Launch of the OHCHR web resource The Right to Human Rights Education

Side Event to the 27th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council, 10 September 2014, Geneva 
 
“The Right to Human Rights Education”, originally published in 1999, is a compilation of international and regional instruments provisions which outline the consensus and commitments expressed by States on human rights education. In view of the many developments which have taken place since then, in 2011 the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) embarked on the revision of this compilation. 
 
The revised compilation as the new OHCHR web resource, The Right to Human Rights Education is now available. This web resource can be used to promote human rights education and training, and to support a variety of initiatives that include: 
  • Comparing national legislation and international commitments with a view to bringing national laws into conformity with international standards; 
  • Designing, implementing and evaluating human rights education and training programmes in all sectors in line with international commitments; 
  • Advocating for human rights education and training.
 
The purpose of the Human Rights Council side event was to launch The Right to Human Rights Education and HRE 2020 was invited to participate in the event as a panellist, together with:
  • The Platform for Human Rights Education and Training (2007) - composed of a cross-regional grouping of 7 Member States - Costa Rica, Italy, Morocco, Philippines, Senegal, Slovenia and Switzerland – which jointly promote human rights education and training at the international level;
  • International Contact Group on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights (2011) - composed of related departments in various intergovernmental organizations, including OHCHR, UNESCO, OAS, Council of Europe, ODIHR/OSCE, EU and ALESCO;
  • International Coordinating Committee for National Human Rights Institutions (1993) - the international association of national human rights institutions (NHRIs), established to promote and strengthen NHRIs in accordance with the Paris Principles, and to provide leadership in the promotion and protection of human rights;
  • NGO Working Group on Human Rights Education and Learning of the CoNGO (2006) - a working group - composed of more than 40 non-governmental organizations - of the NGO Committee on Human Rights of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the UN; it aims at ensuring NGO participation in the processes of global policy making on human rights education, principally at the Human Rights Council.
 
The panellists, who represent five key international networks promoting human rights education and training, made interventions during the side event and the OHCHR encouraged and moderated the dialogue with the public. HRE 2020 stressed the importance of the revised version of The Right to Human Rights Education, not only to remind of State obligations to implement human rights education and training, but also as an invaluable tool to lobby governments to make good on these promises.