In my opinion: Lift-off for human rights learning in our schools
Today, International Human Rights Day, sees the beginning of the International Year of Human Rights Learning.
Here in Ireland, Amnesty International has been working since 2001 with the INTO and the Ulster Teacher's Union to develop Lift Off, a cross-border human-rights education programme for primary schools. Supported by the departments of education here and in the North, it is now in over 200 schools.
It is inspiring to see children as young as six becoming aware of their rights and their responsibility to respect the rights of others.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Ireland ratified in 1992, makes clear that developing respect for human rights is a core component of a child's education.
In 2004, the UN General Assembly, with Ireland's support, adopted the World Programme for Human Rights Education. Yet two years ago the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child had to remind the Government to 'promote human rights education' and called for a 'systematic information campaign on children's rights'.
In April, the Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights highlighted the need for the mainstreaming of human-rights education after his mission to Ireland.
Yet Lift-Off remains the only human-rights education programme in our schools, available to only a small percentage of children.
But it isn't just about meeting our commitments to the UN or the Council of Europe. It's about a programme that has immediate and practical benefits for our children.
Two independent evaluations of Lift Off have shown how children are being encouraged to participate in the running of their schools. They are learning how to respect classmates from different backgrounds and resolving their own disputes. Teachers have been enabled to manage diversity in the classroom and address bullying.
We've seen wonderful examples of this in action like the Human Rights Friendly Playground run by the pupils of St Catherine's NS in Dublin and Bunscoil an tSleibhe in Belfast. The children designed games for the playground that would prevent accidents and bullying. Children volunteered to be 'Anti-bullying patrollers'.
Children are also learning about how they can make a difference in the lives of others. Fifth class students in St Fergal's NS in Bray, after studying the Convention on the Rights of the Child, made their own DVD about the 218 million children involved in child labour. Children in St Senan's NS in Enniscorthy wrote to the Minister of Foreign Affairs looking for action on Darfur.
At a very young age these children are already learning what it really means to be an active citizen, about how they can individually and collectively be a force for good in the world.
The resources necessary for making human-rights education part of the core curriculum in Ireland are, for the most part, already there.
Amnesty International has committed to developing this project at no cost to the State; we will provide the resources, Government need only adopt and implement the programme.
We need to live up not just to our international commitments, but the ones we make to our children.
