Continuing our human rights education
International Human Rights Day is Wednesday and Iowa City will be celebrating along with the rest of the world. The first Human Rights Day began in 1950, when the United Nations decided to dedicate a day to bring worldwide attention to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard articulating the rights inherent to all people. The City Council this month approved a proclamation declaring Dec. 10 as Human Rights Education Day in Iowa City
At the core of human rights is the concept that as human beings we have more in common than we have differences, and we share the same rights. We have rights enabling our basic physical survival, such as the right to shelter, right to food, right to life itself. We also have rights enabling the flourishing of the human spirit, such as the right to political opinion and expression, religious freedom, and equality under the law. Human rights education is a process of empowering individuals and the communities in which they live to fully engage in civic life and to create a more just society in which these rights are realized. It also provides a base of knowledge by which to evaluate government action, as well as inaction, and hold elected officials accountable to universal standards.
There is no better place to implement human rights education than in the state of Iowa. Iowa has a history of recognizing and protecting human dignity, going all the way back to our ratification as a state in 1846. We have always been a free state — unlike our neighbors on many sides, we never condoned slavery. Iowa desegregated schools 85 years before they were nationally desegregated.
At the time, ours seemed like radical ideas, but they were actually prescient. Human rights education has great potential to develop among young Iowans problem solving capacity for the global challenges we face, building upon Iowa’s proud legacy. Through human rights education, we have the chance to reaffirm our legacy as a national leader, a state whose citizens have the foresight and courage to make good, lasting decisions grounded in principle and lived practice.
The importance of community-based human rights education as a foundation for realizing rights globally was beautifully summarized by Eleanor Roosevelt:
“Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home — so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
The Human Rights Education Day proclamation was sponsored by the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights and the Iowa United Nations Association. It is the hope of these organizations and our affiliates that, by focusing on education this year, we can build a foundation from which to expand programs and resources on a diverse variety of human rights issues in future years. In this spirit, we are holding an informal “teach-in” Wednesday evening to share experiences with and discuss models of human rights education here in Iowa City. The “teach- in” will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at Old Brick on Market Street . For more information and to R.S.V.P., contact Amy Weismann (firstname.lastname@example.org).
Cora Metrick-Chen is associate director of the Iowa United Nations Association and Amy Weismann is assistant director of the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights.
If you go
•What: “Teach-in” to share experiences with and discuss models of human rights education here in Iowa City.
•When: 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday.
•Where: Old Brick, 26 E Market St. in Iowa City.
•Information: For more information and to R.S.V.P., contact Amy Weismann (email@example.com).