Human Rights Education with Children in Global South

Abstract

Children, as society members, with more limited social networks and/or information sources, might be at the risk of not being aware of their rights or having the skills for fulfilling them. Thus, Human Right Education (HRE) with children is a necessary education, especially for marginalized and disadvantaged groups of children. With a brief examination of the few existing Children’s Rights Education (CRE) manuals, methods and materials, it is clear that almost all of these resources are published in developed and democratic countries (global north), while the most violations of children’s rights are occurring in developing countries (global south). As a result, the idea of transferring new methods from developed to developing countries has been always an issue of concern. However, research findings demonstrate that the most successful HRE methods are those, which are based on the local condition and culture of the society (Jacobson 1999, p. 2, cited in Georgi and Seberich (eds) (2004) International perspectives in human rights education. Bertelsmann Foundation Publishers, Gütersloh, p. 17). This chapter aims to find out if and under which situation the existing CRE methods can be successfully transferred and applied in developing countries. For this reason, COMPASITO (Council of Europe), as one of the most holistic manual on CRE has been subjected to both structural and thematic analysis, and the result are compared to local condition, and children’s rights situation in Iran.