A/HRC/45/24
belonging to indigenous groups should be able to communicate in their mother tongue, in
addition to Spanish, both orally and in writing; 22 indigenous languages are now taught in
schools, covering more than 75 per cent of the indigenous languages spoken by the students
who attend basic education. Bolivia and Costa Rica reported specific policies and measures
to ensure the right to education for child migrants and refugees, children with medical
conditions, children with disabilities, children living in rural areas and children from
indigenous communities.
2.
Teaching and learning processes and tools
15.
Various States highlighted that human rights education methodologies must be
experiential, foster participation and enable students to experience and apply human rights.
For the school year 2018/19, the Ministry of Education of Italy organized activities under
the “Witnesses of rights” programme, through which secondary school students learn about
the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, assess their
implementation in the community and formulate proposals aimed at improving respect for
those rights. In Andorra, the children’s council provides a yearly forum for local authorities
to listen to schoolchildren’s views and consider their proposals for improving community
life. In Croatia, in 2018, the Office for Human Rights and the Rights of National Minorities
organized, in cooperation with 17 schools, public events involving 963 children and young
people aimed at fostering familiarization between local and migrant populations and
preventing prejudices. Based on that experience, the Office published a guide on how to
respond to children’s questions on refugees, in order to facilitate understanding among
children and young people of issues related to refugees and multiculturalism and to promote
positive interactions with people who speak other languages and come from different
backgrounds. In Slovenia, educational workshops on gender-based violence and harassment
against women and girls on the Internet were held at 120 primary and 60 secondary schools.
The workshops raised awareness among students and teachers of and increased their
sensitivity to the existence of sexual stereotypes and sexism on the Internet and contributed
to changing attitudes and developing behaviours to prevent cyberviolence.
16.
Responding States also highlighted the usefulness of peer-to-peer approaches in
human rights education. In Cyprus, since 2017, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sport
and Youth and the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute have facilitated Greek-Cypriot students and
their Turkish-Cypriot counterparts to come together at a United Nations-controlled area to
discuss issues of stereotyping, discrimination and racism, as well as to engage together in
sports activities to learn about group work, diversity and trust. The meetings were followed
by workshops at the students’ respective schools, where they could exchange their
experiences of meeting children of the other community. In Colombia, the Ministry of
National Education has implemented programmes for secondary school students through
camps at education institutions, where students could discuss values and apply skills with
their peers, focusing on peaceful conflict resolution, self-esteem, democracy, human rights
and coexistence. During the reporting period, the camps involved 227 education institutions
and over 500 students.
17.
Some States reported engaging educational methods in their human rights education
programmes. In Slovenia, a short film entitled Strah [fear] was screened in over 40
vocational secondary schools as a tool for raising awareness and encouraging students to
take an active role against intolerance, racism and xenophobia. The Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of Lithuania, in cooperation with the Embassy of the United States of America to
Lithuania, the Lithuanian Children and Youth Centre and the schoolchildren’s union of
Lithuania, organized a human rights-focused multimedia contest in 2019. That event
allowed young people to express their opinions on human rights issues through various
visual means, such as short documentaries, dramas, animated clips and comic strips. In
Indonesia, the Ministry of Law and Human Rights organized a human rights quiz
competition for students from various high schools, vocational schools and madrasah to
promote human rights principles among students and motivate them to learn about human
rights. Similarly, in Georgia, during the reporting period, the Ministry of Education,
Science, Culture and Sport conducted numerous human rights competitions for students
involving creating human rights videos, blogs, posters, slogans, essays and flash mob
performances. Since 2001, the Ministry of National Education of Romania has organized an
annual Global Education Week, which is aimed at deconstructing stereotypes and
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