A/HRC/12/36
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for human rights education. Therefore, the first phase should be further extended and its
activities evaluated at regional and global levels so as to ascertain the impact of the programme
to date and to be better able to tackle remaining challenges, the scale of which is different in each
country or region.
34. The Commission suggested that initial work on the second phase focus on civil and public
servants, especially teachers. Training on the norms and principles of human rights should be a
mainstream component of all pre- and in-service training for teachers, the police service, prison
staff, health professionals, public service providers, civil servants, and for State bodies to which
the Government delegates responsibilities. Such training should be mandatory for all public
officials, while those engaged in law-, policy-, or decision-making and service provision should
be provided with tailor-made training on human rights. Existing human rights infrastructures
should be used in implementing the second phase, which would require a time frame of at least
10 years.
35. The National Commission on Human Rights and Freedoms of Cameroon considered that
the focus should be on disadvantaged and vulnerable children, although they may not be able to
defend their rights even after coming to know them. Education on the rights of the child should
move from targeting rights holders to targeting duty bearers. Parents, tutors, teachers, public
authorities, local or traditional authorities and everyone else should be able to participate in
effective protection of the rights of the child. Topics like non-discrimination, equality between
boys and girls at home and in school, the right to participate and the responsibilities of parents
and community leaders towards the protection of the child should be part of the agenda for
effective human rights education.
36. The National Human Rights Commission of India identified children and teachers in
schools and colleges as one possible target sector. A human rights education component should
be introduced in the school and college curriculum and teachers should also be sensitized since
they serve as role models. Secondly, in view of the importance of good governance, the new
phase could focus on elected representatives of people and field-level functionaries of
Government or organizations under Government. The third possible target group could be rights
holders, namely women, vulnerable groups, persons with disabilities and labourers, including
migrant labourers. Global thematic areas for the second phase could include climate change and
environmental issues, which have a bearing on the rights to food, water, clean air and life; and
gender equality, with a view to empowering women. Thematic areas specific to India include
food security; right to education; right to health, hygiene and sanitation; conditions in places of
custody; HIV/AIDS; and right to development. The second phase should last three to five years.
37. According to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, the second phase should
seek to extend human rights education to higher education systems throughout the formal
education curriculum at universities and postgraduate schools. It would be important to develop
human rights research institutes based at local universities as well as human rights education and
training modules for pre-service, in-service or lifelong training for lawyers, law enforcers, civil
officials, teachers, social workers and health service providers. Human rights-centred training
programmes should equip teachers to respect human rights. Among the various target
populations for human rights education in the school and the public and civil society sectors, the
Commission highlighted social workers and other human service providers, business people, and
State and local public service officials, including police, prosecution, correctional and
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