A/HRC/12/36
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remain on schools and practitioners and further work needs to be undertaken at the primary and
secondary education levels to establish this agenda. The United Kingdom suggested conducting a
baseline assessment of the level of human rights education in schools and a review of impact.
25. The Government considered that human rights education should be expanded to include
government policymakers as a target group. There may be a role for the World Programme in
providing education on torture prevention to police, correction services, judiciary, armed forces,
etc. Other sectors that might usefully be targeted include lawyers and teachers. As concerns
themes, the United Kingdom stressed a greater focus on the interdependence and indivisibility of
human rights and the importance of bringing together human rights, development and the
Millennium Development Goals. NGOs should be supported in working on fair trade and
employment rights in the developing world.
III. RESPONSES FROM NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS
26. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission suggested that before moving on
to the second phase, evaluation of the first phase should be carried out by all Member States. The
evaluation should focus on educational strategies and policy, programme planning, human rights
curriculum development, teaching and learning materials development, pre- and in-service
training of teachers and educational personnel, teaching and learning methodologies, teacher
training and others. Human rights education should be included in all sectors, but particularly in
grades 10-12. The proposed length for the second phase is five years.
27. The Australian Human Rights Commission offered its views on priorities in the Australian
context. Human rights education is fundamental to building a human rights culture and it should
be incorporated into every level of general education. A broad human rights education
programme should be aimed at parliamentarians, court officials, public servants, private sector
workers, students in both schools and universities and the wider community. Specific human
rights education initiatives should be developed to address the needs of communities facing
particular human rights issues, e.g. indigenous peoples and particular faith-based communities.
The Commission deemed that a national study on the status of human rights education in the
schooling sector, professional support for teachers to teach human rights content and the
development of a comprehensive national implementation strategy for human rights education
should remain the priorities for the second phase.
28. The federal Canadian Human Rights Commission undertook consultations with its
provincial and territorial counterparts and proposed that the second phase focus on disability
issues. In the Canadian context, disability is the most often cited ground of discrimination. The
biggest barrier to the full social and economic integration of persons with disabilities is said not
to be the lack of legal protection, but rather the attitudes of non-disabled people toward their
fellow citizens. The Commission recommended that education and other related initiatives be
targeted at the general population in view of education’s role in attitudinal change. Greater
tolerance and improved realities for those living with physical and mental disabilities can be
achieved through broad educational efforts to counter prejudices. This focus could positively
impact on the elimination of barriers that now prevent the full participation in society of persons
with disabilities.
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