Human Rights Education in Australia: Reflections on the Meaningful Application of Rights and Values in Practice

摘要

Human rights are statements of values and putting them into practice can present a range of challenges. In Australia, these challenges are compounded by the widespread belief that human rights are only at issue somewhere else. In 2006 human rights legislation entitled the ‘Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act’, based on the British Human Rights Act, was introduced in the Australian state of Victoria, locating the acknowledgement of, and respect for, civil and political rights firmly ‘in our own backyard’. The Australian Centre for Human Rights Education (ACHRE) developed a teaching and training programme to assist the implementation of this legislation. In this practice note we analyse how ACHRE has used education to advance the civil and political rights covered by ‘the Charter’ from guiding principles into practical applications in organizational settings. We explore the pedagogical approach by reviewing teaching and learning materials and participant responses to activities. We evaluate how effective the programme is in achieving understandings of how to apply human rights in local organizational contexts. We argue that the methodology is strengthened by using a human rights based approach to the design, documentation and application of course materials. This approach offers the potential for wide scale application of human rights values and principles in organizational settings. Importantly, it develops an understanding of human rights as relevant in local contexts.