A/HRC/45/24 address matters concerning children. The Commissioner for Children’s Rights of Cyprus published two manuals, on children’s participation in the media and audiovisual or art productions and on the rights of the child. The manuals are distributed to professionals in the media and art sectors, parents and children. Croatia reported a focus on minority issues. The Office for Human Rights and the Rights of National Minorities of Croatia, in cooperation with the Council for National Minorities, regularly organizes seminars on minority rights for media professionals to discuss the issues of minority representation in print media and radio and television programmes at the national, regional and local levels and the media’s role in preserving minority identities and in combating stereotypes and hate speech against persons belonging to national minority groups. 45. States also reported measures that they implemented to ensure that media professionals and journalists could carry out their professional roles safely and effectively. In 2017, Sweden adopted a plan of action in the defence of the freedom of expression, to respond to the harsh debates in recent years targeting journalists. It also mandated the Fojo Media Institute at Linneaus University to identify, develop and facilitate activities to increase the knowledge and skills of journalists and media professionals to prevent and handle hate and threats; the Institute subsequently developed a knowledge platform and provides related training for journalists. In 2018, Brazil published a handbook on international and inter-American standards regarding the protection of the human rights of journalists and other media professionals and the prevention of crimes related to freedom of expression. In Greece, the Hellenic Multinational Peace Support Operations Training Center included a training course in its programme for journalists, media workers and relevant government officials on the protection of journalists and media workers in conflict zones. IV. Conclusions and recommendations 46. The review of contributions received for the present report confirmed some of the findings of the midterm progress report on the third phase of the World Programme (A/HRC/36/24), in particular in the area of human rights education at the primary and secondary school levels. The reporting States are putting in place systemic strategies involving, beyond curriculum and material development, the integration of human rights education into education policies, the use of experiential and engaging teaching methodologies and the training of teachers and other education personnel. Within that group of States, many reported initiatives that indicated a positive trend towards the institutionalization of human rights education in the formal education system. The contributions suggest an encouraging increase in attention paid to fostering learning environments that reflect human rights values, in which human rights are upheld, that are free from racism and violence and that are inclusive, leaving no one behind. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular Sustainable Development Goal target 4.7, have provided further impetus for scaling up such efforts and assessing progress made in their implementation. 47. Progress is being made within the contributing States on the human rights training of professional groups. Information on the systematic evaluation of preservice and in-service human rights training, starting with a comprehensive assessment of learners’ needs, is rarely provided. The importance of continual evaluation of human rights training, in order to ensure its relevance and maximize its impact, cannot be underestimated, as also noted in the midterm progress report. 48. The contributions also suggest that human rights training for media professionals and journalists has progressively increased during the third phase. There is a growing recognition of the role of the media in the promotion and protection of human rights, in particular those of individuals in situations of vulnerability, and in combatting hate speech. A few responding States highlighted the importance of human rights education being coupled with an enabling environment, in which the safety of media professionals is ensured and freedom of expression is protected, in order for journalists to fulfil their important role in upholding human rights. 49. Responding States indicated an increasing use, during the third phase, of information technology to facilitate learning and networking and information 14

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