The review of the Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education
Review cycle 2022
The Council of Europe supports the promotion of human rights and democracy through education, as a mean of building peaceful societies where the human dignity of all people is respected.
With the adoption of the Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education (Recommendation CM/ Rec(2010)7, the member states committed themselves to “the aim of providing every person within their territory with the opportunity of education for democratic citizenship and human rights education”. Although the charter is a non-binding legal instrument, it provides a unique common European framework of reference and is a focus and catalyst for action in the member states.
The purposes of this review cycle are further strengthening the Charter implementation, support the development of strategic goals for the next five years and facilitate the development of national indicators/benchmarks/priorities that can allow assessing progress achieved and guiding further action at national and international level.
2022 Review of the implementation of the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education - CM/Rec(2010)7
The second review of the implementation of the Charter was launched in 2016. Consolidated results were presented in a joint conference organised on 20-22 June 2017 by Education and Youth Departments of the Council of Europe.
The second review draws on the lessons from the first exercise in 2012 and consists of questionnaires addressed to state authorities, and a similar questionnaire addressed to civil society. The first results of the review were presented at the 3rd Compass Forum on Human Rights Education (European Youth Centre Budapest, 5-7 October 2016).
A first review of the implementation of the Charter was realised in 2012. It comprised of questionnaires addressed to state authorities responsible for Education in the member states of the Council of Europe and an open questionnaire addressed to non-governmental organisations.
The results of the two questionnaires were discussed in the conference ‘Democracy and Human Rights in Action – Looking Ahead. The impact of the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education’ that took place in Strasbourg,
The participants made a number of recommendations for strategic action to be undertaken by the Council of Europe, the States Party to the European Cultural Convention and the civil society organisations with a view to support the implementation of the Charter. In particular, they proposed a number of possible ways of developing a more transparent, consistent and participatory evaluation approach for the next review cycle. While opinions were very diverse in relation to the need for and feasibility of stronger evaluation mechanisms, there was an emerging consensus on the benefits of on-going dialogue among key actors in this area and on the added value of the Charter as a clear framework and impetus for such dialogue.
Review cycle 2022
2022 Review of the implementation of the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education - CM/Rec(2010)7 
