Marrakech, 16 and 17 July 2009
Introduction
1. Preparing and drafting a Declaration on Human Rights Education and Learning presupposes an assessment of the rules planned for the treaty and especially an account of the practice of chief stakeholders: i.e., States, treaty bodies, the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education and, finally, non-governmental organisations. For the projected Declaration to exert a significant influence and make human rights education (hereinafter, HRE) truly effective, it is necessary to think of all participants and procedures as forming a single system, in which elements interact and influence one another.
2. The rules are quickly reviewed. States have committed to setting up human rights education in numerous treaties. The chief texts to include some form of it are the following: Universal Declaration of Human Rights (art. 26.2), International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (art. 7), International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (art. 13.1), Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (art. 10 c), Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 29. 1), UNESCO's Convention against Discrimination in Education (art. 5.1 a).
3. In consideration of the abovementioned texts and their interpretation by the various stakeholders, especially treaty bodies, human rights education should be taken to mean: 'a) "Human rights through education": ensuring that all components and processes of learning, including curricula, materials, methods and training, are conducive to the learning of human rights; b) "Human rights in education": ensuring the respect of the human rights of all actors, and the practice of rights, within the educational system.' HRE is thus human rights through education and human rights within education. It is by considering both sides of the HRE coin that we can assess the practice of the various actors.
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