The Other View

New Education Package on
Human Rights for Children

by Cameron Mitchell

A new joint project by the Ulster Teachers Association and the Irish National Teachers Organisation alongside Amnesty International is to begin its all-Ireland pilot scheme in January. It is hoped that twenty schools will take part in a 'Cross Border Primary Human Rights Education Initiative'.

It has been proposed that the broad-based programme, geared towards children aged between eight and twelve, i.e., Key Stage 2 in Northern Ireland and 3rd – 6th class in the Republic of Ireland, will address the concepts of human rights and responsibilities as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the associated concepts of respect, diversity and mutual understanding.
The UN Convention on the Rights of a Child gives responsibility to states to ensure that human rights education forms an integral part of a the educational curricula. As stated in Article 4, 'States Parties shall undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognised in the present Convention. With regard to economic, social and cultural rights. States Parties shall undertake such measures to the maximum extent of their available resources where needed, within the framework of international co-operation.' The obligation of States Parties is highlighted in Article 42 of the Convention 'to undertake to make the principles and provisions of the convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike'.

Jim Lochran, Irish Development Manager for Amnesty International, told The Other View, 'As part of Amnesty International's focus on human rights and education mandate, we spent the last two years in conjunction with the Irish National Teachers Organisation and the Ulster Teacher's Union designing a package that could be implemented into mainstream education'. He went on to say, 'Both of the teachers unions have been involved from the start, through the design of the package, research and implementation.'

The programme aims to incorporate a 'whole school' approach to human rights education, which means that the initiative will be placed right through the curriculum, i.e. religious classes etc. Teachers will develop skills and an understanding on human rights education as a part of their work and pupils will be involved in various projects within the school and with other participating schools, the programme has been designed to twin schools with other schools in different jurisdictions.

Mr Lochran explained: 'Because of the changing society in Ireland and with the Good Friday Agreement in place, we believe that the scheme will have full support from teachers and parents alike. The programme has been carefully thought through, and there will be a lot of assistance for the teachers to put the initiative in place. The purpose of the pilot scheme is to measure or review the work that has been done up to date and to make any amendments before the scheme is fully implemented.'
'It is hoped that the initiative will improve relationships between teachers, trade unions and parents. The fact that the scheme has got to this stage reflects the commitment of Amnesty International regarding human rights.' concluded Mr. Lochran

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