Human rights and good governance education in the Asia Pacific region

There is a growing consensus that education in and for human rights is essential and contributes to both the reduction of human rights violations and the building of free, just and peaceful societies. Human rights education is also increasingly recognised as an effective strategy to prevent human rights abuses.
- Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan

During 2003, the Senate’s Human Rights Committee has been pursuing this education-focused investigation. The Australian Parliament’s inquiry into Human Rights and Good Governance Education in the Asia Pacific Region makes an important policy contribution to a key human rights area – that of educating individuals and communities about human rights.

The inquiry was conducted under four terms of reference:

1. the role of human rights and good governance education in the promotion of fair and sustainable social, political and economic development;
2. Australia's involvement in human rights and good governance education;
3. the involvement of the UN and other regional government and non-government organisations; and
4. progress made in Australia and the Asia Pacific towards the realisation of the goals of the UN Decade for Human Rights Education.

As the Attorney General’s submission to the enquiry said:

Human rights only exist in a meaningful way if people believe in them and are committed to them. They exist because people understand their value to the community and appreciate their importance to the rights, liberties and dignity of the individual. The protection of human rights depends on them being accepted and observed by each and every member of our society.

This requires that people are educated and informed about human-rights principles, the relevant international human rights instruments, and the impact of human rights on their daily lives.

The strong link between education and the promotion of human rights has been widely recognised and is inherent in a number of key international human rights instruments including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 26) and the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (article 13). These instruments place obligations on States to undertake human rights education, training and public information programmes. As a state party to the UN Decade for Human Rights Education, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other major human rights instruments, Australia has accepted an obligation to provide human rights education.

Similarly, it is increasingly recognised that the way a society is governed has a direct correlation to the success of social, political and economic development, including the protection and promotion of human rights.

Domestic efforts

The Citizenship and Democracy: Australian Students' Knowledge and Beliefs study undertaken in 1999 (published in 2002) provides some insight into the extent to which governance (or "civics") and human rights are understood among Australian school children. While the study found that students appreciated living in a democracy and recognised the importance of being a "good citizen", only about half the students surveyed had a grasp of the "essential pre-conditions for a properly working democracy" and were not strong on what constituted their civil rights.

Domestic efforts in regard to human rights and good governance education are anchored in a number of school-based Commonwealth programmes such as Discovering Democracy (coordinated by the Dept of Education, Science and Training) and HREOC's programme Youth Challenge, which incorporates both student and teacher-education resources. The states also have a range of "civics" programmes in their school curriculum.

In terms of the wider community a few programmes exist, such as Living in Harmony (coordinated by DIMIA), the Human Rights City project being developed in Perth and the Citizenship for Humanity project developed by the NCHRE. And, of course, HREOC has an extensive range of activities and information available on its website.

So, it is clear that there is a fair amount of work being conducted, and the examples I have given are by no means an exhaustive list. A strong case can be made for these disparate projects to be brought together more effectively under one umbrella. Though before that occurs, we would surely need to conduct a study to determine areas of overlap, possible synergies between projects, and areas in which there are gaps that may need to be filled.

The key overall observation of the state of domestic human rights and good governance education efforts is of the need to provide better coordination of human rights and good governance education efforts in Australia between all levels of government and between government and non-government agencies. At present, domestic efforts appear to be a collection of worthwhile, but fragmented programmes. Human rights and good governance education does not appear to be well integrated into the core curriculum in Australian schools and universities, an issue also raised at the conference in 2002.

HREOC does much to link the human rights community together into a network of sorts. The issue of a discrete Centre for Human Rights Education has been advanced to the Committee Inquiry as one viable option.

Good governance is central to the Australian aid programme's goal of poverty reduction and accounts for about 21 per cent of overall aid expenditure. In 2003-04 governance expenditure is expected to be about $370 million.

However the aid programme also includes a dedicated global human-rights programme, encompassing:

• The Human Rights Fund ($1.3 million in 2003-04)
• Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
• Human Rights Small Grants Scheme

The Human Rights Fund supports local-level activities and the strengthening of national and regional institutions to promote and protect human rights. Often the activities in the Small Grants Scheme are aimed at the education and training of human-rights workers or community leaders and members. For example, in 2003-04, activities funded include human rights training activities for judges, lawyers, police, community leaders and other citizens in Bangladesh, Laos, India and Sri Lanka; human rights monitoring of the legal and judicial system in East Timor, and activities to protect the rights of women and children in the Philippines, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Vietnam.

Within its partnership approach to developing regional and bilateral programmes, Australia provides support for particular aspects of good governance and human rights education where particular needs are identified.

For example, following the success of the 1996-2002 Pacific Media Initiative whose primary goal was to improve media and communications throughout the Pacific and recognising the importance of a professional and independent media to holding governments accountable (to democratic ideals and human rights standards), Australia is supporting workshops under a new Pacific Media and Communications Facility ($2.1 m over 3 years from May 04).

The facility will support:

• open and accountable reporting in areas of good governance reform, such as politics, business and economics; improved standards of investigative journalism, news and current affairs;
• improved media management, including programming and human resources;
• government media training;
• improved ethics and media laws; and
• improved coverage of significant regional events.

Developing a National Action Plan on Human Rights was a requirement of the 1995-2004 UN Decade for Human Rights Education.

The National Action Plan gives the government an opportunity to make a comprehensive statement on human rights in Australia. The National Action Plan will identify both Australia's current human rights protections and future human rights priorities, and will demonstrate a forward-looking approach to human rights protection.

The Plan will bring together the legislative protections, institutions, programmes and initiatives aimed at protecting and enhancing the enjoyment of human rights in Australia. It will also clearly articulate the Commonwealth’s policy approach to human rights, particularly the emphasis on Australia’s democratic institutions and promoting human rights education and awareness.

The Plan will be an overview of Australia’s approach to human rights, and the Government’s future priority areas. It will focus on specific areas which reflect current policies, programmes and initiatives.

The priority areas are:

• promoting a strong, free democracy – through civics education programmes and enhancing access to the justice system;
• human rights education and awareness – including reforms to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) to enhance its statutory functions in relation to human rights education, and supporting anti-racism programmes;
• assisting disadvantaged groups become more independent – by initiatives designed to address Indigenous disadvantage, enhancing the independence of persons with disabilities, and eliminating violence and discrimination against women;
• supporting the family – emphasising prevention strategies to strengthen family capabilities and relationships, prioritising the protection of children, assisting separated families, and enhancing the operation of the family law system; and
• promoting human rights internationally – through advocating for UN treaty body reform, improving bilateral relationships, and continuing to support a comprehensive, focussed overseas aid programme.

An overview of the human rights protections currently in place in Australia will also be issued, covering: a system of representative and accountable government; an independent judiciary, a fair and accessible justice system and the common law; specific human rights legislation and independent human rights institutions; and an array of programmes and initiatives at the Commonwealth, State and Territory levels directed at enhancing the observation of human rights.

The UN Decade for Human Rights Education has provided a focal point for human rights and good governance education efforts in Australia and the region and has played an important role in promoting human rights education. Australia can be justly proud in its role in proposing the establishment of the Decade ten years ago.

A "mid-term review" of the Decade suggested that a number of obstacles to progress exist in the Asia-Pacific region, such as a lack of financial support and equipment from member states, a lack of information about existing national action plans, a need to support teachers and changes to the school environment, and better networking between national (both government and non-government) entities and intergovernmental organisations.

While other targets included the establishment of a resource and training centre for human rights education and the conduct of a baseline study, the Committee will make observations in that area.

Our work towards achieving the goals of the Decade is important not only because our taking up the Commission on Human Rights Chair will mean Australia will have greater influence, but also in terms of our standing, as Australia comes under greater international scrutiny.

Our objective as the Commission Chair is to build on our long-standing commitment to protect and promote human rights around the world, with a focus on seeking practical improvements to the lives of individuals.

What are CHR’s weaknesses? How will Australia address these as Chair?

The Commission on Human Rights has been criticised for being a talk-shop where delegations are more interested in pillorying other countries for alleged human rights records and defending their own records than in taking serious action on egregious situations or in helping countries deal with human rights problems. There is some truth in this.

But CHR is a political body and much of the value of its work lies in the debates where particular problems are brought to the attention of the world and countries are forced to defend their practices.

To that extent, the value of CHR’s work is less in the rather repetitive and stilted resolutions adopted than in the debate preceding this (where NGOs are able to comment, as well as the delegations directly concerned).

It is true that in recent years CHR’s working practices have meant early items on the agenda - eg the situation in Israel and the Occupied Territories - have received far more attention and time than some other important thematic items listed later in the agenda - such as the rights of minorities and the work of national institutions.

Through stronger insistence on punctuality, respecting the time limits for interventions and avoiding unproductive procedural wrangles, we hope as Chair to be able to improve the balance of the debate on the different items of the agenda.

Conclusion

The process of parliamentary review of the National Action Plan for Human Rights and the ensuing consultation with the States will begin in the next few months.

The parliament’s Human Rights subcommittee will hand down its report into human rights education which may generate some debate as to how awareness is best raised, and how education is best carried out.

Some say HREOC might be better resourced to drive this process, while others say the National Committee on Human Rights Education should be tasked with establishing a Centre for Human Rights Education – and that Centre would review all projects currently in place (under HREOC and elsewhere).

Either way – or even if another option is adopted – a resolution must be found so we can coordinate our efforts better. I think both HREOC and the NCHRE do an excellent job, but having these two and many smaller individual groups besides, pushing often in different directions is not conducive to generating the combined momentum that is needed to raise awareness of human rights.