WUNRN
UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
- 6th SESSION
NGO Joint Statement on
Human Rights Education and Learning
Delivered by Conchita Poncini on behalf of:
International Federation of University Women;
Women’s World Summit Foundation; International Association for Religious
Freedom; Pan Pacific Southeast Asian Women’s Association; Organisation
internationale pour le droit à l'éducation et la liberté
d'enseignement
Sixth Session of the
UN Human Rights Council
25 September 2007
This is a
joint statement of NGOs.
Education is an entry point for individual
human beings to develop their ability to understand what it means to be a good
citizen and how to utilize their capacity to relate to their surroundings. One cannot however perform in a vacuum. Education and learning have to be exercised
within a given context and a set of values which values are founded on respect
for human life and human dignity and codified in the International Bill of
Rights.
In pursuit of effective capacity building for
human rights, we call on the Human Rights Council to promote human rights
education in primary and secondary school curricula at national, regional and
international levels as we prepare to celebrate the 60th Anniversary
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 2008. This would help to ensure a learning
environment where human rights and respect for human dignity are practised in
daily life of the whole school community. It is at these levels where there is
the need to promote also education for tolerance as a precondition for
understanding and for implementing all human rights. Unfortunately, there is
insufficient attention to the recommendations for capacity building on
education for tolerance advocated by the "International Consultative
Conference on School Education in Relation with Freedom of Religion and Belief,
Tolerance and Non-Discrimination" jointly sponsored by the United Nations
Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and the Government of Spain
in November 2001.
It is also at the primary and secondary levels
of education where the basic principles of gender equality and
non-discrimination are the most effective entry point with regard to the
understanding of the enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms. We
urge that the 60th anniversary will mark the advancement of human rights
education and learning by remembering and honouring Eleanor Roosevelt as the then Chair of the Commission on Human
Rights and all the drafters who brought the Magna Carta into
the spirit of humanity of the Universal Declaration in 1948 and remains the
heart and soul of it.
Finally, we join with the United Nations in the
common commitment to uphold, promote and protect the human rights of every
individual and to reinforce the learning of the provisions of the Universal
Declaration.
Thank you Mr. President
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Thank you.