Childhood is the ideal time to begin learning about human rights values – and learning to live them. 

The different objectives of human rights education can easily be interpreted to fit the world of the young child in very concrete ways, all relating to the child’s personal experiences in the community, in the family, and in the various relationships they encounter every day with adults and other children.

Human rights education is partly about cultivating a set of common values and attitudes for these everyday encounters – for example, it seeks to develop children’s self-confidence, encourage empathy, and develop a sense of fairness and justice. 

Human rights education supports children in:

  • valuing themselves and others
  • recognising and respecting human rights in everyday life
  • being able to articulate and make sense of their own rights
  • appreciating and respecting diversity and difference
  • developing skills and attitudes to address conflict in non-violent ways that respect the rights of others
  • feeling confident about taking steps to defend and promote human rights.

Although children are at the beginning of their educational journey, they possess a wealth of knowledge about the world and the people in it. As far as possible, human rights learning should connect with and build on what children already know. This is true even for young children: it is never too young to begin exploring questions such as what is fair, what is right, how we should treat others, how we would like to be treated – and so on. Indeed, if young children can begin by discussing such questions, they will learn important skills for later life, and will broaden their understanding of the types of values and principles which are necessary for peaceful co-existence – both in the classroom, and later on, in society. For example, although they may not use words like justice, equality or discrimination, by the age of 7 or 8 most children have a strong sense of what is ‘fair’.
 

What are some of the common examples of ‘unfairness’ that your children complain about? 
Do you discuss these?
 

Compasito is not intended or recommended as a ‘course’ on human rights, but as a resource for raising children’s awareness and understanding of human rights in the context of their lives. Human rights educators, or facilitators of human rights education activities, should look for opportunities to relate human rights to what is happening in the school, the community and the specific group of children.

This might be a conflict in the playground, negative attitudes towards minorities or sexist exclusion of girls from certain activities. On the other hand, facilitators should avoid approaching human rights only from the perspective of violations. Rather, emphasise that we enjoy some, perhaps most, of our human rights every day: that is partly why the violations are noticeable.

One primary aim of human rights education is to encourage people to take action on behalf of human rights. You can encourage and develop children’s ability to participate and take appropriate and meaningful action to address issues which appear to be unfair, or where they or someone else has been hurt or humiliated. This may include giving them the skills to resolve conflicts within the group or the family, or to alter their own behaviour towards siblings. Action may also take place in the wider community, for example organising a celebration for International Human Rights Day or putting on an exhibition of human rights artwork.

The younger the children, the more they will rely on the facilitator’s support in initiating and executing more complex projects.

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