By Dr Bertrand Ramcharan
Seventh Chancellor of the University of Guyana.
Former Director of the International peace conference on Yugoslavia (1992-1996)
Diverse nations with composite population groupings need to work assiduously at nation-building strategies. During 1992-1996, in the peace negotiations to end the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, we sought to base the future peace on the foundations of respect for human rights. For weeks, we provided briefings on international human rights law to the delegations of the three ethnic factions. We advanced the idea of a Human Rights Court for the country, which was included in the Dayton peace accord and functions still. And we suggested the designation of ombudspersons based in different parts of the country.
In the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, we now have the opportunity to take the country forward in harmony by accentuating the role of human rights education at various levels in our Dear Land. Our President is wisely advocating a ‘One-Guyana’ policy. And, at the Congresses of the three major political parties held this year, their leaders have all been emphasising the need for the country to go forward cooperatively by recognizing the dignity, equality, and human rights of every Guyanese. We can deploy our new-found resources to achieving these ends and make our country a model of genuine cooperation in favour of human dignity, equality, and human rights.
A key nation-building strategy could be to embark on the development of human rights education at all levels and in all sectors of our country. This is the glue that can bind our society together. We must teach the dignity and worth of every human being to our children from their early years. We must instil in them a sense of respect for every human being.
At the United Nations, over nearly four decades, I have worked on many trouble-spots, and I have seen the centrality of human rights strategies and of human rights education. That is why, when I served in the functions of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, I launched the idea of a UN Declaration on Human Rights Education in an address at the United Nations in 2004. The UN Human Rights Council took up my call and drafted a Declaration, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 19 December, 2011.
The UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training (2011) contains many policies and strategies that can truly be helpful to a society such as Guyana, and I highlight some of these below for the consideration of our leaders and of Guyanese of goodwill. Our Honourable Minister of Education could go down in history by setting in train policies and strategies for the entrenchment of human rights education throughout our society.
The UN Declaration affirms that everyone has the right to education. Education must be aimed at strengthening respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. Education must be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity. It should enable all persons to participate effectively in a free society, and promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations and all racial, ethnic or religious groups. It should further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace, security, and the promotion of development and human rights,
The Declaration continues that everyone should have access to human rights education and training. “Human rights education and training is essential for the promotion of universal respect for and observance of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all.”
Human rights education and training, the Declaration explains, comprises all educational, training, information, awareness-raising and learning activities aimed at promoting universal respect for, and observance of all human rights and fundamental freedoms, “and thus contributing, inter alia, to the prevention of human rights violations and abuses by providing persons with knowledge, skills and understanding, and developing their attitudes and behaviours, to empower them to contribute to the building and promotion of a universal culture of human rights”.
Human rights education must be inspired by the Purposes and Principles of the Charter of the United Nations with regard to the promotion and encouragement of respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion. Human rights education must also be inspired by the precept of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that “every individual and every organ of society shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” Human rights education and training must be based on the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and on relevant treaties and instruments, with a view to:
(a) Raising awareness, understanding and acceptance of universal human rights standards and principles, as well as guarantees at the international, regional and national levels for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms;
(b) Developing a universal culture of human rights, in which everyone is aware of their own rights and responsibilities in respect of the rights of others, and promoting the development of the individual as a responsible member of a free, peaceful, pluralist and inclusive society;
(c) Pursuing the effective realization of all human rights and promoting tolerance, non-discrimination and equality;
(d) Ensuring equal opportunities for all through access to quality human rights education and training, without any discrimination;
(e) Contributing to the prevention of human rights violations and abuses and to the combating and eradication of all forms of discrimination, racism, stereotyping and incitement to hatred, and the harmful attitudes and prejudices that underlie them.
Human rights education and training, the Declaration adds, must be based on the principles of equality, particularly between girls and boys and between women and men, human dignity, inclusion and non-discrimination.
The Declaration explains that human rights education and training is a lifelong process that concerns all ages. Human rights education and training concerns all parts of society, at all levels, including pre-school, primary, secondary and higher education, taking into account academic freedom where applicable, and all forms of education, training and learning, whether in a public or private, formal, informal or non-formal setting. It includes, inter alia, vocational training, particularly the training of trainers, teachers and State officials, continuing education, popular education, and public information and awareness activities.
Human rights education and training should be accessible and available to all persons and should take into account the particular challenges and barriers faced by, and the needs and expectations of, persons in vulnerable and disadvantaged situations, and groups, including persons with disabilities, in order to promote empowerment and human development and to contribute to the elimination of the causes of exclusion or marginalization, as well as enable everyone to exercise all their rights.
Human rights education and training should embrace and enrich, as well as draw inspiration from, the diversity of civilizations, religions, cultures and traditions of different countries, “as it is reflected in the universality of human rights”. Human rights education and training should take into account different economic, social and cultural circumstances, while promoting local initiatives in order to encourage ownership of the common goal of the fulfilment of all human rights for all.
Human rights education and training should capitalize on, and make use of new information and communication technologies, as well as the media, to promote all human rights and fundamental freedoms. The arts should be encouraged as a means of training and raising awareness in the field of human rights.
Governments, and relevant governmental authorities, have the primary responsibility to promote and ensure human rights education and training, developed and implemented in a spirit of participation, inclusion and responsibility.
Governments should create a safe and enabling environment for the engagement of civil society, the private sector and other relevant stakeholders in human rights education and training, in which the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all, including of those engaged in the process, are fully protected.
Governments should take steps, individually and through international assistance and cooperation, to ensure, to the maximum of their available resources, the progressive implementation of human rights education and training by appropriate means, including the adoption of legislative and administrative measures and policies.
Governments and relevant governmental authorities, should ensure adequate training in human rights and, where appropriate, international humanitarian law and international criminal law, of State officials, civil servants, judges, law enforcement officials and military personnel, as well as promote adequate training in human rights for teachers, trainers and other educators and private personnel acting on behalf of the State.
Governments should develop, or promote the development, at the appropriate level, of strategies and policies and, where appropriate, action plans and programmes to implement human rights education and training, such as through its integration into school and training curricula. In so doing, they should take into account the UN World Programme for Human Rights Education and specific national and local needs and priorities.
National institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights can play an important role, including, where necessary, a coordinating role, in promoting human rights education and training by, inter alia, raising awareness and mobilizing relevant public and private actors. Voluntary funding for projects and initiatives in the field of human rights education and training should be encouraged.
International and regional human rights mechanisms should, within their respective mandates, take into account human rights education and training in their work. In our region, CARICOM should promote human rights education and training.
These, then, are the key policies and strategies of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training. I was recruited into the UN human rights secretariat in 1973, and I have followed, and accompanied, the quest for human rights internationally and in Guyana for fully half a century now. I am convinced that the development of human rights education in Guyana can be a powerful nation-building strategy. I commend the UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training – which I initiated – to the leadership of our country – in and out of Government, and in civil society.
It was the great Martin Luther King who said: “Mine eyes have seen … the promised land” – in this instance the Dear Land of Guyana. The great Indian freedom fighter Ambedkar, a leading drafter of the Indian Constitution, who fought for the rights of the untouchables in India, called on people of goodwill to “Educate, organize, agitate.”
It is right to educate, organize, and agitate for the dignity, equality, and rights of every person in Guyana.
