The Project in Depth
The starting point of Project Human Rights Education is
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights makes it clear
that everyone, with no exceptions of any kind, is entitled to human
rights by virtue of being a human being.
Every country that belongs to the United Nations has agreed to
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Project Human Rights Education serves to educate people
around the world about their rights under national and international
law, starting with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The Project accomplishes this by working one-on-one with
local organizations to incorporate relevant quotations from international
documents into their printed material, and enabling NGOs to spread
knowledge of these rights to their membership.
Knowing about rights is the first step towards securing
rights.
Everyone has the right to education.
Article 26(1), Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December
1948.
Each State Party shall ensure that any statement which is established
to have been made as a result of torture shall not be invoked as
evidence in any proceedings...
Article 15, Convention Against Torture, in force 1987.
Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences
under its criminal law..
Article 4, Convention Against Torture, in force 1987.
Everyone shall have the right to freedom of thought, conscience
and religion.
Article 18, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
in force 1976.
Participating Organizations include:
What in fact are human rights?
International human rights treaties deal with five categories of
rights: civil, political, economic, social and cultural. Once governments
ratify a treaty - any treaty, including human rights treaties -
they are legally committed to enforcing them. Every person -- as
an individual or as part of a group -- is entitled to learn which
rights are in force in their country. Everyone is free to make use
of that information, and to share that information with others,
to help improve the promotion and protection of human rights for
themselves and for others.
Years after the Universal Declaration was adopted, the family of
nations again emphasized the importance of educating people about
human rights. In 1994, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed
the years 1995-2005 to be the
Decade of Human Rights Education.
The Basic Idea
Project Human Rights Education began its work in response
to the worldwide call for action on human rights education. Simply
put, people need to have knowledge about their rights before they
can be in a position to act on them.
The Project starts from a simple concept, and is easy to carry
out.
The Project's Purpose
The Project helps bring information about human rights emanating
from national and international levels into the daily life of people
at the grassroots level. The Project's purpose is to generate
the inclusion of a relevant human rights quotation in each NGO's
communications materials.
Why NGOs?
Virtually all Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), whatever work
they do, are fulfilling human rights as laid out in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights. As NGOs of all sorts go about their
business, they routinely communicate with their members. Every time
any organization is in contact with its members, the opportunity
is there to enrich its message by naming and identifying a related
human right. Every time an organization communicates with its constituency,
it is automatically in a position to educate about a relevant human
right.
The Project works one-to-one with each organization, to
guide it in adopting one particular human right quotation relevant
to the organization's mandate.
The Project's human rights educators are available to assist
NGOs interested in adopting a relevant quotation. The human rights
educators who contribute their services to this Project are
professionals in the field of human rights. Guided by your organization's
mandate, the human rights educators are ready to assist in selecting
a relevant human rights quotation.
The Project will be available in other languages. Bosnian
and Indonesian language versions are in progress, and will be available
soon.
Project Human Rights Education is a project of The Fund
for Peace, a non-profit organization based in Washington D.C. The
mission of The Fund for Peace is to prevent war and alleviate the
conditions that cause war.
Project Human Rights Education has adopted the following
human rights quotation, printed on our letterhead stationery and
our website:
"Everyone has the right to education."
Article 26(1), Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 10 December
1948.
Your Organization
Your organization already informs people about certain rights.
It may be the right to participate in cultural, social or political
activities, or the right to gather with other people to discuss
freely things that matter to you, or the right to housing, or the
right of women to be safe from violence, or the right of the child
to be protected and educated. There are many other rights as well.
To participate in this Project, organizations agree that
they will print information about a particular right, usually the
right that is central to the organization's goals and mandate.
That human rights information, printed on the organization's stationery
or fund-raisers or tee-shirts, then becomes an integral part of
the organization's regular message. It is printed just as routinely
as the organization prints its address and phone number. By doing
this, organizations create a link between their usual activities
and the broader field of human rights. By doing this, they help
the public learn about yet another practical every-day aspect of
human rights. By doing this, we are all giving real meaning to the
aspirations behind the Decade of Human Rights Education.
It's that simple. There is no cost of any sort.
Some of the Project's Collaborators
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In Bosnia & Herzegovina, where the Project first developed,
a women's human rights organization in Sarajevo, Zene Zenama,
prints Article 15 of the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination Against Women on their letterhead.
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In the USA, Amnesty International USA prints Articles of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights on the home page of their
website (See Contacts page).
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In Indonesia, an organization in Jakarta working against discrimination,
Solidaritas Nusa-Bangsa, prints Article 3 of the International
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
on their letterhead.
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In San Francisco, Balkan Youth Link prints Article 26 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights on its letterhead.
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In Sarajevo, the Center for Torture Victims has printed Articles
2 and 14 of the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel,
Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on large posters
that are in the Reception area where survivors await therapy.
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In San Francisco, Crabgrass: Working for Social Change, prints
Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights on its letterhead and its Newsletter.
History of the Project
Project Human Rights Education was conceived of by a group
of human rights educators as a way for grassroots organizations
to bring information to their communities about their rights. Human
Rights Education logically begins with the rights laid out in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and goes forward with related
human rights treaties. National governments have legally bound themselves
to implement those human rights treaties, and to carry out Human
Rights Education. The extent to which governments' obligations
are carried out depends in large measure on the degree to which
they are persuaded by civil society. NGOs are part of civil society.
NGOs constitute an underused network for educating about human rights.
Collaboration with NGOs is basic to the work of the Project. |
