scholarly journals The role of law and legal knowledge for a transformative human rights education: addressing violations of children’s rights in formal education

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 04-24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Lundy ◽  
Gabriela Martínez Sainz
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Human Rights Education ◽  
Negative Experiences ◽  
Under Five ◽  
Children’S Views ◽  
Do So

Human Rights Education (HRE) emphasises the significance of children learning about, through and for human rights through their lived experiences. Such experiential learning, however, is often limited to instances of enjoyment of rights and disregards experiences of injustice, exclusion or discrimination.  By neglecting the ‘negative’ experiences, including breaches of their human rights, HRE fails in one of its fundamental aims: empowering individuals to exercise their rights and to respect and uphold the rights of others.  Drawing on a range of legal sources, this article identifies a number of violations of the human rights of children in schools, categorised under five themes: access to school; the curriculum; testing and assessment; discipline; and respect for children’s views. It argues that for HRE to achieve its core purpose, it must enable children to identify and challenge breaches of rights in school and elsewhere. To do so, knowledge of law, both domestic and international, has a fundamental role to play.

The gypsy’s lot: myth and reality

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Jago
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter focuses on the lived experiences of gypsies (collectively referred to as gypsies rather than Roma or travellers). The author argues that the relationship between the legal system and the specific lifestyle of this group is itself causing many tensions which cannot be separated from the long-held myths about gypsies. Jago shows how the standing of gypsies in the UK legal system has, in turn, become the object of various myths. He demonstrates how judgements by the European Court of Human Rights in favour of gypsy claims created in many an image of the law being always on the side of the gypsy. A perception which Jago demonstrates is far from true. After addressing the nature and role of myths in general the author illustrates the tension between positive, romanticised myths about the freedom of gypsy lifestyle and three derogatory myths, namely gypsies as "child-snatchers", as thieves and as "land grabbers". Jago illustrates that these myths are linked to deep-rooted beliefs around property and its ownership.

scholarly journals Students’ Understanding of Institutional Practices: The Missing Dimension in Human Rights Education

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 188-217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith C. Barton
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Institutional Factors ◽  
Human Rights Education ◽  
Young Adolescents ◽  
Civic Action ◽  
Specialized Knowledge ◽  
Institutional Practices ◽  
Group Interviews

This study used task-based group interviews with young adolescents in four countries to investigate their understanding of the causes of human rights violations, means for protecting human rights, and their own potential role in ensuring human rights. Although students recognized the role of personal and institutional factors in both violating and protecting human rights, their ideas for influencing human rights focused primarily on the personal contexts with which they were most familiar. Their understanding of political and economic mechanisms was much less elaborate. These findings suggest the need for curricula that equip students with the complex and specialized knowledge that would enable them to engage in a range of meaningful civic action, both in their lives now and as adults.

The role of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in promoting respect for human rights

1993 ◽  
Vol 33 (293) ◽  
pp. 139-149
Author(s):  
Peter Nobel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
The World ◽  
Humanitarian Organization ◽  
Do So

As violations of human rights are a growing concern all over the world, and as the perpetrators are not only governments and their agents but all sorts of parties on many levels, it is essential for a major humanitarian organization like the Red Cross and Red Crescent to focus its efforts on counteracting this evil. If it fails to do so it might dangerously weaken its profile and, what is much worse, it will be deserting many of the most vulnerable groups and communities.

The International Criminal Court Statute and the Failure to Mention Symbolic Reparation

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frédéric Mégret
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Symbolic Forms ◽  
International Instruments ◽  
Rights Issue ◽  
Do So

The International Criminal Court (ICC)'s reparations regime seems very geared towards material reparation such as restitution, compensation and rehabilitation. However, a growing number of international instruments, particularly in the human rights field, anticipate that more symbolic forms of reparation such as satisfaction and non-repetition are mandatory. The article explores what reasons may have led the ICC drafters to not at least mention symbolic reparation and finds that, apart from a possible trend towards commodification of reparation in general, the perception was probably that only states can grant symbolic reparation, and that ordering individuals to do so might raise human rights problems. None of these arguments are conclusive. Individuals can provide symbolic reparation, and this could be encouraged rather than ordered to avoid the human rights issue. More importantly, the role of the ICC and the Victims Trust Fund will be to use money as reparation, and nothing will prevent them from using awards so made for symbolic purposes. In fact, strong principle and policy arguments militate in favor of granting a larger role to symbolic reparation in the ICC context, thus helping to make the Court into more of an institution of transitional justice.

Social Transformative Learning in Human Rights Delegations: Critical Research on the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network

2021 ◽  
pp. 154134462110503
Author(s):  
Lisa Rankin ◽  
Leona M. English
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Change ◽  
Experiential Learning ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Social Transformation ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Human Rights Education ◽  
Learning Approaches ◽  
Critical Research

This article examines the experience of six participants in the Maritimes-Guatemala Breaking the Silence Network (BTS) delegation program. Human rights education is central to this program that operates between Canada and Guatemala. Key findings from this research include participants’ rethinking of their own power and privilege upon returning to Canada and making connections with the struggle of Indigenous peoples in both countries. Another finding concerns how specific communal aspects of the BTS delegation (communitas) lead to social transformation and the development of solidarity relationships that are transformative to all. The research affirms the need for experiential learning experiences which use transformative learning approaches to support human rights and social change.

The Need to Reform the Political Role of the African Union in Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in Domestic States: Making States More Accountable and Less Able to Avoid Scrutiny at the United Nations and at the African Union, Using Swaziland to Spotlight the Issues

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Sarkin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
The Political ◽  
African Union ◽  
Periodic Review ◽  
Political Role ◽  
Universal Periodic Review ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Do So

This article examines how effective the African Union (AU) has been in pushing states to be more democratic in nature and to respect, protect, fulfil and promote the human rights of their inhabitants. It reviews the political role of the AU in this regard using the situation in Swaziland to do so. The article also examines Swaziland at the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process as a comparative tool.

scholarly journals Human Rights Education and Training Programs in Mexico: A Cross-Case Analysis of Practitioners’ Professional Knowledge and Practices

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriela Martínez Sainz
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Training Programs ◽  
Professional Knowledge ◽  
Case Analysis ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Education And Training ◽  
Human Rights Education ◽  
Cross Case Analysis ◽  
And Training

In Mexico, human rights education and training programs are becoming one of the most recurrent outcomes in official settlements related to institutional violations and abuses of human rights. Despite their predominant role in addressing human rights violations, there is little systematic information on how these programs are conducted in practice. To fill the gap, this article presents a cross-case analysis of three qualitative studies that explore practitioners’ professional knowledge and practices in implementing human rights education programs in Mexico. Each individual case examines some of the challenges practitioners face in the implementation of these programs, the institutional influence on their work, and the role of their own experiences in human rights practices.

scholarly journals Protecting invisible children in England: how human rights education could improve school safeguarding

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison E.C Struthers
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Young People ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Human Rights Education ◽  
Passive System ◽  
Invisible Children ◽  
Speak Up

This article brings together two distinct but interrelated fields: human rights education (HRE) and safeguarding. It endeavours to show that the former can be beneficial for the efficacy of the latter. By extending an argument put forward recently that for HRE to be effective it must enable children to recognise and respond to lived human rights injustices, the article places this important issue within the existing framework and processes associated with safeguarding young people in formal education. It attempts to both elucidate and consolidate the connection between HRE and safeguarding, arguing that if HRE were to become an integral part of safeguarding training and delivery, children may be better equipped to recognise and speak up about violations of their human rights, rather than relying on a passive system of adult observation.

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