HUMAN RIGHTS LEARNING A PEOPLE’S REPORT The case for Human Rights Education and Learning at the community level as a strategy for human, social and economic development, and towards economic and social transformation for people of all ages, all over the world. Conceptualization and Integration: Upendra Baxi Editorial Board: Shulamith Koenig, Walther Lichem Stephen Marks and Kathleen Modrowski Project overseen by Upendra Baxi Edited by Upendra Baxi and Kenny Mann When asked what should be done about human rights, the French philosopher Voltaire answered: “Let the people know them!” People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning 2006 The People’s Report is published by: PDHRE, People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning 526 W. 111th Street, Suite 4E, New York, NY 10025, USA PDHRE was originally known as: PDHRE, People’s Decade for Human Rights Education. The organization has recently changed its name to: PDHRE, People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning. This book was made possible by generous contributions from: The Foreign Ministries of the Governments of Norway and Denmark OXFAM-NOVIB; Daniel Solomon Design of cover Page: Yehonatan Koenig Layout and pictures- Shulamith Koenig ISBN 13: 978-1-4243-1479-9 THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE 2003 On the 10th of December, 2003 – Human Rights Day - Shulamith Koenig, founder and Executive Director of PDHRE, the People’s Movement for Human Rights Education (now known as the People’s Movement for Human Rights Learning) was among five recipients of the prestigious United Nations Human Rights Prize. Awarded by the President of the UN General Assembly to only five individuals every five years, Koenig now joins the ranks of luminaries such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Jimmy Carter, James Grant, Rene Cassein and many others who have been recipients of the award since it was initiated in 1968, and who have advanced the cause of human rights around the world.1 With the goal of creating a global human rights culture, Koenig has worked tirelessly and successfully to have the UN declare the Decade for Human Rights Education (1995 – 2004) and to support the ensuing training programs, consultations and workshops on human rights education at all levels with human rights advocates and community leaders in more than 60 countries. She has advocated global action at the community level for societal change through human rights education for social and economic transformation with a gender perspective as relevant to people’s daily lives. Koenig also initiated the “Human Rights Cities” project, which is supported by the United Nations Development Program as a three-year global initiative to develop 30 human rights cities and train 500 young community leaders as human rights educators. This project aims to strengthen the holistic vision of human rights as a way of life, to involve civil society in promoting human rights and to strengthen democracy as a delivery system for human rights. http://www.pdhre.org 1 The full list can be found on the UN website: http://www.un.org/events/humanrights/awards.html The Pledge We are the human rights generation We will accept nothing less than human rights. We will know them and claim them, For all women, men, youth and children, From those who speak human rights, But deny them to their own people. We will move power to human rights. TABLE OF CONTENTS PREFACE By Shulamith Koenig i EDITORIAL NOTES By Upendra Baxi v By Kenny7 Mann Vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ix PART I: INTRODUCTION a) A BRIEF HISTORY OF PDHRE 1 b) DEVELOPMENT OF THE PEOPLE’S REPORT Context and History By Upendra Baxi 8 c) FOSTERING HUMAN RIGHTS CULTURES By Upendra Baxi 15 PART 2: CONCEPTIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION a) CONCEPTS OF HUMAN RIGHTS The Three Worlds of Human Rights By Upendra Baxi 17 b) THE GLOBAL AGENDA AND THE NEED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION AND LEARNING By Walther Lichem 24 c) THE HOUSE OF MEMORY By Marcela Chiarotti 32 PART 3: OBSTACLES FACING HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATIO a) THE INSTRUMENTALIST CHARACTER OF HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION By Upendra Baxi 37 b) CULTURE AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS? By Peter Leuprecht 51 c) AFRICAN AMERICANS AND HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION By Loretta J. Ross 58 PART 4: A BRIEF HISTORY OF HUMAN RIGHTS CONSCIOUSNESS a) PAULO FREIRE AND POPULAR EDUCATION IN THE 20TH CENTURY By Kathleen Modrowski 65 b) HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN UN PEACE-BUILDING: FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE By Stephen P. Marks 76 c) FROM KURU KAN FUGAN TO THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS Empowerment through Human Rights Education in Mali By Kathleen Modrowski 87 d) RACE, RIGHTS AND RESISTANCE: AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND ND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS By Ajamu Baraka 98 PART 5: USING THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN RIGHTS TO IMPLEMENT DEEP-SEATED CULTURAL CHANGE ENDING FOOT BINDING IN CHINA AND FEMALE GENITAL CUTTING IN SENEGAL 105 a) THE MOVEMENT TO END FOOTBINDING IN CHINA By Garry Mackie 107 b) ABANDONING FEMALE GENITAL CUTTING IN SENEGAL By Molly Melching 113 PART 6: HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION: ARRIVING AT THE TRUTH By Upendra Baxi a) TRUTH AND TRANSGRESSIO 117 b) THE SEVEN SISTERS 122 PART 7: HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN ACTION AROUND THE WORLD LAW a) Lawyers to Lawyers: Witnesses to Interference With Due Legal Process 133 b) Alternative Law in Cameroon By Rose Ngo Innack 135 c) Rebuilding Cambodia’s Shattered Legal System By Seth Mydans 142 POLICY a) Winning Comprehensive Human Rights through Long-Term Policy-Making: Kerala, India By Mado Spiegler 146 b) Language Policy in South Africa: Language as a Human Right By Nigel Crawhall 154 RESOURCES Media as a Mobilizing Force – the Case of Tanzania Media Women’s Association(TAMWA) By Fatma Alloo 158 RELATIONSHIPS From Solidarity and Liberation Theology to Human Rights Education in Argentina and Uruguay Compiled by Mado Spiegler 161 ACCOUNTABILITY a) Claiming the Right to Housing in Bhabrekar Nagar, India By Minar Pimple 168 b) The work of the Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC) with Kamaiya Bonded Agricultural Laborers in Nepal 178 PARTICIPATION a) Women Coca Growers Fight for Social Validity in Bolivia By Susana Chiarotti 182 b) The Health Awareness Project in Guatemala By Regis De Muylde 187 CONTINUOUS EDUCATION a) From Buraku Liberation To Human Rights Through Dowa Education in Japan From materials published by the Buraku Movement 192 b) Literacy and People’s Science or National Integration, Self-Reliance And Regeneration 200 From materials published by Baharat Jan Gyan Vigyan Jatha c) The Status of Human Rights Education in Sub-Saharan Africa By Pramila Patten 208 EFFECTIVENESS Report on the Effectiveness and Strategic Planning of Cambodian Human Rights Grantees By Stephen P. Marks 214 PART 8: HOW GLOBALIZATION IMPACTS COMMUNITIES IN THEIR EFFORTS TO ARTICULATE AND PROTECT THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS a) WINNERS AND LOSERS By Upendra Baxi 225 b) INTERNATIONAL NGO COMMITTEE ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN TRADE AND INVESTMENT 231 c) HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION AND LEARNING: TOWARDS A UNIVERSAL VISION FOR THE WORLD SOCIAL FORUM By Minar Pimple 239 PART 9: INCREASING MILITARIZATION AND ITS EFFECT ON HUMAN RIGHTS THE PRODERE PROCESS IN CENTRAL AMERICA By Masaru Ishida 243 PART 10: MODERN SCIENCE AND HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION a) SCIENTISM AND ITS EFFECTS ON HUMAN RIGHTS PHILOSOPHY By Upendra Baxi 255 b) HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION FOR STUDENTS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY By Richard Pierre Claude 260 C) USING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION By Frank Elbers and Felisa Tibbitts 262 PART 11:TOWARDS A PEDAGOGY OF HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION a) DIALOGUE: A KEY ELEMENT IN HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION By Upendra Baxi 271 b) INTERNATIONAL CONSULTATION ON THE PEDAGOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION: Centro de Estudios democraicos de America Latina (CEDAL) 273 c) TOWARD A BUDDHIST SOCIAL ETHICS: THE CASE OF THAILAND By Tavivat Puntarigvivat 280 D ) APPLYING THE NONVIOLENT BUDDHIST PROBLEM-SOLVING APPROACH IN SRI LANKA By Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne 288 e) HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION FOR MUSLIM WOMEN By Leila Bedeir 294 f) SCHOOL AS A HUMAN RIGHTS COMMUNITY, COMMUNITY AS SCHOOL: THE KIBBUTZ MOVEMENT 298 By Prof. Muki Tzur PART 12: A GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS CITIES PROGRAM TOWARDS SOCIETAL DEVELOPMENT 307 PART 13: CONCLUSIONS By Upendra Baxi 321 PART 14: METHODOLOGIES AND PRAXIS OF HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION By Richard Pierre Claude 323 ENDNOTES 333 BIBLIOGRAPHY 335 AUTHORS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER 341 APPENDIX A A Simplified Version of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights 343 APPENDIX B A Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: 345 CEDAW APPENDIX C International Symposium on the Information Society, Human Dignity and Human Rights 346 APPENDIX D Graz Declaration on Principles of Human Rights Education and Human Security 356 “Who is a Human Rights Educator?” Shulamith Koenig 361 PREFACE This work in your hands celebrates the promise that was made, the promise that is not kept, the promise that must be fulfilled for humanity to draw from its richness and get involved in making this a better world for all - the promise of human rights that was made by “We the People” in the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This extraordinary pledge of hope has been corrupted and denatured by rapidly changing articulation and political expediencies. It can be recaptured by women and men who instinctively know the meaning of human rights in their hope and quest for dignity, equality, and non- discrimination, anchored in their desires for economic and social justice as prophesized by their sages, seers, and the communities of resistance. We human rights educators argue with fervor that the age-old visions of justice in society be fully restored even as we install the new ones, through the integration of holistic learning and dialogue about human rights at the community level that empowers people to become actors of change, enabling them to use the knowledge and understanding about human rights as a way of life and as a powerful tool for action that can change their lives.