2014 News

HRE 2020 urges UN to 'move beyond equal access to education and equality in education, to education for equality'

7 July 2014

HRE 2020 coalition made an oral statement at the CEDAW Committee general discussion on girls'/women's right to education in Geneva. The purpose of the discussion was to help develop a "General Recommendation on girls/women's right to education" as part of the Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which the CEDAW Committee monitors.
 
"We need to move beyond equal access to education and equality in education, to education for equality", said Cecilia Thompson (Equitas), who made the statement on behalf of HRE 2020. HRE 2020 calls for integrating reference to the right to human rights education of women and girls into the General Recommendation.
 

 

HRE 2020 at Treaty Bodies Meeting

26 June 2014

HRE 2020 participated in the Annual Meeting of Chairpersons of Treaty Bodies on 26 July 2014. The focus of the meeting was the treaty bodies strengthening process that was adopted  in resolution A/RES/68/268 in April 2014.

 
HRE 2020 welcomed the resolution to strengthen the effective functioning of the treaty bodies. We expect a more harmonized treaty body reporting system will result in not only greater efficiency and efficacy, but also greater accountability of member states to deliver on their human rights commitments, including commitments to implement human rights education. 
 
The treaty bodies are central to ensuring government implementation of human rights education obligations as it is a cross-cutting issue that is relevant to all treaties. In the absence of a separate legally binding reporting mechanism specifically on human rights education, HRE 2020 looks to the treaty bodies to uphold the principle that a comprehensive education in human rights provides knowledge, imparts skills and empowers individuals to promote, defend and apply human rights in daily life. 
 

 

HRE 2020 Launch

19 December 2013

Amnesty International, HREA, Soka Gakkai International and nine other organisations today launched “Human Rights Education 2020”. HRE 2020 is a global coalition of civil society organisations that aims to promote human rights education by supporting and strengthening the implementation of existing international standards and commitments.

HRE 2020 is launched on the second anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training by the United Nations General Assembly on 19 December 2011. This landmark document recognises the right of every person to have access to human rights education.

“With the UN Declaration and the World Programme for Human Rights Education there exist clear standards and commitments for human rights education. HRE 2020 aims to systematically monitor these standards and commitments in order to ensure effective implementation”, says Adele Poskitt, Program Associate at HREA and coordinator of HRE 2020. “We call for greater accountability by governments because a comprehensive education in, through and for human rights provides knowledge, imparts skills and empowers individuals to promote, defend and apply human rights in daily life.”

Full story about HRE 2020 Launch.