HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION

Efforts to Launch a Second Decade for Human Rights Education Underway

The Summer University on Human Rights (SUHR), the International Organization for the Right to Education (OIDEL), Soka Gakkai International, along with a few other Geneva-based NGOs have come together in support of Government of Costa Rica's initiative to sponsor a new resolution of the UN Commission on Human Rights aimed at launching a second Decade for Human Rights Education from 2005 to 2014. The main objective of the Decade would be to promote a broader view of human rights education and consider integrating it into the global UN agenda.

In August 2003, experts of the UN Sub-Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights unanimously adopted a resolution recommending that the General Assembly launch a second Decade in 2004. In recent resolutions, the UN Commission on Human Rights and the UN General Assembly have encouraged governments and non-state actors to continue their efforts towards the achievement of the objectives of the Decade, but, so far, little has been said regarding further action at the international level. As a number of governments have expressed reservations as to the possibility of launching a second Decade, human rights education-focused NGO around the world are currently joining their efforts to convince them to support the launching of the Decade.

 

T.H.