IntroductionT

he ebbing of the covid-19 pandemic caused a seeming increaseof human rights promotion and education activities in 2023 in AsiaPacific to almost pre-pandemic scale. National-level human rights
promotion and education activities are being held alongside those at theAsia-Pacific level.
Volume 13 of this publication reflects this situation and highlights activities that reach out to communities and provides examples of programs inboth formal and non-formal education systems.
New International Guide
2023 is also the year when unesco adopted the revised version of the 1974
Recommendation concerning Education for International Understanding,
Co-operation and Peace and Education relating to Human Rights andFundamental Freedoms.
Unesco announced on 20 November 2023 that “194 unesco Member
States adopted the Recommendation on Education for Peace, Human Rights
and Sustainable Development at unesco’s General Conference.”1
This 2023 Recommendation is considered necessary for a number ofreasons, such as the following:
Our generation is facing threats such as democratic backsliding and the spread of violent and hateful ideologies and conspiracy theories. Our life on our planet is also under threat dueto pollution, climate change and the loss of biodiversity which
are causing unforeseen tensions, and challenges to health andwell-being.
On the positive side, the international community isequipped today with a solid array of normative instruments
and technological tools to foster peace and non-violence, which
didn’t exist in 1974. We also have data and a rich body of research in education to develop sound policies and monitor theirimpact.
The revised Recommendation is the “only global standard-setting instrument that lays out how education should be used to bring about last910H 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 · V O L U M E 1 3 , 2 0 2 3

ing peace and foster human development through 14 guiding principles.” It
wants to ensure2
all people, throughout their life, are equipped and empoweredwith the knowledge, skills, including socio-emotional skills, values, attitudes and behaviours needed for effective participation in democratic decision-making processes, economic
empowerment, awareness-raising and individual and collective actions at community, local, national, regional andglobal levels that advance peace and promote international understanding, cooperation, poverty eradication and tolerance,in order to ensure the full enjoyment of human rights,
fundamental freedoms, global citizenship and sustainable development through education. (emphasis mine)
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, “adopted by all United
Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace andprosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.”3 Among theSustainable Development Goals (sdgs), Goal 4 mentions human rights inits Target 7:4
By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge andskills needed to promote sustainable development, including,among others, through education for sustainable development
and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and non-violence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture’s contribution to sustainable development. (emphasis mine)
The indicator of target 4.7 states:5
Extent to which (i) global citizenship education and (ii)education for sustainable development are mainstreamed in (a)national education policies; (b) curricula; (c) teacher educationand (d) student assessment.
It is notable that human rights education is not one of the “educations”
in this sdg Indicator. The teaching of human rights in relation to the sdgs
needs mainstreaming in the school system in many countries, or needs
strengthening in countries that have formally adopted human rights education policies.

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Unesco explains that since Goal 4.7 mentions several topics,6When resources are not sufficient to address all topics, it
is only natural to prioritize. In this process, global citizenshipeducation, if prioritized, can be treated as an entry point to address the other topics, such as human rights, culture of peace,non-violence, and cultural diversity.
National Plans
Complementing the international guides on human rights promotion andeducation are national plans on specific tasks that both the government andthe civil society or the non-governmental sector should implement.
The Ministry of Human Rights in Pakistan issued the National Policy
Framework on Human Rights – 2022-2027 that includes the principles of7• “emphasizing on the human rights education and training”• “Modernizing the school, college and university curricula to include human rights concepts”• “Improving the training and sops [standard operating procedures]of the police, prison staff and lower and mid-level judiciary.”
It has specific provisions on human rights promotion and education toaddress issues related to child rights, women’s rights, rights of minorities,rights of persons with disabilities, and senior citizen’s rights. There is a section on “Awareness Raising and Advocacy Campaign.”
The government of the Republic of Uzbekistan adopted on 7 February
2023 the National Programme for Human Rights Education. This National
Programme was drafted by a National Commission for the implementationof the fourth phase of the United Nations World Programme for HumanRights Education. The National Programme is also supported by theNational Human Rights Centre of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
More specifically, the National Programme aims
To foster a sense of respect for human rights and freedoms
in society and ensure that the recommendations of internationalorganizations are fully implemented, it is necessary to organize
on a systematic basis work to improve the human rights expertise of judicial, law enforcement, and other state bodies.

12H 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 · V O L U M E 1 3 , 2 0 2 3In order to effectively carry out the tasks outlined in theNational Strategy of the Republic of Uzbekistan on HumanRights, the issue of organizing human rights education, reflecting new approaches, methodologies, and practices is put on theagenda. This is done while taking into account the commitments
made by the country within the framework of international documents, as well as new threats and problems caused by the pandemic and its consequences.
Shortcomings in this area impede the growth of the population’s legal literacy, particularly among young people, the development of their sense of respect for human rights and freedoms,
and the development of the knowledge and expertise of civil servants in the area of human rights and gender equality.
The National Programme has an accompanying “Roadmap” which provides details on how the human rights promotion and education activities
should be implemented and identifies the government and other institutions that should work together to implement them. See the Appendix of
this publication for the full “Roadmap” document.
National plans are important in guiding governments and non-governmental institutions in undertaking human rights promotion and education activities. They constitute a critical element in pursuing human rights
promotion and education at the national and local levels. They minimize
resistance to human rights and human rights promotion and education bygovernment agencies and officials as well as some people in society.
Varied Initiatives
This volume presents varied types of human rights promotion and education activities. The activities range from campaigns to outreach programs,
and from non-formal training to formal education courses. There are different players involved from a student organization to non-governmentalorganizations, from a special court to national human rights institutions.
On awareness-raising, the articles from Cambodia, Pacific islands andTaiwan present concrete ways of making the general public aware andinformed of human rights issues and concepts. The articles discuss study
tours, museum visits, art competitions, rallies, and television and onlinemedia promotions. These activities have direct effect on people who participate or even watch or witness the activities.

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On non-formal education, the training of human rights workers, government officials, company officials and employees, law students, paralegals
and lawyers is discussed in articles from India, Cambodia, Japan and Yemen.
The training programs vary from one group to another, but they all concentrate on providing practical skills of protecting and realizing the humanrights of the people they work with (particularly the disadvantaged groupsin society as in the case of the Indian article), or documenting them to holdpeople accountable for human rights violations and abuse (as discussed in
the article from Yemen). The training content ranges from learning laws andlegal procedures relevant to human rights, to learning skills in documenting human rights violations, to filing petitions in government offices and thecourts, to working with communities to address human rights issues.
Human rights courses exist in tertiary education as shown in courses
in a number of universities in Japan and in a teacher education universityin Pakistan. The main concern is on the human rights content and teaching
method that should be applied in teaching human rights at the tertiary levelof education.
There is also integration of human rights education into the school curriculum discussed in the context of Global Citizenship Education. This ispresented in the article from the Philippines. This article somehow follows
the unesco view that in case of limited resources, human rights and otherconcerns can be learned through gced. But in the context of the Philippines,
this approach may overlap human rights education that has supposedly
been integrated in the school curriculum.
The article from Hong Kong provides detailed discussion of the challenges of inclusive education. The needed support system can be expensive
in terms of professionally trained staff, support from the teachers and school
officials, and school facilities. There is likewise opposition from parents whowant their children with disabilities to enter the competitive higher levels ofeducation without considering the difficulties and disadvantage their children will face. Inclusive education is a vehicle for human rights educationfor educators and parents who make efforts to realize the right to educationof children with disabilities.
These articles are indicative of the complexity of human rights promotion and education work at the ground-level in the Asia-Pacific. Issues in society as well as the institutions that undertake human rights promotion and14

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education determine the variety of programs and activities being developedfor specific contexts and objectives.
Jefferson R. Plantilla
EditorEndnotes
1 Unesco adopts landmark guidance on education’s cross-cutting role inpromoting peace, unesco, www.unesco.org/en/articles/unesco-adopts-landmarkguidance-educations-cross-cutting-role-promoting-peace.
2 Unesco adopts landmark guidance on education’s cross-cutting role in promoting peace, ibid.
3 History, Sustainable Development Goals, United Nations, https://sdgs.
un.org/goals#history.
4 Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals andtargets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, United Nations, https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/indicators/Global%20Indicator%20Framework%20after%20
2023%20refinement_Eng.pdf.
5 Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, ibid.
6 The abcs of Global Citizenship Education, unesco, https://unesdoc.unesco.
org/ark:/48223/pf0000248232.
7 National Policy Framework on Human Rights – 2022-2027, Ministry of
Human Rights, https://mohr.gov.pk/SiteImage/Misc/files/npfw%20on%20HR%20
22-27.pdf.