Learning to live Together: A Shared Commitment to Democracy
Nowdays Europe is facing serious challenges and human rights education can play an important part in addressing them.
The Council of Europe provides a platform where the countries and different partners within the countries can learn from each other, develop common solutions and provide mutual support.
In 2017, we are celebrating 20th anniversary of the Council of Europe project on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education which led to the Charter, and the 15th anniversary of the Compass Manual on Human Rights Education with Young People, one of the most popular manuals on human rights education, available in more than 40 languages.
The four days conference that took place in Council of Europe Strasbourg from 18 till 23 June, aimed to discuss the conclusions of the Report on the State of Citizenship and Human Rights Education in Europe, to share experiences and lessons learned and to propose recommendations for the future action.
The objectives of the conference were:
- To highlight the need for and the contribution made by citizenship and human rights education to advance human rights and democracy,
- To analyse the challenges and opportunities for citizenship and human rights education in Europe based on the preliminary results of the Report on the State of Citizenship and Human Rights Education in Europe,
- To encourage and facilitate dialogue and cooperation among key stakeholders across sectors and at all levels: local, national and international
- To propose a set of goals, with associated guidelines and benchmarks for implementation, for the promotion and implementation of EDC/HRE over the next 5 years at a) the Council of Europe level and b) the member states level, highlighting the role and contribution to be made by all stakeholders, including civil society organisations and education institutions
- To produce recommendations on the renewal of the Council of Europe network of coordinators for the education for democratic citizenship and human rights education, with a view to the strengthening the impact of the Charter.
All the working days of the conference were very interesting and productive. More than 300 participants from different Institutions took part in the sessions and discussions.
The main results achieved were that the conference increased motivation and capacity for the use of the support tools and resources such as the Council of Europe Reference Framework of competences for democratic culture. The conference strengthened and supported the political, social and educational role of EDC/HRE in sustaining a culture of democracy and human rights, including the pursuance of the related Sustainable Development Goals. The meeting also reinforced network of partners at national level, in furthering the agenda for EDC/HRE.
During the meeting Armenia was presented by only one delegate from Non-formal education sector by Arpine Kostanyan, President of “Educational and Cultural Bridges” NGO.
