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HRE USA

A network dedicated to building a culture of human rights

Category: News and Updates

Racial Justice Resource Collection for Educators

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As part of our commitment to anti-racism and non-discrimination, HRE USA has created a Racial Justice Resource Collection to help educators engage their students on issues of racism through a human rights lens.

Although race is now generally understood to be a social construct without scientific significance among human beings, concepts of race continue to affect people’s lived experience through racism, the institutionalized practices of preference and discrimination based on differences of what is presumed to be race. 

The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD, Race Convention, 1965) addresses all forms of distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race as a violation of fundamental human rights and defines “racial discrimination” to mean:

… any distinction, exclusion, restriction, or preference based on race, color, descent, or national or ethnic origin that has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms …

The collection was developed in partnership with contributing members of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) Human Rights Education Community and Human Rights Educators USA (HRE USA)

 >> Access collection

unMASKing: Human Rights and the Pandemic

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EVENT DETAILS: 
When: Saturday, February 20th
Time: 11am-1pm CT
Where: Live Stream on Zoom
Cost:  Free

Description:
Guide your students to navigate the pandemic through multimedia lessons and activities! The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated existing human rights challenges including social and economic rights such as the rights to education, food and health. The two-hour virtual workshop will introduce educators to “unMASKing: The Pandemic Curriculum Project” and possibilities for its use in the classroom or other learning environments. The workshop will provide opportunities to collaborate across classrooms. The program is open to educators, parents and administrators in all settings (classrooms, organizations & homes).

Facilitators:
Elana Haviv is the founder and director of Generation Human Rights (GenHR)
Felisa Tibbitts is co-founder and director of Human Rights Education Associates (HREA) and lecturer at Teachers College of Columbia University.

This workshop is being funded by a Title VI grant from the U.S. Department of Education and organized by the Institute of World Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The program is co-sponsored by Human Rights Educators USA, the University and College Consortium for Human Rights Education, and the UW-Milwaukee Center for Global Health Equity.

REGISTER HERE

Share the flyer: 2021 CIE Unmasking

HRE in humanitarian settings: opportunities and challenges

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EVENT DETAILS: 
When: Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Time: 11.30 -12.30 ET
Where: Live Stream
Cost:  Free

Description: “HRE in humanitarian settings: opportunities and challenges“
Presenters: Megan Devonald and Silvia Guglielmi, Overseas Development Institute, UK 

In this session the presenters discuss how, and to what extent, non-formal programmes targeting adolescent refugees address education about, through and for human rights. HRE in humanitarian settings provides an opportunity for adolescent refugees to understand and exercise their human rights, respect the rights of others, and gain active citizenship skills. Yet in this mixed method study, the researchers find stark differences in how human rights are reflected in programming for refugees. In Jordan, the Makani programme for Syrian refugees integrates human rights across subjects and teacher pedagogy, and fosters skills for active citizenship. By contrast, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, a lack of basic rights hinders the delivery of meaningful human rights education for Rohingya adolescents. The researchers conclude that human rights education should be a core pillar of humanitarian responses, but that it needs significant adaptations to meet learners’ needs in specific contexts.   

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You can view further upcoming webinars here.

International Day of Education 2021 Symposium

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EVENT DETAILS: 
When: Monday, January 25, 2021
Time: 9:30 am CST
Where: Live Stream
Cost:  Free

Description: Education: A Human Right, a Public Good, and a Public Responsibility
In 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic spread across the globe, a majority of countries announced the temporary closure of schools, impacting more than 91% of students worldwide. As International Day of Education focuses global attention on this issue, what actions can we take to improve outcomes for all?

Even before the pandemic struck, 258 million children and youth did not attend school; 617 million children and adolescents could not read or do basic math; less than 40% of girls in sub-Saharan Africa completed lower secondary school; and some four million children and youth refugees were out of school.

The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) challenge all nations to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” by the year 2030. Join this event and mark the International Day of Education 2021 with local and international experts who will discuss how inclusive, quality education will be critical in supporting our most vulnerable populations post-COVID, in achieving gender equality, in breaking the cycle of poverty, and in securing a peaceful and prosperous future for everyone.

Learners of all ages are invited to join and hear from the leaders who are shaping the future of education.

Featured Speakers

  • Audrey Azoulay, Director General, UNESCO
  • David Edwards, General Secretary, Education International
  • Neel Kashkari, President and Chief Executive Officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
  • Justice Alan Page (retired), Founder/Chair, Page Educational Foundation
  • Atul Tandon, CEO, Opportunity International
  • Sondra Samuels, President/CEO, Northside Achievement Zone
  • Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond, President of the California State Board of Education, Head of Education Transition Team for President-elect Joe Biden
  • Jack Dangermond, Founder and CEO, Esri

>> Learn more and register

New Green Careers Classroom Resource

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Climate Generation has just released its new Green Careers for a Changing Climate Instructional Supplement and extended Green Careers Documentary.

Green career opportunities are rapidly increasing and all of our students need tangible experiences that will excite them for, and prepare them for the workforce of tomorrow. Many Green STEM Careers are the fastest-growing careers in the country, and there are many pathways students can take to become qualified professionals in these areas. The Green Careers for a Changing Climate instructional supplement contains resources to help young people learn about Green STEM Careers — careers that can help solve the impacts of climate change using STEM skills.

The resources are free to download and can be taught in any subject area. Get students excited about their future and how to translate their passions into careers that help people and the planet!

>> Learn more and download

Teaching During COVID through a Human Rights Lens

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From the Zinn Education Project

As the U.S. COVID-19 death toll breaks worldwide records and passes 250,000, how are you teaching about the coronavirus? D.C. teacher Caneisha Mills wrote, “Who’s to Blame? A People’s Tribunal on the Coronavirus Pandemic,” a lesson to help her students grapple with the forces that have drastically changed and threaten their lives.
 
Modeled after the popular People vs. Columbus, et al. and other trial role plays at the Zinn Education Project website, this people’s tribunal begins with the premise that a heinous crime is being committed as millions of people’s lives are in danger due to the spread of COVID-19. But who — and/or what — is responsible for this crime? Who should be held accountable for its devastating effects?

>> Learn more and download lesson

Human Rights Film – Declarations

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HRE USA member and filmmaker, Adam Stone has created and released for free a short 5-minute film entitled Declarations. Inspired by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and the art and writing of feminist painter Saribenne Evesong (1931-2009), Declarations uses art, and the art of movement, to examine empathy as a facilitator of sustainable love, peace, and justice.

The film has been made available for public viewing with the hope that it can be used by educators and advocates as an informative and inspirational catalyst for discussion around the UDHR and such issues as human rights, social justice, empathy, and peace.  

>> Learn more and watch film

Celebrate Human Rights Day with HRE USA – December 10!

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EVENT DETAILS: 
When: Thursday, December 10, 2020
Time: 3:30 p.m. Eastern
Where: Live Stream
Cost:  Free

Description:
Join HRE USA, the nation’s network of human rights educators, as we celebrate Human Rights Day and commemorate the ratification of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations on Dec 10, 1948.

The event will feature keynote speaker, Loretta Ross, a nationally-recognized women’s rights and human rights leader whose work emphasizes the intersectionality of social justice issues and how this transforms social change.

HRE USA will also honor the 2020 Edward O’Brien Human Rights Education Award winners, Pam Bruns of Human Rights Watch Student Task Force and the ACT Center for Disability Leadership.

We are also excited to include youth voices from around the world speaking on the significance of the UDHR through multimedia and poetry, introduce you to HRE USA’s 2020 Flowers Fund grantees, and announce the new Edmonds Summer Fellowship.

We hope you’re able to join us!

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This event is hosted by Human Rights Educators USA (HRE USA), a project of the Center for Transformative Action, with special thanks to the Puffin Foundation for their continued support. For further questions, please contact us at info@hreusa.org.

Write for Rights 2020

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Uniting supporters from more than 100 countries, Write for Rights is Amnesty International’s largest annual human rights campaign

Every December, during Write for Rights, people like you from around the world write letters for people experiencing human rights abuse and in need of urgent help. People like Nassima (pictured top right) who has been locked up since 2018 for protesting against the ‘male guardianship’ system in Saudi Arabia. Through the power of collective action, your letters will help convince government officials to free Nassima and other people unjustly imprisoned or facing abuses. 

In the past, the project has freed prisoners of conscience, saved the lives of human rights defenders under attack, stopped torture, and put an end to some of the world’s worse human rights abuses.

>> Learn more and get involved

We are grateful for the generous support of our members, individual donors, and The Puffin Foundation Ltd
The core values of HRE USA and its partner organizations include transparency and critical thinking skills. We believe that human rights--and human rights education--belong to everyone, and that the full realization of human rights means that access to human rights education materials must never be conditioned upon the subscription to any particular religious faith, ideology, political affiliation, or membership in any particular organization and that any organizational connections should be openly acknowledged.