On 14 April 2015, about 350 participants from Turkey and from other member states of the Council of Europe met in Istanbul to celebrate the achievements and to reflect on the lessons learned from the four-year comprehensive project on “Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education" supported by the European Union and the Council of Europe. This programme aimed to put into practice the Council of Europe Charter on Citizenship and Human Rights Education in Turkey, based on the expertise developed in the framework of intergovernmental cooperation programmes of the Council of Europe. The programme mainly focused on three areas; developing curricula, establishing a democratic school culture, and capacity building in the field of citizenship and human rights education.

On 15-16 April 2015 this conference was followed by the 23rd meeting of the Council of Europe Network of Coordinators for Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education. The participants discussed assessment of progress in the area of citizenship and human rights education, teaching case law of the European court of human rights at school, a new project on digital citizenship education and on-going cooperation in the framework of the EU/CoE programme “Human Rights and Democracy in Action”. Examples of good practice in respect of addressing violence and radicalisation through Education were also shared at this meeting.

Further information:

• Programme

• Photo gallery

Speeches and presentations

• Opening remarks. Hüseyin ŞİRİN, PhD

• ‘Living Together as Equals in Culturally Diverse Democratic Societies’: The Competences Required for Democratic Culture and Intercultural Dialogue. Jean-Christophe BAS, Director, Directorate of Democratic Citizenship and Participation, Council of Europe

• Human Rights and Democracy in Action EU/CoE Pilot Projects Scheme: recent developments and future activities. Marc HORY, Education Department, Council of Europe

• Teaching controversial issues – developing effective training for teachers and school leaders. David KERR, EDC/HRE coordinator for England - United Kingdom

• Teacher training in EDC/HRE – how to develop the ability of students to assess information from media and social networks? Maya TCHILASHVILI, EDC/HRE coordinator for Georgia

• Follow up to the No Hate Speech Campaign and “Digital Citizenship Education”. New project proposal for the Programme of activities of the Council of Europe for the years 2016-2017. Villano QIRIAZI, Head of Education Policy Division, Council of Europe

• Learning Human Rights through Landmark Decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. Stefania KRUGER, Education Department, Council of Europe

• Handbook for upper secondary schools. Jim MURDOCH, Professor of Law, Glasgow University

• Repository of teaching materials and video on prohibition of corporal punishment in schools. Bernard DUMONT, Member of the Project Group

• Addressing bullying at school: Forthcoming report of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children. Elda MORENO, Special Assistant and Director, Office of the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on Violence against Children

• Approaches to prevent extremism and radicalization through education in Finland. Kristina KAIHARI, EDC/HRE Co-ordinator for Finland

• Successful educational actions for preventing violence and radicalization: Training for families. Verónica RIVERA REYES, Secondary Teacher

• European Counter-Radicalisation and De-radicalisation: A Comparative Evaluation of Approaches in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Germany And Extreme Dialogue Project. Henry TUCK, Institute for Strategic Dialogue

• Contribution of inclusive education towards prevention of violence and radicalization. Case study: Regional Support for Inclusive Education in South East Europe. Sarah KEATING, Education Department, Council of Europe