Project Report 5
Human Rights Education – Its Contribution to Inter-Religious Dialogue in
Why did we play games instead of talking about serious issues of human rights? Because the workshop was not led by professors of law or religion, but human rights education facilitators.
Aims of our, as beautiful as diverse, project group were firstly to open our minds to human rights education and inter-religious dialogue and feel motivated in engaging ourselves & the people we work with. Secondly, the workshop aimed at committing ourselves concerning our fields in developing projects, ideas and good practices so to introduce a dialogue between human rights in inter-religious perspective.
As far as we know as facilitators working (mainly) with youth, our value is not that of giving final answers, but to raise questions in order to promote critical thinking towards human rights issues. Therefore methodology of the workshop was experiential learning: human rights education is not only about knowledge, but at the same time also about developing skills and attitudes so that people can feel empowered in being able to act and make a change.
This is only possible when people are challenged. And our group for sure felt challenged and somehow insecure, when, for instance being a Muslim playing a role of a traditionalist Christian opposing building of a mosque in predominantly Christian town. But it is only when you put yourself in the shoes of somebody else who does not think as you do, that a fruitful dialogue begins.
Human rights education in an intercultural perspective is a tension, it means that I recognize the other's rights to be different not from me but as me.
We have discovered during the workshop that dignity is also simply being able to listen to the music you love, hiking, reading or running. We have also discovered that equality means discovering each other and working together in a totally different and new group whether you are a professor or a physiotherapist. As we learnt a lot as kids while playing, we have learnt a lot in these days by playing as long as activities and role-plays are followed by a deep debriefing and reflection.
The workshop might be characterized by “experience implies action”. We tried to avoid lengthy speeches of academic nature, especially as we were aware that many of us would be able to give half-day lectures on human rights issues. The importance of theoretical discourse was appreciated as it would be hardly possible to do human rights education without building on the shared basis established in past decades. However, when action is to be stimulated, theoretical concepts are not usually as effective and transformative as experience. Experience touches somewhere deeper then on conceptual level, lasts longer and motivates participants to multiply what they experienced.
The methodologies used during the workshop were mainly based on materials published by Council of Europe. Particular attention needs to be drawn to Compass, A Manual on Human Rights Education with Youth people, and Companion, A campaign guide about education and learning.[1] Participants had the possibility to try activities called “Who are I?” helping to get to know each other and think about (shared) identities, and “Mosque in Sleepyville”, a role play building on example of conflict between traditional religious and cultural communities and “newcomers”.
While using the Open Space Technology[2] - a methodology that promotes participation and responsibility – the participants committed themselves to 4 different projects they want to pursue:
Positive images of religions:
The project aims at contributing to rebuilding positive images of religions through the internet and should be focused primarily on youth. It addresses values of religious freedom, respect, diversity and self-control. It consists of putting videos and pictures of nice religious people on the internet; part of it is publishing pictures taken during the Encounter to promote meetings of different religions and cultures. Part of the project is also internet contest “Miss Spirituality”.
Promoting human rights and human rights education in religious communities:
Participants agreed that religious communities play a crucial role in raising awareness of human rights issues among believers and decided to influence their communities to include human rights and human rights education on their agenda. One participant committed himself to address federation of Imams in
Organization of social forum to promote culture of human rights:
Group of Italian participants committed themselves to use non-governmental structures they have been working in to promote culture of human rights and freedom of religion. This should be done on national and regional level in cooperation with respective human rights organizations.
Revisiting human rights documents:
Human rights documents addressing religious freedom and other religious rights were drafted a long time ago and some participants stated that it is necessary to “reread them”. The main motivation for them as religious people stems from the fact that moral aims should be influenced by spirituality, not by law.
workshop facilitators
[1] Both manuals and some more educational resources may be freely downloaded on: http://eycb.coe.int/compass/ or ordered on http://book.coe.int/
[2] Detailed information about Open Space Technology in various languages could be found on: http://www.openspaceworld.org/
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