Materiaal voor Kinderrechten opvoeding ontwikkeld voor en door landen in de Balkan

As the Chair of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, Slovenia in September 2009 started the implementation of the human rights project “Our Rights” for 50,000 children in Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Ossetia-Alanya in the Russian Federation.

It is our concrete contribution to the democratization of these societies, especially the promotion of tolerance and respect through human rights education.

Human rights education and training is a lifelong process. If effective, it can prevent human rights violations by promoting a culture of peace, non-discrimination and tolerance anchored in respect for universal human rights and fundamental freedoms. The empowerment of children – both by educating them on their rights and by ensuring for them access to justice – remains a key priority of Slovenian foreign policy.

During the Slovenian Chairmanship of the OSCE in 2005, Slovenia initiated a Pilot Project on human rights education called “Our Rights” which was based on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Slovenian experts designed, initiated and led the implementation of the pilot project, which involved a number of governments of the OSCE participating States, NGOs, individual experts, ombudsman offices, field offices of international organizations and other stakeholders.

The participating countries showed great interest, so the teaching tool was translated into 17 languages and used with about 66,000 children in Albania, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Germany, Ireland, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey, and Ukraine. Children from minorities were also involved, including Roma children in several countries in south-eastern Europe.
The evaluation of the “Our Rights” project clearly shows that it contributed significantly to raising awareness on human and children’s rights within all the participating countries.

As a teaching aid, the user-friendly set of “Our Rights” teaching cards for children and the information booklet for teachers motivates pupils to learn about children’s rights.
More information about the “Our Rights” project can be found at: 
 
Warm regards,
Blanka Jamnisek
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Republic of Slovenia
E-mail: Blanka.Jamnisek@gov.si