Human Rights Education and Human Rights in Central Asia

Abstract

AbstractHuman rights education (HRE) is at once a tool, the means, and a method to empower individuals in human rights. The 2011 United Nations (UN) Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training (HRET) encourages stakeholders and learners to disseminate information about human rights norms to equip people with knowledge and understanding, instruments, and mechanisms—and ultimately with skills. According to the HRET Declaration, educators and trainers aim to empower people by means of their awareness regarding the mutual benefits of human rights compliance. But for that to happen, people must not only understand human rights, but also believe in them as tools and mechanisms to solve problems and improve their living environment. Human rights are universally shared moral values, such as friendship, solidarity, fairness, respect, and trust. Human rights treaties and agreements set the written legal and political frameworks for these values. They encompass legally and politically binding instruments and mechanisms to implement and enforce human rights which apply worldwide. One vital human rights instrument is the UN International Bill of Human Rights. This covers ten core treaties and declarations of human rights, the majority of which have been signed, ratified, and recognized by all five Central Asian states—Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan—since their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. However, the extent to which these universal norms can be taught and taken as benchmarks to empower individual citizens depends largely on the political regimes, the capability, and the willingness of governments. The latter establish the framework that would allow civil society organizations (CSOs) to train people and to report on human rights violations. Governments also determine the extent to which human rights are incorporated in formal education and school curricula. None of the Central Asian countries has a National Action Plan for HRE, as requested by the UN, but some allow CSOs to conduct informal training.