The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training reads in its Article 2 that human rights education encompasses learning about human rights "knowledge, skills and understanding and developing attitudes and behaviours" as well as "empowering persons to enjoy and exercise their rights and to respect and uphold the rights of others." However, how do we put these words into practice? What are the strategies to implement human rights education both in local and sub-regional contexts? To explore the answers to these questions, Amnesty International Hong Kong held in November 2015 the East Asia Human Rights Education Workshop.
Grassroots Heritage Building as Workshop Venue
The workshop took place in Hong Kong from 17 to 20 November 2015. The venue was the YHA Mei Ho House Youth Hostel, a renovated former public housing block built in 1954 that is now recognized as a local heritage. It is located in Sham Shui Po, the poorest district in Hong Kong with predominantly grassroots residents.
The workshop was attended by staff from Amnesty International sections in East Asia including Hong Kong, India, Mongolia, Nepal, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines. There were also several experienced academics and educators in attendance, including Mr. Leung Yan Wing, PhD, Adjunct Associate Professor of the Department of Education Policy and Leadership at The Hong Kong Institute of Education; Professor Mei-ying Tang, Professor of the Department of Education at the University of Taipei in Taiwan; Mr. Jefferson R. Plantilla, Chief Researcher of the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTS OSAKA) in Japan and Mr. Cheung Yui Fai, the Vice-Principal of Po Leung Kuk Lee Shing Pik College, a Hong Kong secondary school, and Director of Education Research Department of the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union.
Proceedings
The workshop lasted for four days. While the first three days were designated for experience sharing in different sectors, the last day was an opportunity for discussion within various Amnesty International sections.
Day 1: Human Rights Education in Formal Education
Staff from Amnesty International Mongolia and Taiwan shared their experiences in teaching human rights. The guest speaker, Cheung Yui Fai, a senior teacher in a high school in Hong Kong, shared his experience on human rights education through formal education including the Liberal Studies and Integrated Humanities subjects and through informal education including through the Students' Unions, talks and workshops by civil society groups. The participants during the open forum discussed the methodologies involved in teaching human rights and the strategies of integrating human rights education into formal education.
In the second session "Institution: Curriculum and Policy," Professors Leung Yan Wing and Mei Yang Tang discussed human rights education in the school curriculum and educational policy in Hong Kong and Taiwan in light of recent social movements. The open forum discussion dealt with the linkage between formal and informal education, human rights education and daily experiences, networking with youth and school communities and the role of government in human rights education.
Day 2: Community Human Rights Education
"Community Human Rights Education" was the theme for Day 2. In the first session, the staff from Amnesty International Hong Kong, Mongolia, Nepal and Thailand shared their experiences in working on
educational programs with social activists and civil society groups. The discussions during the open forum touched on the need for local relevance and evaluation of impact and outcome of educational programs.
In the second session, staff from Amnesty International Hong Kong, Nepal and the Philippines shared their experiences on public education. The participants discussed the issues of the position of different Amnesty International sections in local movements and their relation with local civil society.
Staff from Amnesty International Thailand and the Philippines also shared their educational experiences on online/offline education and the media. Staff from Amnesty International India also gave a brief account of strategies and development of a human rights education program in her country.
Apart from the plenary discussion, participants learned about local culture and forced evictions in the context of urban renewal through a walking tour in Sham Shui Po. The guides were local activists involved in housing rights who shared their knowledge candidly with the tour participants.
Day 3: Regional Relevance
"Regional Relevance" was the main theme for Day 3. Mr. Plantilla from HURIGHTS OSAKA gave a presentation on "Comparative Study of Human Rights Education in the Region." He briefly gave an overview of human rights education programs, projects, networks, resources and new areas of interests in the sub-region. Surprisingly, he had collaborated with various Amnesty International sections in East Asia years ago but these links had been lost. He thus stressed the importance of reviewing what had been done and building on previous work.
Consolidation
To consolidate the discussions in the earlier sessions, participants discussed challenges concerning human rights education. Various issues were addressed including localization, connection to daily experience, connecting people, the role of human rights education in life, school, society and the government, reviewing human rights education strategies and objectives and outcomes of future human rights education program in each country section. Some common features of human rights education in East Asia were highlighted as follows - integration of human rights education into school systems, youth activism and relevant campaigns.
Concluding Remarks
This workshop created an opportunity for Amnesty International educators to share local educational experiences and to receive comments from several academics and educators in East Asia. It formed the basis for potential collaboration among different Amnesty International sections and facilitated discussion of Amnesty International's strategic goals. Yet it was largely focused on the context of Amnesty International and not yet able to connect to the educational experience of other prominent civil society groups in the region.
Last but not least, the workshop reminded us of the importance of reviewing what has been done on human rights education by civil society in the sub-region in the past. It is of paramount importance to learn from the past in order to sketch the future.
For further information, please contact: Debbie Tsui, Human Rights Education Officer of Amnesty International Hong Kong; hre@amnesty.org.hk.