Intercultural Education in the Post-Primary School - National Council ...

HUMAN RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIESWe are all members of the human group. Asa consequence of our membership of thatgroup we all share certain rights as well asthe responsibility to protect those rights foreach other. It is important, when looking atthe things that we share with other people,to work for a better understanding ofhuman rights, what they are, and how wecan make them work in practice.While the Universal Declaration of HumanRights is the most broad-based descriptionof people’s rights, the Convention on theRights of the Child (1989) is also a keystatement of rights relevant to pupils.The responsibility for enforcing these rightslies with each of us, individually. ThePreamble of the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights states:… every individual … keeping thisDeclaration constantly in mind, shall striveby teaching and education to promoterespect for these rights and freedoms andby progressive measures, national andinternational, to secure their universal andeffective recognition and observance.• Rights are universal. They apply in everycountry. Something that is a humanright cannot be denied to a personsimply because they are in one place oranother.• Rights are indivisible. All rights are tobe recognised equally. This means thatuniversal social and economic rights likethe right to medical care, choice of ajob, leisure time and necessary socialservices, are not more or less importantthat universal political rights, like theright to a fair trial.• Rights are inalienable. They cannot bedenied or taken away from people.There is a well-founded fear that developingan awareness of the needs of members somegroups in society may lead to a sense of thesuperiority of the dominant culture over theculture of other groups. There is, forexample, some evidence that images ofAfrica used to raise funds in Ireland for aidwork may have played a role in developinga sense of superiority towards Africansamong Irish children. The concept of rightsseeks to prevent the development of thissense of superiority, focusing as it does onthe rights and responsibilities of each of us.In this respect, rights are not simply an issuefor the needy or those discriminated against:we each have rights and by virtue of havingthose rights we have a responsibility toprotect them for each other.The recognition that responsibilities comewith rights is essential. If any group, themajority or an ethnic minority, is todemand of other people that their rightsare respected, members of that group have,in turn, a responsibility to protect and topromote the rights of other groups.Sometimes conflict can arise due to anapparent clash of rights. The ability to usesuch conflict constructively to producesolutions is related closely to the ability toapply the concept of rights andresponsibilities equally to everyone.Those who framed the UniversalDeclaration recognised that not allcountries would protect these rights. Sincethey recognised that the responsibility toprotect rights did not have borders, theyidentified that everyone would have theright to seek asylum should their ownhome country refuse to protect their rights.Human rights are one of the things thatbind us all together. As such they provide abasis for developing empathy betweenpeople. They also form a context withinwhich immigration and various forms ofdiscrimination can be understood withoutpromoting ideas of cultural superiority.Younger children will begin to develop anunderstanding of fairness and unfairness56Intercultural Education in the Post-Primary School