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Human Rights Defender |
The UN Decade for Human Rights Education was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly to commence on 1 December 1994. The resolution proclaiming the Decade calls on Governments to develop plans of action for human rights education, the introduction or strengthening of national human rights curricula in their formal educational systems, national information campaigns on human rights and the opening of public access to human rights resources, information and training centres. In the development and delivery of human rights education, appropriate institutions of civil society, including non-governmental organisations, community organisations and independent information, resource and training centres are to be encouraged and assisted.
What has the Australian Government done for the Decade for Human Rights Education? Precious little, it seems. In November 1995, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade convened a working group of the Inter-Departmental Committee on International Human Rights Issues. The Working Group resolved that the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission would develop a position paper setting out options for (1) a National Focal Point; and (2) a National Plan of Action. The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission received no resources for this purpose.
The position paper was to be considered in the working group and provide the basis for a paper to be put to Federal Cabinet. At the beginning of May 1996, there is still no sight of any such position paper. What, then, is the Australian Government doing sponsoring the resolution on the Decade for Human Rights Education at the 1996 session of the Commission on Human Rights?
SP, SS