EDUCATING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

FROM VISION TO REALITY

2nd EUROPEAN EDUCATION FOR PEACE CONGRESS

26 - 30 July 1996 in Lillehammer, Norway

organised by Teachers for Peace in Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the Institute for Peace Education, Finland, in cooperation with Kornhaug Norwegian Peace Centre

CONGRESS REPORT

edited by Erik Cleven, Ingrid Inglander and Anne Halvorsen

Printed with support of the Swedish National Commission for UNESCO

 

CONTENTS

EDUCATING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS - FROM VISION TO REALITY Hugh Starkey, Open University, UK Plenary

I. HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY: SECURITY FOR ALL

TOWARDS A NEW SECURITY POLICY
Maj Britt Theorin, Ambassador, International Peace Bureau Geneva. Plenary

CHILDREN´S THOUGHTS ABOUT PEACE AND WAR
Emilia Sokolova, Director, Peace Pedagogics Center, Moscow

EDUCATING FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS
John Bennett, Chief of The Young Child and Family Environment, UNESCO, Paris Plenary

PROBLEMS IN IMPLEMENTING THE CONVENTION OF THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD
Juri Kolosov, member of The UN Committee of the Rights of the Child. Plenary

CHILDREN'S RIGHTS FROM A POSITIVE PERSPECTIVE
Anette Faye Jacobsen, Education Coordinator, Danish Centre for Human Rights, Copenhagen

CONFLICT RESOLUTION AS A CASE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Vilgot Oscarson, Institute of Diddactics, Gothenburg University, Sweden

IMPLEMENTING CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND PEER MEDIATION SKILLS IN THE SCHOOL COMMUNITY
Christina McMahon, Director, Conflict Resolution Network Schools Development, Australia

HOW WE DEAL WITH BULLYING
Christine Valleskog, Ärvinge School, Stockholm, Sweden

HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION AS DEFlNED BY THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF H R
Bernt Hauge, Advisory group on Asylum and other social and legal questions, Trondheim, Norway

EDUCATING FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN EUROPE - QUESTIONNAIRE RESULT
Anne Halvorsen, Teacbers for Peace, Norway

II. CHALLENGES FOR HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION

HUMAN RIGHTS AND DEMOCRACY EDUCATION, PROBLEMS IN POST-TOTALITARIAN COUNTRIES Anatolij Azaroc, Director Moscow School of HR

HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION: OBSTACLES TO BE CHALLEGED
Toivo Kitvel, Tallinn Pedagogical Univseristy. Plenary.

BALTIC TEACHERS IN A TIME OF CHANGE
Introduction: Agris Petermanis, Nica Secondary School, Liepaja, Latvia. A Baltic Round Table.

HOW WAR AFFECTS CHILDREN
Magne Raundalen, Centre for Crisis Psychology, Bergen. Plenary.

HELP FOR WAR-TRAUMATIZED CHILDREN
Centre for Peace, Non-violence and Human Rights Ocijek, Croatia

SCHOOLBOOKS IN EUROPE AND PEACE EDUCATION:

ORIENTATION TO PEACE AND WAR IN THE READING BOOKS OF CROATIAN PRIMARY SCHOOLS Ladislav Bognar, Teachers Training Institute & Centre for Peace, Osijek Croatia

REFLECTIONS OF VALUES IN THE READER FOR PRIMARY GRADES IN ESTONIA
Leida Talts, Talinn Pedagogical University

FROM SOCIAL AND MORAL EDUCATION TO INSTRUCTION IN HUMAN RIGHTS - CIVIC EDUCATION IN SLOVENIA
Mojca Pecak, Faculty of pedagagics, Universitv of Ljubljana, Slovenia

VIDEO VlOLENCE and how it affects us
VIOLENCE AND FEAR IN VIOLENT TEENAGERS
Lars Åsbrink, Media Analyst, Sweden

WOMEN'S HUMAN RIGHTS - A CHALLENGE TO EDUCATION
Kjellaug Pettersen, Norwegian Ministry of Education, Research and Church affairs. Plenary

III. INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION

INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION: MORE THAN A COMMITTMENT
Pieter Batelaan, International Association for lntercultural Education. Hilversum. Plenary.

DlVERSlTY - OUR GOLDEN RESOURCE
Max Strandberg, Rinkeby school, Sweden

SCHOOL TWINNING - INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION AND COMMON SECURITY
Hans Levander, LIFE-LINK foundation, Sweden. Plenary.

'SOLAR-LINK" - AN INTERCULTURAL PROJECT
Students and teachers from Mattlidens Gymnasium, Finland

PREVENTlVE INTERETHNIC CONFLICT ACTION IN MACEDONIA
Violeta Petroska-Beska, Ethnic Conflict Resolution Project, University of Skopje
Eran Fraenkel, Search for Common Ground in Macedonia

A PIONEER IN THE WORK WITH DEMOCRACY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL CHILDREN
Colette Charlet, Group Francais d´Education Novelle, France

USING THE HOLOCOST AS A MEANS TO FIGHT RACISM AND INDIFFEREN IN ORDER TO CREATE AWARENESS AND CIVIL COURAGE Helge Pedersen, Skogmo Secondary School, Skien. Norway

VALUES AND VALUES IN CONFLlCT AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE IN UNITED GERMANY
Horst Adam, Berlin, Gennany

INTERCULTURAL EDUCATION Torll Sundal Leilset, Norwegian Union of Teachers. Plenary.

IV. TOWARDS A CULTURE OF PEACE IN EUROPE

TEACHERS' ROLE IN BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE
Lotte Chrisy, the Danish National Comission for UNESCO; Teachers for Peace, Denmark. Plenary.

HOW TO MAKE CONFLICTS CREATE HUMAN GROWTH
Else Hammerich. Director Danish Center of Corflict Resolution
Ellen Banz, teacher, Teachers for Peace. Denmark and Lotte Chrisy, DCCR and Teachers for Peace

PEACE EDUCATION lN BELARUS
Diana Lampen, The Hope Project, UK

FACILITATING, MEDIATING AND PEACEBUILDING THROUGH EDUCATION.
The daily work at CENTRE for PEACE, NONVIOLENCE and HUMAN RIGHTS in OSIJEK, CROATIA
Ljerka Toncovic, sociologist, leader of the Pedagogic Centre. Plenarv.

DEALING CONSTRUCTIVELY WlTH CONFLICTS AT MICRO AND MACRO LEVEL
Gunnel Ankarstrand Lindström, School af Education, Malmö, Sweden

CIVIL COURAGE - A CITIZEN VlRTUE THAT CAN BE LEARNT!
Dieter Lünse, Workgroup of Free Youth Organisations, Hamburg, Germany

CURRICULUM FOR PEACE EDUCATION IN THE HIGHER FORMS OF THE PRIMIARY SCHOOL
Centre for Peace, Osijek, Croatia

CONDITIONS FOR A SUCCESSFUL PEACE EDUCATON IN SCHOOLS - POSSIBILlTIES AND ALTERNATIVES
Hans Treichel, Pmfessor em., Stiftung Gewaltfreies Leben, Potsdam, Germany

TOWARDS A CULTURE OF PEACE IN EUROPE from an Historian's Point of View
Inge Eidsvåg, Head of the Fritjof Nansen Academy, Lillehammer, Norway. Plenary.

BUILDING A CULTURE OF PEACE
Ingeborg Breines. Director Women and a Culture of Peace, UNESCO. Plenary

HUMAN RIGHTS AND PEACE EDUCTION IN THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
Domenico Ronconi, Head of School and Out of School Education, Council of Europe. Plenary

V. OTHER CONGRESS ACTIVITIES

CONGRESS APPEAL

IAEP SESSIONS and result

SOLIDARITY PROJECT

ADRESSES FOR IAEP EUROPEAN ORGANISATIONS

 

 

FOREWORD

Foreword Teachers for Peace, Norway
Introduction The Editors

The second European Education for Peace Congress in Lillehammer 1996 was a great experience for all of us in the Nordic countries who were responsible for organising it. We are very grateful that so many organisations institutes and departments supported us in this work. I take this opportunity to express our gratitude for all the moral and financial contributions to the congress.

People often ask me 'What is peace education?". I have heard different definitions and statements and prefer the strong statement from the Norwegian university professor and peace activist Eva Nordland:

The essence of peace education is to involve the students in expectations about possible changes in the direction of a cooperative and caring planet to create attitudes through involving young and old in caring and protecting activities; and to make it possible to turn some of the caring and protecting activities into habits. For this to happen it is not enough to learn some text; we must somehow participate, get involved in the content, through action, practise, projects. Then we are on our way to ''learning peace".

Since 1953 and until now UNESCO has repeatedly focused on the issue of education for international and human understanding. The guiding principles for education were adopted by UNESCO during the meeting in Paris 19th November 1974. The message and its principles can be repeated again and again so I have chosen to include them in this report:

All education should be permeated by objectives expressed in the UN Charter, UNESCOs Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is a universal responsibility to contribute actively to the implementation of human rights. Therefore teaching and training must be planned so that everyone has the opportunity to learn the meaning of participation. It states further:

* It is necessary to set a global perspective at all stages and in all forms of education
* Emphasis must be placed on understanding and respect for all races and their cultures
* The individual needs to become aware of the increasing global interdependence between
peoples and nations
* All people must be aware not only of their basic rights but also of their duties to others
* Everyone must learn to see the necessity of international solidarity and cooperation
* Everyone must learn to join in the solution of problems in the local communitv, in their
country and in the world at large

 

In the curriculurn there is a need for a combination of "learning, training, information and action". Then education will he able to supply the connections between emotional and intellectual development and promote "social responsibility and solidarity with less privileged groups".

Reference: Eva Nordland: UNESCO Networks schools in Norway. Report nr 5 1990. Pedagogisk Forskningsinstitutt, University of Oslo

Annelise Drøyer
Teachers for Peace, Noway

 

INTRODUCTION

International Educators for Peace has since 1986 been a worldwide network with national organisatons in many countries. The first world congress on peace education was held in 1986 in Copenhagen (after which the organisation was appointed Peace Messenger by the UN).

Since then international congresses have been held every other year, gathering 350-600 participating educators and others working on all levels of education, from all over the world.
World congresses have been held in Bonn 1988, Budapest 1990, Jiaris 1992 and Vermont, USA, 1995. After Paris it was decided also to organize continental congresses. The first European one was held in 1994 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, where the Nordic Teachers for Peace were asked to organize the second European congress, and to ensure and facilitate participation from eastern and central Europe. The first African congress took place in Dakar, Senegal, in 1995.

The 2nd European Education for Peace Congress was held 26-30 July 1986 in Lillehammer, Norway. The planning procedure had been going on for nearly two years in broad cooperation between our networks and organisations in many European countries, according to the tradition of the association. 12 countries took part in the three open preparatory meetings: in Poznan, Tallinn and Oslo, and two Scaninavian meetings were held in Lillehammer.

The theme of the Lillehammer congress was "Educating for Human Rights - from Vision to Reality", chosen in reference to the UN Decade for Human Rights Education which began in 1995. The decade is unique because it focuses not only on human rights, but on human rights education.

The congress focused on four broad themes:

* Human Rights and Democracy: Security for All
* Challenges for Human Rights Education
* Intercultural Education
* Towards a Culture of Peace in Europe

15 plenary lectures were given, spanning a wide range of topics within the field of human rights education and representing institutes and organisations from many parts of Europe. The final plenary session was chaired by Laura Hayrinen, a 17 year old student from Mattliden Gymnasium in Esbo, Finland.

All the plenary papers are reproduced in this report, along with a selection of the papers and reports handed in from the nearly 80 workshops and seminars divided over the four sessions.

In selecting the workshop reports the editors have sought to represent the diversity of topics discussed in the workshops as well as to include papers from all parts of Europe. All the papers have been shortened to some extent. They have been placed under the thematic headline which seems most appropriate, sometimes regardless of their place in the program.

The Lillehammer congress gathered some 380 participants from 30 European countries and 6 others. A unique feature of this congress was the participation of 129 persons from eastern Europe and Balkan, including all its new republics.

For the participants from eastern Europe the congress began with the long bus trip through Finland, Sweden and Norway. Jyrki Ijäs of the Peace Education Institute in Helsinki, Finland, provided qualified guiding through Nordic geography, history and culture.

Culture was also in focus throughout the congress, from Sami "joik" in the Opening session to Bosnian/Norwegian mime theatre in the Closing session. One afternoon was set aside for social and cultural activities, including guided tours to the cultural sights in the area surrounding Lillehammer. The many contacts made between participants has for many provided an important addition to the program itself.

A Russian version of the report is being prepared. It will be sent to many of the Russian-speaking delegates and will also be available from Kornhaug Norwegian Peace Centre (adress under Acknowledgements)

The final words in our report are given to Domenico Ronconi, head of the "School and Out-of-School Education Section" at the Council of Europe. This script has been kindly brought up to date by the author, giving us the present situation, key ideas and plans for the work on human rights education as far as the Council of Europe is concerned. They show a way to a more peaceful Europe.

We hope that the papers published in this report will be a useful resource for teachers and educators all over Europe. We hope it will be of praetical use in teaching and an inspiration to explore further the topic of human rights in education. Finally we hope that it will be just one of many initiatives to explore and implement human rights education throughout this decade.

Lillehammer- Stockholm - Oslo In August, 1997

Erik Cleven - Ingrid Inglander - Anne Halvorsen

editors

 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The 2nd European Education for Peace Congress "Educating for Human Rights: From Vision to Reality" was made possible by the combined efforts of many people.

Funding for the congress was given by The Nordic Cultural Fund, the Foreign Ministries of Norway and Sweden, the Ministry of Education in Finland, The Swedish Institute, Stockholm, teachers unions in the Nordic countries as well as in France, Germany, and Spain, the Regional Education Offices in Oppland, Hedmark, and Sogn og Fjordane, Norway, The National Commissions for UNESCO in the Nordic countries, Bridge of Peace in Switzerland, Teachers for Peace in the Nordic countries, The Institute for Peace Education, Finland, and The Professional Groups for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace, Sweden

The children's drawings in the report were exhibited during the congress and were made by primary school students in Lillehammer

Other illustrations were provided courtesy of the artist, Mabel Åsbrink.

The congress secretariat was Kornhaug Norwegian Peace Center in Follebu outside Lillehammer, Norway. The Peace Center has also been secretariat during the editing of the congress report.
A special thanks is due to Ellen Traaseth, secretary of the Peace Center, for many hours of typing and proof reading work. The report could not have been ready without her efforts. Further copies of the report, as well as the Russian edition (currently under preparation) can be obtained from the address below:

Kornhaug Norwegian Peace Center PO Box 73 N-2620 Follebu Norway
Phone: +47 61 22 09 64 Fax +47 61 22 30 08
e-mail: [email protected]

 

 

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