum in the United States, Teaching about Human Rights, which has been followed by a steady stream of new resources in the field, notably Betty Reardons Teaching for Human Dignity (1995) and the establishment of the University of Minnesota Human Rights Education Series in 1998. Another significant stimulus was the 1992 meeting of human rights educators sponsored by the Columbia University Center for the Study of Human Rights with the support of the Organizing Committee of the Peoples Decade of Human Rights.
Many US human rights educators met for the first time at this seminal meeting and formed working alliances that have resulted in significant projects such as Human Rights USA, a partnership of Amnesty International USA, the Center for Human Rights Education, the University of Minnesota Human Rights Center, and Street Law, Inc. Sponsored by the Ford Foundation, Human Rights USA sought to raise human rights awareness and celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1998.
As a result of such efforts, human rights education in the United States has become a recognized educational force. However, it remains to find an established place in the mainstream educational system. Instead it has flourished in alternative settings: non-profit organizations, extracurricular groups like Amnesty Internationals campus chapters, alternative educational settings, and communities of faith.
In 1997 Human Rights USA, a partnership for human rights education, conducted a national survey on the knowledge level and attitudes of people in the USA on human rights. The results showed that only 8% of adults and 4% of young people are aware of and can name the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Although over 90% of the population remains ignorant of the most basic human rights document, every day the media bring human rights crises into living rooms in the US. This contrast speaks graphically of the contemporary disassociation of knowledge and information.
The survey also revealed that a large majority (83%) felt that the USA should do more to live up to the principles of the UDHR. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of those polled felt that the poor were routinely discriminated against in US society, as well as the disabled (61%), the elderly (54%), gays and lesbians (61%), Native Americans (50%) and African Americans (41%)
The National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) brought human rights education to national attention for the first time in September 1985 with a groundbreaking issue of its periodical Social Education dedicated to the topic of human rights. Articles stressed the human rights dimension of traditional social studies topics like the civil rights movement, the Holocaust, and the Emancipation Movement. In an influential article, Human Rights: An Essential Part of the Social Studies Curriculum, Carole L. Hahn, then national president of the NCSS, argued for the global perspective and democratic attitudes fostered by human rights education.
In the same year, Amnesty International USA organized its Human Rights Educators Network and in 1989 began producing Human Rights Education: The 4th R, the first US periodical in this new field. In 1991 the Human Rights Educators Network of Amnesty International USA published a defining rationale for human rights education that reflected the expanding definition of the field:
Human rights education in Bangladesh
Human rights education as we told earlier, is a new subject. In Bangladesh there was not that mention of it in the syllabus of school students. The scenario changed since 2013. Human rights now are there in primary and secondary text books. The rights of the children, women and senior citizens are included. It is stated in the grade six book: every citizen is entitled to five basic rights ---food, clothing, home, health and education from the State. It further says, every one under eighteen is a child. They are equal in rights, irrespective of gender, nationality, religion. Deployment/engagement of children in war or armed battle is prohibited . About senior citizens, it is said in class seven text book: In the develop countries every one above sixty or sixty five is a senior citizen. They are provided with a set of privileges. We should give due honour and respect to them
Needless to say that only mention of human rights in text books does not ensure human rights. For that series of activities to help build awareness is required. The spread of human rights education is essential to achieve the desired result. The role of national leadership, teachers, parents, cultural activists and the conscience keepers and of course involvement of the media, both print and electronic are very vital. Attainment of functional literacy and life long learning create such congenial environment. Lets uphold the conviction today that education and rights are inseparable. One supports the other. Again ignorance results in intolerance. So it is high time to prioritize human rights education and follow the guide lines bestowed by the United Nations. Its the function of the government as well as the proper role playing of the governed. Good governance is the obligation of those who are at the helm of affairs or in government and the citizens are to extend lawful support in accordance with the principles of the universal declaration of 1948. The principle that rights imply duties, is applicable to both of them Lets echo with the call and stand for someones rights todaynear and far.*
The writer is the Chairman, Initiative for Human Development (IHD). [email protected]
