Peace Education and Human Rights Education: Valuing Peace and Protecting Rights

Peace education, like multicultural educa­tion, attempts to reduce prejudice and bias that leads to poor treatment of others who are different. Yet it also instructs students about the dynamics of peace, skills related to creating peaceful conditions, and systems that support or inhibit peace.

the process of promoting the knowledge, skills, attitudes and values needed to bring about behavior changes that will enable children, youth and adults to prevent conflict and violence, both overt and structural; to resolve conflict peacefully; and to create the conditions conducive to peace, whether at an intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup, national or international level. (UNESCO, 2002, p. 6)

Peace education programs usually include methods of handling conflict, such as nego­tiation, mediation, or facilitation (Harris & Morrison, 2003). Peer mediation is a compo­nent of many peace education programs and the most common form of conflict education in the United States (Jones & Bodtker, 1999b; Jones & Kmitta, 2000).

Gavriel Salomon (2002), a noted peace edu­cation scholar, suggested three types of peace education programs: (1) those in intractable regions, (2) those in regions with interethnic tensions, and (3) those in regions of experienced tranquility. Following the postelection violence in Kenya, peace education was included in the school curricula to develop an awareness of causes of conflicts and ways to resolve conflicts more constructively.

In East and Central Africa peace education is a way for individuals and communities to shun a culture of violence...................................................... These new

attitudes will then see peaceful conflict reso­lution practiced at the intra-communal level and regionally across countries.

The Pacific Island country of Fiji is also using peace education to build peace in a fractured community. As noted by Mosese Waqa, Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) Pacific Islands representative, “For emerging, new, and frag­ile democracies of the Pacific Islands, Peace Education... can be developed to teach the universal values, standards and principles essential for peaceful futures” (personal com­munication, June 10, 2010, as cited in Shaw, 2010, p. 120).

Often in high-conflict contexts, when schools are a place where segments of warring society are brought together to heal—places like Sierra Leone, or Serbia, or Northern Ireland—peace education has a strong element of human rights. Indeed, these programs often argue that peace should be a human right. “Human rights education addresses injustices brought about by political repression, human suffering, misery, civil strife, and prejudice. This kind of peace education has a literal and broad interpretation. Peace educators are guided by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights” (Harris & Morrison, 2003, pp. 66-67).

The Delors Commission report, UNESCO Learning—The Treasure Within (cited in Lenhart & Savolainen, 2002), focused on learning about human rights and learning for human rights. Learning for human rights helps a person understand political and social struc­tures that influence rights. Learning for human rights puts “the emphasis on social competen­cies, including solidarity and collective action for the fulfillment of the basic needs of the community” (Lohrenscheit, 2002). As a result, in peace education programs where human rights concerns are prominent; mediation, negotiation, and advocacy skills are critical.

Spotlight on Exemplary Programs

This section spotlights some exemplary CRE programs that have proven effective in develop­ing constructive conflict communities domes­tically and globally. For SEL curricula, the exemplary programs are PATHS, Second Step, and Strong Start curricula. Mediation and negotiation programs, bullying prevention, and restorative practices are also reviewed.