Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review
Jefferson R. PlantillaT

he United Nations in 1948 called on “every individual and everyorgan of society” to “strive by teaching and education to promoterespect for [the] rights and freedoms” laid out by the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (udhr). This call provided the basic foundation of human rights education as a major field of human rights work, andof the commitment of peoples and governments everywhere to undertakethe task.
For a period of sixty years, so many initiatives have come and gone.
Some have resulted in formal statements of governments reiterating theircommitment to fulfill the call of the udhr while many other initiatives
are ground-level efforts to make human rights known and also realized.
Nevertheless, there are many more tasks to do, and many issues to resolvein fulfilling the udhr call.
Reiterating the Commitment
In 1968 in Tehran, member-states of the United Nations attending the firstmajor global human rights conference since the end of the Second WorldWar listed as the first of their solemn proclamations the following:
1. It is imperative that the members of the international
community fulfil their solemn obligations to promote and en262

Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review

263

courage respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for
all without distinctions of any kind such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions.
This is the first major reminder to the member-states of the United
Nations about their human rights education commitment, yet to be fulfilled
twenty years after the udhr has been adopted.
In 1982 in Colombo, in the first Asia-Pacific regional seminar on humanrights, all represented Asia-Pacific member-states of the United Nations
though unable to agree on the establishment of an Asia-Pacific human rights
mechanism “agreed that consultative arrangements could be established invarious areas such as education, teaching, training, research, documentation, dissemination of information and exchanges of experience.”1 Therewas still much reluctance to create a regional mechanism for human rights
protection in the Asia-Pacific, thirty-four years since the adoption of theudhr. However, the promotion of human rights at the regional level wasrecognized as an acceptable task (as well as need) by the member-states of
the United Nations in Asia-Pacific.
In 1993 in Bangkok, an even bigger number of Asia-Pacific memberstates of the United Nations recognized that the “promotion of humanrights should be encouraged by cooperation and consensus,” and stressed
the “importance of education and training in human rights at the national,
regional and international levels and the need for international cooperation
aimed at overcoming the lack of public awareness of human rights.” In thisregional conference, they further reiterated the need to “explore ways togenerate international cooperation and financial support for education andtraining in the field of human rights at the national level and for the establishment of national infrastructures to promote and protect human rights if
requested by States.”2Started in 1990 in Manila as a mechanism to discuss the suggested establishment of a regional human rights mechanism in the Asia-Pacific, theUnited-Nations-initiated regional workshops evolved into workshops onregional cooperation on human rights.3 In 1993 in Jakarta, the Asia-Pacificmember-states defined the objectives of the regional workshop, including
the following:
To increase awareness among countries in the region of international human rights standards and procedures and of therole of States in implementing human rights norms.

264

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c

Its so-called Tehran Framework (1998)4 identifies human rights education as one of the four pillars of regional cooperation.5 In each workshop,
the represented Asian governments reiterated their commitment to humanrights education.6
Subregional inter-governmental formations, particularly the South
Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (saarc), the Association ofSoutheast Asian Nations (asean) and the Pacific Islands Forum adopted
their respective human-rights-related documents that support human rights
education.7 Most of these documents were adopted during the 2002-2005
period. Asean has the most advanced subregional human rights documentthat covers the establishment of the asean Intergovernmental Commission
on Human Rights, which has a strong human rights promotion mandate.8
Representatives of human rights organizations, members of the academe, and government officials have likewise held regional activities on human rights education from mid-1990s till recently. They defined the content
of human rights education, the requirements for its promotion, the primary
beneficiaries, the mechanisms and the supporting institutions.9 They represent both ideas about and experiences in making human rights education a
reality in the region.
The declarations of Asian states reiterated the 1948 pledge and madehuman rights education an important part of their human rights commitment. They raised the expectation that they would play an active role in it at
the national level. Did they fulfill their commitment?
People’s Initiatives
Compelled to address situations of injustice and oppression in the three decades from 1948, non-governmental institutions undertook much of what
would now be called human rights education. They invariably tried to enable communities to take action on their problems.
Many educational initiatives from the 1960s to the 1980s included human rights as content but were known by names other than human rights
education. This indicates the variety of educational interventions to address
particular issues, peoples and systems.10 The community conscientization,
animation/organizing and mobilization programs of ngos for the rural andurban poor have been including human rights. Many development-orientedorganizations undertook the task of addressing problems faced by the poor,

Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review

265

and of creating systems toward people-centered development. The so-calledsocial development organizations, with community animation/organizing
as main program, fall under this category.
Democracy education among the youth in the 1960s and 1970s wasmuch sought in the context of the then prevailing repressive and authoritarian governments in a number of Asian countries. Beyond the idealism on
the part of the youth, democracy education was needed to protect the rightof people to participate in their own government as much as to ensure that
non-violent protest and dissent were recognized by governments as legitimate acts of people.
Among the legal professionals, legal education was a tool to counterhuman rights violations committed by members of the police and militaryforces at a time when “national security” became the excuse for repression
and authoritarian rule.11 Legal education became a tool to counter massive
violations of civil and political rights during the era of “emergency rule,”“constitutional authoritarianism,” and “guided democracy.” It was also an
important tool for socio-economic change by empowering poor communities on the use of law. Paralegal training became a popular form of developing capacity among ngos in South and Southeast Asian countries to avoid
arbitrary arrest, illegal detention, torture, and other human rights violations
as much as to facilitate community empowerment.
Social action programs that included education of the workers, theurban poor and other marginalized sectors for their empowerment likely
covered human rights. Social action programs of religious groups (mainly
Christian organizations) are important examples in this regard.
Popular culture played a role in the informal and non-formal modesof human rights education. Traditional or old plays, poems and songs wereused to express ideas to the community. They spoke of national freedom,social justice, community welfare and also personal tragedies and hopes.
As much as they were used in educational activities, popular songs on ordinary aspects of life were important icebreakers and intermission numbers
while traditional protest songs constituted valuable discussion materials. A
number of non-governmental organizations collected these songs as part oftraining materials.12 As explained by a study on the role of popular music inpolitics in Southeast Asia:13
Music was always a social tool in many traditional and colonized societies of the region (e.g., the Indonesian wayang kulit

266

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c

and the Malay bangsawans), playing a crucial role in fosteringcommunity cohesion while promulgating values and spreading
information.
Traditional songs and other cultural forms were used during the turbulent period from 1960s to 1980s in raising awareness and taking action onsocial issues including human rights violations.
In schools, teachers took the initiative of teaching about human rights.
The earliest initiative of teachers took place in the 1950s with the Japaneseteachers starting to work on discriminated Japanese called Burakumin.14
The teachers realized the need for both Buraku and non-Buraku students to
not merely enjoy their right to education but also to understand the meaning and effect of discrimination. This started the anti-discrimination education (known later on as Dowa education) in Japan.15 The repressive government in South Korea in the 1960s through the 1980s led the Korean teachers
to promote democracy education to make the students become aware of
the problems (including human rights violations) under an authoritarianrule and to act towards a more democratic political system.16 Some Filipino
teachers in the 1970s and 1980s promoted an “educational response to oppression”17 (during the period of Martial Law in the Philippines) and held
consultations and seminars for teachers on various topics including humanrights education.
The Sri Lanka Foundation started in 1983 a human rights education
program for Sri Lankan schools, one of the first government-sanctioned
programs of this kind in Asia. In the Philippines, the University of thePhilippines’ Law Center started in the 1980s to train teachers on humanrights and published lesson plans on human rights.18
1990s Onward
The 1990s witnessed significant developments in the field of human rights
in general that made an impact on human rights education at the nationaland regional levels.
During this decade, the recognition of educational initiatives with human rights content broadened. The 1993 parallel non-governmental conference on human rights in Bangkok, on the occasion of the Regional Meetingfor Asia of the World Conference on Human Rights, provided the venue
for a variety of ngos working on educational programs that covered vari-Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review

267

ous sectors (such as women, indigenous peoples, children, workers, urban
poor, peasants, fisherfolk, youth, lesbians/gays/bisexuals/transgenders), andissues (development, environment, culture, discrimination, civil and political rights) to meet under a broad human rights theme.19 The participation ofvaried types of ngos indicated the broadening during the 1990s of the concept of human rights work, from civil-political-rights focus to economicsocial-cultural-rights agenda. Thus also the concept of human rights education became broader to cover the wide variety of educational initiatives ofngos.
New human rights education initiatives (focusing on particular humanrights) supplemented the human-rights-related educational initiatives thatstarted prior to the 1990s and continued at the national and community
levels.20
During the 1990s, some legal services organizations decided to be involved in human rights education in schools. They saw the limitation of“firefighting” (legal assistance activities) and the need to do education workin the school system. Madaripur Legal Aid Association and Ain o Salish
Kendro in Bangladesh, the Movement for the Defense of Democratic Rights
and the Lawyers for Human Rights and Development in Sri Lanka, People’s
Watch-Tamil Nadu in India,21 and the Union for Civil Liberties in Thailand
are good examples of such legal services organizations involved in school
programs. They train teachers, develop teaching materials, and hold otherschool-related human rights education activities.
The series of global conferences in the 1990s on human rights, women,
population, habitat, environment and development gave the ngos the opportunity to pressure the governments to consider human rights education
as a significant component in addressing the problems taken up in the global
conferences.
The idea of a United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education was
well supported by the Asia-Pacific ngos by calling upon the United Nations
to declare a “People’s Decade of Human Rights Education”22 or the “World
Decade for Human Rights Education.”23 They supported the implementationof the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education that the United
Nations General Assembly adopted in December 1994. This United Nations
Decade became a platform for Asia-Pacific ngos to pressure governments
to fulfill their commitment not only in Vienna but also in Beijing, Istanbul,
Cairo, and Rio de Janeiro.

268

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c

In support of the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education,
several Asia-Pacific governments adopted their respective national actionplans on human education. Some countries adopted “National Action Planon Human Rights” with human rights education components.24
Most of these governments implemented their human rights or humanrights education plans through their ministries of justice and education. The
latest national human rights action plan was adopted by China in 2009 with
the State Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the major government agencies involved.25“Third and Fourth” Players
Prior to the 1991 United-Nations-sponsored conference in Paris on national
human rights institutions (national institutions), the Pacific had two national institutions (New Zealand and Australia) while Asia had at least one suchinstitution in the Philippines in the 1980s. The Philippine national institution was established with a constitutional mandate to establish “a continuing
program of research, education, and information to enhance respect for the
primacy of human rights.”26 This constitutional provision reflected a standard role for national institutions in the field of human rights education. By
2009, Asia-Pacific had nineteen national institutions.
A number of Asia-Pacific national institutions drew up plans for humanrights education, some of them were called “strategic plans,” that shouldhave provided at least a guide in developing national human rights education programs, or complemented laws and national action plans on humanrights or human rights education.27 These plans are separate from plans ofspecial institutions for women, children and other sectors. These special institutions also play a role in human rights education.
Another category of human rights institutions is the human rights center. There are around two hundred human rights centers28 now existing in
more than twenty countries in Asia-Pacific.29 Over all, these centers are doing significant amount of work in their respective fields of interest. They
have accumulated an enormous amount of published research work, otherhuman rights materials, and systems for information dissemination. They
also produce human rights education materials, hold seminars and workshops, and provide needed information for ngos, national human rights
institutions, relevant government agencies and the general public. But theiractivities are largely unknown beyond national borders or networks. This

Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review

269

limits the dissemination to, and use of research output by, a much wider
audience.
They support human rights education in the school system. The Centre
for the Study of Human Rights of the University of Colombo, for example,
has been implementing for many years human rights education programs ina number of schools in Sri Lanka. It has been working with Sri Lankan ngos
and other institutions.
A regional office of the Philippine Commission on Human Rights helped
establish centers for human rights education in local colleges and universities. These centers function as resource centers on human rights education
not only for the members of their respective academic communities but also
for people in the city or province (with the cooperation of government agencies and ngos in the area) where they are located.30
The national institutions and human rights centers in Asia-Pacific constitute the third and fourth major players respectively in the field of humanrights in general and human rights education in particular. Governments
carry the state obligation to fulfill international human rights commitment,
while ngos provide an important medium of addressing and expressing
people’s demand for the protection and realization of their human rights.
There is a growing trend of cooperation among these four major humanrights players (national institutions, human rights centers, ngos and governments), particularly on human rights education.
The national institutions, human rights centers, ngos and also governments have by and large undertaken human rights training for members of
the police and military forces. The National Human Rights Commission ofIndia has been providing training courses on human rights in police academies in various states of the country. The Philippine Commission on Human
Rights produced the Philippine Army Soldier’s Handbook on Human Rights
and International Humanitarian Law and also engages in training the members of the police and military. The Centre for the Study of Human Rights(University of Colombo) has been implementing separate programs formembers of the Sri Lankan police and military, while ngos (in cooperation
with human rights centers) such as the Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. Foundationin the Philippines and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (chri)in India have been doing the same. Some initiatives on police and militarytraining on human rights have been held with the support of institutions
outside the region.

270

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c

Newer initiatives
Human rights education initiatives at the tertiary and higher level of education have been developing in the region since the 1980s. The University
Grants Commission (UGC) of India has been implementing its 1985 humanrights education blueprint that contained 31
proposals for restructuring of existing syllabi, and introductionof new courses and/or foundation courses in Human Rights.
This was for students of all faculties at the under-graduate, graduate and post-graduate levels for both professional and nonprofessional education.
This is a good example of a state-sponsored program (with a funding
component) on the teaching of human rights at the tertiary and higher
levels. This is likely a major reason for the introduction of human rights
courses in many Indian universities.32 Universities in other countries in the
Asia-Pacific also offer undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate humanrights courses. Some law school curriculums33 include human rights subjects; while some universities offer masteral programs and diploma courses
on human rights for government officers and other professionals. A few universities in the Asia-Pacific offer masteral programs and diploma courses
on human rights. Some universities offer international graduate courses.
Mahidol University in Thailand offers the “only PhD program of its kind in
Asia [PhD in Human Rights and Peace Studies (International Program)],while the MA [MA in Human Rights (International Program)] is the longest
running graduate degree program in human rights in Asia.”34 The Facultyof Law of the University of Hong Kong also offers a masteral program on
human rights targeting Asian students. The Center for the Study of Human
Rights in the University of Colombo is planning to offer an Asia-Pacific masters program on human rights and democratization by 2010.35
With the support of European human rights centers (particularly theRaoul Wallenberg Institute and the Danish Institute for Human Rights), a
growing number of universities in China are offering graduate courses onhuman rights. The European human rights centers also support humanrights training of Chinese judges, lawyers, prosecutors and government
officials.
The expansion of human rights work continues with the adoption of
new international human rights instruments, the incorporation of humanrights into issue-based or sector-based programs, and the strengthening ofHuman Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review

271

movements of specific groups. The taking into effect of the Convention on
the Rights of Persons with Disabilities led to the growth of regional networking among groups working on this issue, with a new perspective of using therights-based approach in their programming. Training programs have beendeveloped that focus on how people with disabilities would be able to leadnormal lives, realizing their human rights in the process.36
National and regional movements against trafficking in human beings
brought together the protection and promotion efforts of governments,
ngos and international organizations.
The movement of people living with hiv/aids (plwha) has grown inrecent years at both national and regional levels. The movement has been
focusing on the right of plwha against discrimination, particularly in thehealth service area.
The movement for the promotion and protection of the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders is getting stronger, and offers a developing area for human rights education. The Yogyakarta Principles on
the Application of International Human Rights Law in relation to Sexual
Orientation and Gender Identity (2006), formulated by a group of humanrights experts, provides “a universal guide to human rights which affirm
binding international legal standards with which all States must comply.”
This is a new material for human rights education as well.37
The networking among Asian media practitioners provides support tothose who are facing threats of human rights violation, and also supports
the protection of the freedom of the media from state censorship.
The use of the new information and communication technology for human rights education has started. Websites of various types of institutions
provide human rights information, while some have been created specifically for human rights education purposes. The following are examples ofthe latter:a. The Asian Human Rights Commission website (www.hrschool.org)
called Human Rights School provides teaching modules on human rights;
b. The Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center website (www.
hurights.or.jp) contains information and materials related to human rights
education (especially for schools).
The Asian Regional Resource Center for Human Rights Education(arrc) website (www.arrc-hre.com) contains directories of groups in Asiaand the Pacific related to human rights education work, a catalogue of existing materials on all types of human rights education activities and programs,
and materials arrc has produced. It is however not in operation at present.

272

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c

The websites of some Asia-Pacific national institutions and humanrights centers likewise provide human rights education materials.
Cooperation between Asia-Pacific governments and international organizations including United-Nations agencies on human and drug trafficking, HIV/AIDS, child rights, migrant workers, women’s rights, environment, etc. creates opportunities for the development of more human rights
education programs not only for the “victims” but also for the government
officials who have to work on the issues.38
Regional Efforts39
With the experience on working for the protection of human rights under anauthoritarian government in the 1970s to 1980s, a leading human rights organization in the Philippines initiated a training program for human rights
workers in Asia. The Free Legal Assistance Group (flag) established theannual International Training Program on Legal Aid and Human Rights in
1987, designed to “train Asian and African lawyers and paralegals to rendereffective legal aid using the Philippines as an example.”40
The 1990s brought more regional training opportunities with the establishment of the Diplomacy Training Programme (dtp) focusing on “people’s
diplomacy”, and the South Asia Forum for Human Rights (safhr) addressing human rights and peace issues, among others.41
The mainly ngo regional programs generally fall under the following
categories:42
Capacity-building for grassroots communities
The Asian Coalition on Housing Rights (achr), a broad regional coalition ofngos, community-based organizations and individuals, promotes exchange
of information and experiences on housing conditions and helps develop alternatives to eviction. It holds training workshops on capacity building (focusing on community organizing and survey of housing rights situation) for
members of grassroots communities. It also organizes exchange visits foryoung students such as those taking engineering, medical and law courses
in order to relate technical science to social realities. It advocates for educational curriculum change to include the housing rights issue.

Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review

273

General study course on human rights
The Asian Forum on Human Rights and Development (forum Asia), a
regional membership organization, held a series of regional and national
workshops on fact-finding and documentation in the 1990s. It holds workshops on economic, social and cultural rights. It started an annual humanrights study session, which takes up general human rights course for ngo
workers in Asia.
Seminars for journalists and judges
The Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrc), though mainly focused on
mobilizing international public opinion on human rights issues, has been
undertaking training activities. It holds seminars for journalists and judges.
Teacher training and teaching material development
The regional human rights education activities of hurights osaka, a local institution supported by the local governments and the social movement in Osaka, have concentrated since 1997 on the school system. It undertakes research and publishes experiences on human rights education in
the school systems in the region.43 It holds occasional training activities forschoolteachers and other educators, and develops human rights teachingmaterials.
The Asia-Pacific Center for Education on International Understanding(apceiu), established by the Korean National Commission for unesco has
been focusing on teacher training and the development of teaching material. It holds training workshops for Asia-Pacific teachers dwelling on peace,environment, sustainable development and human rights issues.
The Asia-Pacific Network for International Education and Values
Education (apnieve), a network of educators, produces values education
sourcebooks for teacher education and tertiary level education. The sourcebooks cover human rights.
Training on women’s issues
The Asia-Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (apwld), a network of non-governmental organizations in the region working on issues

274

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i cof women and law, focuses on legal literacy for women’s rights advocates.
Its programs promote the importance of law and feminist perspective inthe women’s struggle for change. Its Beyond Law program examines various
strategies in using law to protect and promote women’s rights. Its programon Feminist Legal Theory and Practice focuses on law reform and litigation.
It holds regional- and national-level training activities.
The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women Asia-Pacific (catwap)
has launched a Human Rights Documentation Training on Violence
Against Women (in partnership with Human Rights Information andDocumentation Systems or huridocs) to develop tools for documentationand information handling for human rights advocacy. It has national andregional training activities. It also supports national-level training for ngos
and urban poor communities on the issue of trafficking of women.
The Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women (gaatw), an international organization based in Bangkok, provides training on Feminist
Participatory Action Research methodology and on the use of human rights
framework in dealing with trafficking in women issues.
The Center for Asia-Pacific Women in Politics (capwip) develops
modules and training programs for women's leadership and responsible
citizenship based on the framework of transformative politics, conducts
trainers' training for women's political empowerment and transformative
politics. It offers three programs: a) Empowering Women for Transformative
Leadership and Citizenship, b) Women in Politics Seminars, and c) AsianPacific Leadership Training Institute.
The Committee for Asian Women (caw) offers its Women Workers’
Leadership Training and Education Program, which builds women workers’ leadership capacity on national, regional and global issues towards thestrengthening of women workers’ movements in Asia.
Training on children’s issues
The Child Workers Asia (cwa), a regional network of grassroots organizations involved in the working children issue, provides a forum for sharing experiences among these organizations. Through field visits, it tries to expand
the knowledge base of these organizations on human rights and strengthen
their campaign programs. The month-long field visits involve groups fromThailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam, India and Nepal. It
also holds regional and national seminars and workshops.

Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review

275

The End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking inChildren (ecpat), an international network of organizations with the secretariat based in Asia, engages in activities that build awareness on childprostitution. It supports the activities of its national contact organizations
in twenty-five countries worldwide through information dissemination. It
holds capacity-building activities on child protection measures, and offers
training for the police on handling cases of victimized children.
Training on the use of the United Nations human rights mechanisms
The Diplomacy Training Programme (dtp), one of the oldest training institutions in the region (based in the University of New South Wales,
Australia), holds the Annual Training Course on human rights for ngo
workers. Its training curriculum includes Various Frameworks of Analysis of
Human Rights Issues (includes review of International Human Rights Law,
International Humanitarian Law, human rights instruments and mechanisms, and current debates in human rights movements), Peace-Building
and Resolution of Conflict and other Strategies in Human Rights Work,
Socio-Economic Crisis and Strengthening Peoples' Movement for Social
Change, Skills in Peoples' Diplomacy and Tools of Human Rights Education.
Field visits are also part of the activities.
The Forum Asia annual training program also deals with the study of
the UN human rights mechanisms.
Training on migrant workers issues
Several organizations hold regional training on migrant workers issues.
Equitas (formerly the Canadian Human Rights Foundation) held (in cooperation with organizations in the region) workshops for Asian labor attaches, the Asia Monitor Resource Center (amrc) has internship programfor Asian labor organizers and activists on documentation and information
management, research, publication and project- or issue-based programs.
Complementing, and in many cases in cooperation with, the ngos are
the human rights education programs of the national human rights institutions.44 They are generally good in initiating dialogues with governmentson the development of human rights education programs for government
personnel, the members of the police and military, prison officials, andpublic school teachers. They have also produced human rights teaching/276

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i clearning materials on various issues. To further develop their human rights
education programs, they send their personnel to the training programs
organized by ngos such as the Equitas (formerly the Canadian Human
Rights Foundation)45 and the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights
Institutions (apf).46
Training on domestic laws
In addition to ngos doing training on human rights and domestic laws suchas apwld, there is also a regional initiative on legal education in general. The
Pacific Regional Rights Resource Team (rrrt) runs training workshops forCommunity Paralegals, the judiciary, lawyers, medical practitioners, teachers and police on human rights and gender equality issues, communitybased women and men on their legal rights, government departments andpersonnel on human rights issues and the Convention on the Elimination of
All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (cedaw).
Training for staff and members of national human rights institutions
Apf offers training programs and capacity-building projects to help increase
the capacities of the staff and members of national human rights institutions in carrying out their “core functions of investigating and resolving
complaints, reviewing laws and policies and undertaking human rights education programs.”
Moving Forward
The existence of so many human rights education initiatives will not resolve
all human rights problems or lead to full understanding, exercise, protection
and realization of human rights of all peoples, especially the poor and themarginalized. There will always be a need for continuing assessment andplanning on how to move the efforts to reach more people, affect more institutions particularly those of the government, and contribute more to theresolution of deeply entrenched and longstanding human rights problems.
Many of the good initiatives were project-based and thus had limited
duration and impact. Many government programs suffer from changing
government policies as well as inadequate personnel and budgetary support.

Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review

277

The 2009 national consultation on human rights in Australia provides asobering reminder that there is no room for complacency. The human rights
education work is never done.
The documents of the national consultation explain the existence of anumber of measures in Australia that promote human rights:
A human rights culture in Australia is encouraged in a number of ways including:• through the Australian Human Rights Commission(formerly known as the Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission) which plays a key role inproviding human rights education in Australia and promoting awareness of, and respect for, human rights inthe community. This includes an emphasis on humanrights education programs in our schools• a strong human rights non-government organisation
sector which has a role in advocating for human rights
and educating the community about human rights programs and protections available to them
• a ‘Civics and Citizenship’ education program which
promotes school students’ participation in Australia’s
democracy by equipping them with the knowledge,
skills and values of active and informed citizenship.
The program develops knowledge and understandingof Australia’s democratic heritage and traditions, its
political and legal institutions and the shared values of
freedom, tolerance, respect, responsibility and inclusion, and• internationally, by engaging in bilateral human rights
dialogue, and through our Australian aid program
which contributes to the advancement of human rights
through its focus on poverty reduction and sustainable
development.
But there was a recognition that these were not enough and thus a national consultation was deemed necessary to get the view of the people indeciding how Australia could further protect and promote human rights.
The Australian government through the Attorney-General’s Department
supported the National Human Rights Consultation to ask people about thefollowing questions:47• which human rights (including corresponding responsibilities)
should be protected and promoted?

278

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c•

are these human rights currently sufficiently protected andpromoted?
how could Australia better protect and promote human rights?

•

People sent submissions or attended community roundtables that were
held throughout “regional and remote Australia, as well as… major cities.”
This consultation process was not merely an exercise of the right to take partin the affairs of society but an educational activity as well. The public submissions, public hearings/community roundtables were important meansby which people could think about, debate and learn human rights in theirmost practical sense.
On the other hand, the Philippine government’s 2008 operation plans
for a rights-based approach to policymaking, planning and program implementation (Human Rights Agenda 249) has been described as “evolving”
to stress the need to update and revise them based on the “current humanrights situation.” Human Rights Agenda 249 likewise supports the necessityof continuing evaluation of the adequacy of existing efforts to address human rights problems.
Moving human rights education forward requires a serious assessmentof the experiences, rich and laudable as they are, in relation to the widening
field of human rights as well as to the persisting human rights issues thatevery society in Asia and the Pacific has to contend with.
No institution can claim to have fully achieved the goals of humanrights education in line with the call of the udhr. There is a wide space towork on in terms of reaching more people, taking on more issues, creatingsynergies among institutions involved, and learning from the experiences so
far obtained.
But we certainly need to have the primary duty bearers, the UN member-states, to take more active role in heeding the call of the udhr. We arealso very much aware that while we celebrate achievements in the humanrights field in general, we also lament the changing (or even return of ) situations that lead to human rights violations.
Indeed, to achieve a decent level of involvement of “every individual andevery organ of society” in the human rights education call, we need every
resource that we can get, every political will that exists.

Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review

279

Endnotes
1
Seminar on National, Local and Regional Arrangements for the Promotion andProtection of Human Rights in the Asian Region, United Nations, ST/HR/SER.A/12,
1982, page 20.
2
Report of the Regional Meeting for Asia of the World Conference on Human
Rights, A/CONF.157/ASRM/8, A/CONF.157/PC/59, 7 April 1993, also available atwww.ohchr.org/EN/AboutUs/Pages/ViennaWC.aspx.
3
The workshop is officially titled “Workshop on Regional Cooperation for the
Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Asia-Pacific Region.”
4
Annex II, Further Promotion and Encouragement of Human Rights andFundamental Freedoms, Including the Question of the Programme and Methods ofWork of the Commission ( E/CN.4/1998/50 - 12 March 1998).
5
The other “pillars” are the following:•
National Plans of Action for the Promotion and Protection of Human
Rights and the Strengthening of National Capacities•
National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights•
Strategies for the Realization of the Right to Development and Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights.
6
See “UN Workshops on Regional Arrangement for Human Rights in the AsiaPacific,” Focus Asia-Pacific, issue 7, March 2007, also available in http://www.hurights.or.jp/asia-pacific/no_07/07unworkshops.htm
7
The SAARC has adopted the South Asian Convention on Preventing andCombating Trafficking in Women and Children for Prostitution (2002), the SAARC
Convention on Regional Arrangements for the Promotion of Child Welfare in South
Asia (2002), and the Social Charter (2004) that have provision on promoting humanrights. ASEAN adopted the Vientiane Action Programme (2004) with a particularprovision on “[e]ducation and public awareness on human rights,” and its ASEAN
Charter states that one of its purposes is “to promote and protect human rights
and fundamental freedoms, with due regard to the rights and responsibilities of theMember States of ASEAN.” In the Pacific, the Pacific Islands Forum adopted thePacific Plan for Strengthening Regional Cooperation and Integration (Pacific Plan) in2005 that provides for steps toward regional integration. Human rights are coveredin the Pacific Plan particularly in the provisions on harmonization and promotion ofawareness of domestic laws with international human rights instruments, regional
training courses on human rights and other issues, and as part of the Principles ofGood Leadership and Accountability, in Human Rights Education in Asian Schools
12/185-193.
8
See Terms of Reference of the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on
Human Rights in www.aseansec.org/22769.htm
9See Jefferson R. Plantilla, Asia-Pacific Regional Meetings on Human Rights
Education, originally prepared for the workshop entitled “Human Rights Educationin Asia-Pacific: Defining Challenges and Strategies” held in Bangkok, Thailand on
10-12 November 2003 for a summary of the major points in the discussions of themeetings and conferences.

280

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c

For the categories of these groups involved in human rights education and thenature of their programs see Jefferson R. Plantilla, “Asian Experiences on Human
Rights Education” in A Survey of On-going Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific.
(Bangkok: Asian Regional Resource Center for Human Rights Education, 1995).
11
For a discussion on the work of such Asian legal professionals see Harry M.
Scoble and Laurie S. Wiseberg, Access to Justice (London: Zed Books, 1985).
12
See for example We Shall Overcome – Songs of Humanity (1984) producedin Malaysia by Aliran Kesedaran Negara, as well as a video on action songs entitled
POP! Collection of Action Songs for Organiser-Facilitators produced by Southeast
Asia Popular Education Program (1997).
13
Craig A. Lockard, Dance of Life – Popular Music and Politics in Southeast Asia
(University of Hawaii Press, 1998), page 263.
14
The Burakumin are Japanese who are descendants (or associated with themthrough marriage or residence in their communities) of people discriminated in acaste-like system that started hundreds of years ago. They live in separate buraku(community) and thus they were called Burakumin. There are many areas in Japanthat are still considered Buraku areas at present.
15
See Yasumasa Hirasawa and Yoshiro Nabeshima, editors, Dowa Education:
Educational Challenge Toward a Discrimination-free Japan (Osaka: Buraku Kaiho
Kenkyusho, 1995).
16
Won-il Heon, “Human Rights Education in Korean Schools” and Soon-Won
Kang, “Human Rights Education in South Korea,” Human Rights Education in Asian
Schools 2/61-67, 68-72
17
Claude, Richard Pierre, Educating for Human Rights: the Philippines andBeyond (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1996), page 56.
18
See Purificacion Valera-Quisumbing and Lydia Navarro-Agno, editors,
Teaching Practical Law (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Law Complex,1987). This lesson plan publication is part of the Popularizing the Law (POPLAW)
program of UP Law Center that started in 1977 at the height of Martial Law in thePhilippines.
19
See Asia Pacific NGO Conference on Human Rights, Our voice: Bangkok NGOs’
declaration on human rights (Bangkok: Asian Cultural Forum on Development,
1993).
20
For an example of such experiences in the Philippines see G. Sidney Silliman
and Lela Garner Noble, editors, Organizing for Democracy: NGOs, Civil Society, and
the Philippine State (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998). For a comprehensive discussion of paralegal training see D.J. Ravindran ed., A Handbook on Training
Paralegals, (Geneva: International Commission of Jurists, 1989).
21
For more information on the work of these legal organizations, visit www.
hurights.or.jp/archives/human_rights_education_in_asian_schools/
22
Asia Pacific NGO Conference on Human Rights, op. cit, page 49. It must be
noted that the idea of a “People’s Decade for Human Rights Education” was started
by a non-governmental organization led by Shulamith Koenig in late 1980s. She
visited Asia and initiated the discussion of this issue years before the 1993 World
Conference on Human Rights.
10

Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review

281

See Rethinking Human Rights Education Strategies to Challenge Present AsianRealities (Bangkok: Asian Regional Resource Center for Human Rights Education,1994).
24
Philippines (1997/2008), Lebanon (1997), Japan (1997/2000/2002), Indonesia(1998/2004), India (2001), Pakistan (2001), Mongolia (2003), Cambodia (2005),
South Korea (2007), and People’s Republic of China (2009).
25
See “National Human Rights Action Plan of China (2009-2010),” in Human
Rights 8/3/5-20.
26
Section 18 (5), Article XIII (Social Justice and Human Rights), 1987 Philippine
Constitution.
27
The following national human rights institutions have adopted their respective plans on human rights/human rights education: Philippines (1994), Mongolia(2001), Thailand (2001), Nepal (2003), Korea (2003), Jordan (2004), Maldives (2005),
Afghanistan (2005 – not confirmed). Data taken from Jefferson R. Plantilla, Creating
Synergy: NGOs and NHRIs for HRE, powerpoint presentation in the Regional
Workshop on NHRIs-NGOs Cooperation, 30 November-1 December 2006, Bangkok
organized by the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development.
28
A human rights center, according to the definition of the Directory of AsiaPacific Human Rights Centers (Osaka: Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information
Center, 2008), is an institution engaged in gathering and dissemination of information related to human rights. The information refers to the international humanrights instruments, documents of the United Nations human rights bodies, reports
on human rights situations, analyses of human rights issues, human rights programs
and activities, and other human rights-related information that are relevant to theneeds of the communities in the Asia-Pacific.
29
See the Directory of Asia-Pacific Human Rights Centers (Osaka: Asia-Pacific
Human Rights Information Center, 2008). The updated list and profile of these human rights centers are available in http://hurights.pbworks.com/Center+List
30
See Anita Chauhan, “Center for Human Rights Education: Philippines,” inHuman Rights Education in Asian Schools 10/107-125 for more details in the local
centers. This article is also available in http://www.hurights.or.jp/pub/hreas/10_02/
index.html
31
See Guidelines for Human Rights and Values in Education, University Grants
Commission (UGC), in www.ugc.ac.in/financialsupport/human_rights.html
32
See the list of Indian universities with human rights courses in the websiteof the National Human Rights Commission of India, http://nhrc.nic.in/HRCourses.
htm
33
For a review of the human rights content of law school curriculums inIndonesia see R. Herlambang Perdana Wiratraman, “The Dynamics of Human
Rights Education in Indonesian Law Schools” in Human Rights Education in Asian
Schools 10/89-96.
34
See www.humanrights-mu.org for more details on both masteral and doctoral
courses.
35
See the Annual Report 2008 of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights,
page 10. This project is the same project mentioned in the CHRSD article page 218
in this publication.
23

282

H u m a n R i g h t s E d u c at i o n i n A s i a - Pa c i f i c

See for example the 2009 report of the Disabled Peoples’ International AsiaPacific, available in www.dpiap.org/reports.
37
Visit www.yogyakartaprinciples.org/principles_en.htm for more informationon the Yogyakarta Principles.
38
See for example Lao PDR Country Briefing Guide, UNICEF - www.unicef.
org/eapro/UNICEF_Lao_PDR_Country_Briefing_Guide.pdf, and ILO, First Hand
Knowledge – Voices from the Mekong, 2005.
39
This section is mainly drawn from the author’s submission to the Joint
Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, Parliament of Australia,
16 May 2003.
40
Free Legal Assistance Group, Report on the Activities of the Free Legal
Assistance Group (FLAG) 1991 (Quezon city: FLAG), page 9.
41
The following institutions are either previously active in implementing humanrights education program or are in the position to undertake such program:• The Asia-Pacific Regional Resource Center for Human Rights Education(ARRC) holds workshops for human rights educators. It focuses on the propagation of participant-centered educational method to support the programs of nationalgroups in the region. It likewise collects materials on human rights education for regional information/material dissemination. It publishes a directory of groups related
to human rights education work, catalogue of human rights education materials,
survey of human rights education experiences in Asian countries, and human rights
education handbook. It campaigned for the implementation of the UN Decade for
Human Rights Education (1995-2004) in the region.
• The Child Rights Asianet, a regional network for the Convention on the
Rights of the Child, held training workshops in the region for representatives of government and non-governmental organizations involved in child rights protection. It
focused on the strengthening of national-level system on juvenile justice, and monitoring/reporting on progress of the implementation of the Convention on the Rightsof the Child.
• The Law Association of Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA), though with a mandate to disseminate knowledge on human rights, has not been actively doing humanrights education work.
• The Jesuit Refugee Service, an international organization with an Asia office,engages in human rights education as a component of its direct services to refugeecommunities. It plans to have a more sustained human rights education program tocomplement intermittent human rights education activities along the Thai border.
It collaborates with other human rights organizations on human rights education
activities.
• The Asia-South Pacific Bureau on Adult Education (ASPBAE) has identified
human rights education as one of its key programs. It has however not been able todevelop the human rights education program, which can be offered to its membersin the region.
• The Asian Cultural Forum on Development (ACFOD), a membership organization, published a book on human rights education. It tried to bring the humanrights component to the programs of development NGOs. It held workshops on
specific human rights and development/culture issue.
36

Human Rights Education in Asia-Pacific: A Brief Review

283

42
The description of the different regional programs is taken mainly from theauthor’s article, “HRE and NGOs” in Human Rights Education Review, Institute of
Human Rights Education, number 5 (Osaka: October 1998). The article was published in Japanese language.
43
See www.hurights.or.jp.
44
As of 1998, the then existing national human rights institutions had developed a number of human rights education programs. For a discussion on these
programs see the author’s article “National Human Rights Institutions and Human
Rights Education, “ in Human Rights Education Review, Institute of Human Rights
Education, number 4 (Osaka: 1998). The article was published in Japanese language.
45
CHRF held a series of training workshops for senior staff and commissionersof the national human rights commissions in Manila from 1999 to 2001. This was incooperation with the Philippine Commission on Human Rights.
46
The APF held a number of workshops on various issues such as the use of themedia, and investigation skills.
47
Ibid., page 3. Visit the national consultation website for more information:www.humanrightsconsultation.gov.au/www/nhrcc/nhrcc.nsf/Page/Home