impetus: A Movement Towards Shared Ethical Values and Human Rights

Abstract

The challenges we face as individuals and communities — from conflict over ideology and identity (ethnicity, faith, social status or new arrival) to global warming, the implications of science and the allocation of resources — demand ethical, as well as political, economic and scientific solutions. This chapter discusses the work of the impetus youth programme of the Institute for Global Ethics UK Trust. Since its official launch at the Young People’s Parliament in Birmingham in 2003, impetus has been working in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to develop a culture of shared ethical values and human rights across the UK. Drawing on Mark Tappan’s theories of ‘appropriation’ and ‘mediated action’ the chapter explores the potential of the Human Rights Act to be a new cultural tool with which a new generation might develop the knowledge, understanding and skills to incorporate human rights and ethical values into global, national and local decisions. I offer both an argument for the urgency and importance of children and young people engaging in active human rights education and a reflection on the problematics and possibilities of creating change.