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Version January 23, 2017
Department of Peace and Conflict Studies
M.A. in Peace Education
Academic Year 2016-2017
PEP 6043 Human Rights Education (3 credits)
Course Syllabus
1. Instructor: Gal Harmat, PhD
Email: gharmat@upeace.org
Phone: 2205-9068
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Office at Building 5
2. Duration of the course: 15 sessions
3. Course Number/ number of credits: 3 credits
4. Pre-requisites or co-requisites:
This course assumes that students will have basic skills in:
a) Social sciences, Education and or related fields.
b) Organizing their time and ability to create structures to work effectively at a graduate
level with heavy workload and assignments.
c) Introspection, reflection, acceptance of diversities as a guiding pillar of social
arrangements and capacity for dealing with new visions of social paradigms.
d) Basic computer skills
5. Intended Participants: Students in the Master’s Degree in the Peace Education
Programme 2016-2017.
6. Minimum and maximum number of students envisaged: Class size 10-24 students.
7. Course Description:
The basic theme to be addressed relates to the questions: What are human rights and how
do they play a role in formal and informal educational systems? And, how can we assist
educators integrate a human rights discourse into school and educational curriculums and
how human rights can change the future of schooling?

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The course explores the notion of human rights and the educational practices of human
rights, including legal instruments, the educational work of human rights organizations
and activists and the ways of advocating for human rights.
We will begin with an overview of the methodologies of human right education, while
covering a wide range of civil and political rights, economic and social rights, and women’s
rights and their expression in educational (formal and informal) curriculums. We will
explore human rights as a governing principle for dialog and as a basic principal of living
together. We will focus on human rights education as a means to working towards the
materialization of the cosmopolitan ideals of justice and peace.
More specifically, this course will set a foundation of human rights education, and will
explore the potential of human rights frameworks for the everyday context in and beyond
schooling. Another specific focus will be put on the realization of human rights' histories
and her-stories through a Human Rights Book Project that will mobilize students to
develop, design and write a children’s book on a human right campaign, organization or
activist from the past or present.
8. Course meeting dates, times and place:
 Dates: from 30 January to 10 February, 2017 in Classroom #4
 Afternoon Schedule - from 13:15 p.m.- 16:15 p.m. NOTE: There will be double
sessions, 8:45 a.m.-4:15 p.m. on Thursday February 2, Monday Feb. 6, Tuesday
Feb. 7, Wednesday Feb. 8 and Thursday Feb. 9.
9. Course Overview, purposes and goals:
Course Objectives:
 Provide a general understanding of human rights and the human rights education's
framework.
 Encourage students to take part in defending and promoting human rights.
 Examine the relationships between human rights education and peace education and
why teachers need to be familiar with human rights.
 Study and critique the debates relating to human rights.
 Explore multiculturalism, Critical Pedagogy and diversity in relation to Human Right
Education.
 Consider the implications of teachers and children participation rights promotion.
 Address what can be learned from the successes and failures of past human rights
campaigns and Projects.
 Enable students to produce their own human rights educational materials based on
their own context.
Content:
 Human rights frameworks and the making of rights.
 Human rights education, justice, peace and Critical Pedagogy.
 Human rights and multiculturalism.
 Human rights education and Educational work in Conflict.
 Children’s human rights.
 Citizenship education and human rights.
 Human rights, politics and schooling.

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10. Course requirements and assessment:
 Attendance (10%) Presence in all classes is expected. If the student receives more
than 20 % absences without a medical certification or valid emergency, s/he will not
pass the course. In this latter case, that is, when there is a valid absence due to very
serious situation, students can make arrangements to complete the assignments or
submit additional work (see handbook). Absences should be notified to the instructor
via email.
 Participation (20%) Each student will prepare a 10‐minutes presentation on a human
rights organization or a human rights defender (past or present) of her or his choice.
Students will propose a topic at the beginning of the course, so that we can make sure
that a wide variety of issues and organizations are represented. Individual presentations
(10 minutes) will occur on the first Friday of the course (Friday, February 3, 2017).
This participation assignment will be the basis for the final assignment.
 Human Rights Book Project (70%) For the second final assignment, groups of 2‐4
students will design a human rights children’s book on a topic that is important to
them. Submissions and presentations of the books (15 minutes) will take place on the
final day of the course (Friday, February 10, 2017)
11. UPeace Policies:
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is among the most serious breaches of academic honesty, and is not tolerated
under any circumstances. It will be punished and may result in expulsion from the UN
mandated University for Peace if a student commits more than two offenses.
Plagiarism involves the use of someone else’s ideas or words without reference to the
source. This includes the failure to use quotation marks and to appropriately reference
text taken directly from another source, as well as the clear citation of text paraphrased
from one or more sources including one's work that has already been submitted for
another class1
, or published elsewhere. Even if the wording is changed, the sources of
ideas must be clearly referenced.
Using almost the same frame of another author’s article –the themes discussed, the
sequence of ideas, the sources consulted, etc. – also constitutes a case of plagiarism.
This is not really exactly about the text in itself, but about the approach, the “paradigm”
and, therefore, the claims of creativity and originality.
In addition, there should be no falsification or misrepresentation of research data
and/or findings.
1 Unless specifically authorized by the respective instructor, for example in the use of term papers as
direct inputs into the Final Graduation Requirement

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These rules apply to all written work. That includes, but is not restricted to: exams,
papers, group reports, PowerPoint presentations, thesis, posters, etc.
The same rules apply to group work and documents produced by several contributors.
It is the responsibility of every member of the group or every contributor to verify that
the plagiarism rules have been followed in the whole assignment.
If a student has any doubts about the nature of plagiarism, the rules for use and citation
of sources or other issues relating to academic honesty, it is the student’s responsibility
to seek clarification from faculty before submitting a written assignment.
Electronic media in class
No laptops allowed in the classroom. Also it is not acceptable to use cell phones during
class time.
12. Teaching method/Class format:
The class will be based on active participation, encouraging cognitive and emotional
learning. There will be lectures, experiential in-class exercises, outside-class assignments,
individual presentations, small group discussions and plenary presentations. The students
and professor share responsibility for making the class lively, stimulating, respectful of
differences and challenging.
Group Discussions and Preparations:
In groups, you are responsible for analyzing the readings. Each student must bring with
them questions and doubts about the materials. There will be one facilitator per work-
group and you will be taking turns doing the facilitation.
What is your task and how do you prepare for the discussions?
 What is the author’s main point(s)?
 Why do you think the author wrote the article?
 What is her/his perspective?
 What is that s/he is seeking to counter?
 What evidence is s/he giving to support their arguments?
 Are the arguments convincing? Explain your answer – why?
 To what extent do the readings relate to the objectives of the course?
 What aspects of the article are new to you? Be specific.
 Have the readings contribute to the understanding of the subject matter? How? Be
specific.
 What has been left unanswered if anything? What future questions does the article
raises?
 Prepare one question for the plenary/group work - either because you are not clear of
issues presented or for further discussion.

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13. Learning resources:
Required Texts: Reading materials are drawn from a wide variety of sources and as such
there are no required textbooks. Rather, students will receive the course readings online at
the beginning of the course. A reader can also be purchased at the copying center at
UPeace.
NOTE: All readings are required for all class periods. Students have to read the required
readings for each session in advance (at least the day before of each session).
14. Detailed outline of daily classes:
Students should follow the schedule outlined below:
Session 1: Basic Human Rights Principles
(Monday January 30, 2017)
What are human rights? What are the origins of the modern concept of “human?
And Rights”? How has the concept of human rights and human rights law evolved through
history?
The above discussion we will be based, among other things, on exploring teachers’ work-
contracts and linking between class, race and gender and human rights.
Required Readings:
United Nations (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights, pp. 1-5.
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
Banks, J. A. (2002). "Race, Knowledge Construction and Education in the USA: Lessons
from History". Race Ethnicity and Education 5(1): 7–27.
Recommended Reading:
Osler, A. & Starkey, H. (2010). Teachers and Human Rights Education. London, UK and
Sterling USA: Trentham/IOE Press. Chapter 1: "Three Narratives", pp. 1-14.
Session 2: Key concepts in Multicultural and Human Rights
Education
(Tuesday January 31, 2017)
Students will explore power dynamics and structures of inequality and oppression in
addition to paying attention to privileges that exist, overt and covert, in the classroom
devoted to teaching and learning about human rights.
Required Reading:
Noel, J. (2002). "Education Toward Cultural Shame: A Century of Native American
Education". Educational Foundations, 16(1), pp. 19-32.

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Required Video:
Martin Luther King, Jr., "I have a dream".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vDWWy4CMhE
Recommended Reading:
King, Martin Luther, Jr. (1963) “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”. pp. 1-6.
Session 3: Civil and Political Rights, Women’s Rights, Indigenous
Rights, LGBTQI Rights
(Wednesday February 1, 2017)
This session will explore the triangle of Parents-Students-Teachers relationships. Students
will explore the fulfillment of rights in and outside of class through a role play on minority
groups' rights, with the aim of coming up with innovative, alternative solutions to such
gaps that might occur between parents / teachers and their children / pupils with regard
to students' and children's rights.
Required Reading:
Springer, A. D. (2006). "How to Diversify Faculty: The Current Legal Landscape". pp. 1-
20. http://www.aaup.org/issues/diversity-affirmative-action/diversify-faculty
Recommended Readings:
Osler, A. and Zhu, J. (2011). "Narratives in Teaching and Research for Justice and Human
Rights". Education, Citizenship and Social Justice, 6(3): pp. 223-235.
Encompass Network (2014). Cambridge City and South Cambridge shire LGBTQ Needs
Assessment. pp. 32-51. http://encompassnetwork.org.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2015/07/LGBTQ-Needs-Assesment.pdf
Session 4: Democracy, Human Rights Activism/ NGOs/ INGOs at
Educational Systems
(Thursday February 2, 2017) MORNING (NOTE: double session)
Students will explore the role, impact, challenges and variety of practices of civil society
organizations and activists working formally and informally in formal education systems.
Students will critically evaluate best practices of mainstreaming human rights education
into formal educational systems as means for introducing and sustaining the
democratization of societies through education.

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Required Readings:
Apple, M., (2008). "Can Schooling Contribute to a More Just Society?". Education,
Citizenship and Social Justice 3: (3), pp. 239-261.
Harmat, G., (2011). "Models of Human Rights and Peace Education". Experts from a
Ph.D thesis submitted and published on March 2011 to Nitra University, Slovakia.
Eika, T., (2010). "Local and Global Efforts for Human Rights Education: A Case from
the Osaka Human Rights Museum". The International Journal of Human Rights, Volume
14, Issue 5, pp. 771-788.
Recommended Readings:
Bajaj, M. (2011). "Human Rights Education: Ideology, Location, and Approaches".
Human Rights Quarterly, Volume 33, Number 2, May 2011 pp. 481-508.
United Nations Resolution 66/137 (2011). United Nations Declaration on Human Rights
Education and Training. Adopted 19 December. pp. 1-6. http://daccess-dds-
ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/467/04/PDF/N1146704.pdf?OpenElement
Session 5: Individual Project Presentations
(Thursday February 2, 2017) AFTERNOON
Students will present their first assignment. Each student will prepare a 10‐minutes
presentation on a human rights organization or a human rights defender (past or present)
of his or her choice. The presentations will be evaluated and followed by facilitated
discussions that will connect them to the themes learnt throughout the week.
Required Readings:
Le Guin, U., K., (1975). "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas". In Wind's Twelve
Quarters: Short Stories. Harper & Row, pp. 1-4. http://engl210-
deykute.wikispaces.umb.edu/file/view/omelas.pdf
McConnell, T., (2010). “Cell Phone Minerals Fuel Deadly Congo Conflict”. In Global Post
online newswire, pp. 1-4.
Recommended Video:
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (2009), "The Danger of a Single Story". A TED talk,
http://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story

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Session 6: Human and Women Rights in Media
(Friday February 3, 2017)
The gender code in media will be explored and uncovered. Students will learn the role of
media in socializing children and adults into sexist, gender unequal standpoints and
behaviors. They will further explore the power of counter media to expose and unlearn
these standpoints and behaviors and to socialize children and adults to being critical of
gender injustice, gender violence and oppression and gender privileges and link it to
Children's human rights education methods.
Required Readings:
Goffman, E. (1987). Gender advertisements. New York: Harper & Row. Chapters 1-2, pp. 1-
23. http://www.publiccollectors.org/Goffman_Gender.pdf
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE (2013). "Sweden sees boom in stay-at-home dads".
Retrieved 14 June 2015. http://www.rawstory.com/2013/06/sweden-sees-boom-in-
stay-at-home-dads/
Recommended Reading:
Banks, J.A. (2004). "Teaching for social justice, diversity and citizenship in a global world".
Educational Forum, 68: pp. 289-298.
Session 7: Poverty and Human Rights
(Monday February 6, 2017) MORNING (NOTE: double session)
Students will explore the interrelatedness of human rights violations and poverty. They
will understand how without proper mainstreaming of a human rights perspectives, state
formal violence (Police, Military, legal system) might be turned against the poor and
contributing to violations of socio-economic rights of under-privileged minorities.
Through that students will conceptualize the concepts of hidden curriculum and its
oppressive power serving hegemonic and elite societal powers and upper social classes.
Required Readings:
Wahl, R., (2013). "Policing, Values, and Violence: Human Rights Education with Law
Enforcers in India". Journal of Human Rights Practices, Volume 5, Issue 2, pp. 220-242.
Hooks, B. (1994) (2006). Outlaw Culture Resisting Representations. NY: Routledge Classics.
Chapter 20, "Love as the Practice of Freedom", pp. 243-250.
Recommended Reading:
Anyon, J., (1980). "Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work". Journal of Education,
Vol 162, Number 1, Winter 1980, pp. 67-92.
http://www.udel.edu/educ/whitson/897s05/files/hiddencurriculum.htm

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Session 8: Contemporary Issues in Human Rights Education
(Monday February 6, 2017) AFTERNOON
This session will map current trends of human rights education, including advanced
practices of mainstreaming human rights education into teachers' education programs and
university levels in all disciplines and on all levels.
Required Readings:
Osler, A. & Starkey, H. (2010) Teachers and Human Rights Education. London, UK and
Sterling USA: Trentham/IOE Press. Chapter 6: "Human rights and global change",
pp. 71-83.
Banki, S. Reidel, E. and Duffill, P. (2013). Teaching Human Rights at the Tertiary Level:
Addressing the ‘Knowing–Doing Gap’ through a Role-Based Simulation Approach. Published by
Oxford University Press. Chapter 1, pp. 318-336.
Recommended Video:
Beyond Right and Wrong: Stories of Justice and Forgiveness
https://vimeo.com/85634529
Session 9: Contemporary Issues in Human Rights
(Tuesday February 7, 2017) MORNING (NOTE: double session)
Teaching, promoting and documenting human and women rights campaigns and human
rights violations through a variety of artistic means, including comic strips and books,
documentaries, personal narrative telling (blogs, books, etc.) This session will be the
starting point for the students' Book Project to be submitted on the last day of the course.
Required Reading:
Satrapi, M. (2003). Persepolis. New York: Pantheon Books. Chapters 1-10, pp. 3-79.
Recommended Reading:
De Visser, N. (2006) Objects in Conflict. pp. 5-47.
Recommended Video:
"Persepolis" (the full movie), (2007). http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/marjane-
satrapi/videos/838325/title/persepolis-full-movie

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Session 10: Human Rights Education and Critical Pedagogy
(Tuesday February 7, 2017) AFTERNOON
"Dialogue cannot exist, however, in the absence of a profound love for the world and its
people." These words of the Brazilian Educator Paulo Freire echo the essence of
education, generally, and of peace, human rights and social change education, in particular.
In this session students will connect to their own context, where they come from, as a way
of understanding their motivation as human rights educators. They will explore the true
nature of dialog with their future students as the basis for their teaching. A dialog based
on equal, mutual grounds.
Required Readings:
Darder, A. (1998). "Teaching as an Act of Love: In Memory of Paulo Freire." Paper
presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association
(San Diego, CA, April 13-17, 1998). pp. 1-11.
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED426154.pdf
Hooks, B. (2000). All about love: new visions. NY: Harper & Collins Publishers. Chapter 2:
"Justice: childhood love lessons". http://docslide.us/documents/bell-hooks-all-
about-love.html
Recommended Readings:
Freire, P. (2000) Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.
Session 11: Human Rights in Children’s Books
(Wednesday February 8, 2017) MORNING (NOTE: double session)
This session will present a human rights analysis of children's story books. The session
will enable the students to analyze the hidden curriculum of children stories and
through that will be able to conceptualize the ways of teaching children and adults
how to apply critical readings into these stories, as much as alternative ways of
addressing and writing human rights sensitive children books.
Required Readings:
United Nations (1989) Convention on the Rights of the Child. pp. 3-14.
http://www.unicef.org.uk/Documents/Publication-
pdfs/UNCRC_PRESS200910web.pdf
Walker, A. (2007) Why war is never a good idea. illustrated by Stefano Vitale. Harper Collins.

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Session 12: Children’s Human Rights
(Wednesday February 8, 2017) AFTERNOON
The session will address the need and practices of mainstreaming children rights, as a
way to present human rights in general, into formal and informal education systems
and teaching practices. It will address themes such as what is needed from teachers
and educators in order to adapt their professional practices to what is implicitly
recognized from the articulation of the human rights of children - in learning, as much
as in taking decisions over their learning processes.
Required Readings:
Osler, A. & Starkey, H. (2010) Teachers and Human Rights Education. London, UK and
Sterling USA: Trentham/IOE Press. Chapter 8: Children’s Human Rights, pp. 101-
111.
Lundy, L. (2007) "'Voice' is not Enough: Conceptualizing Article 12 of the United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child". British Education Research Journal 33 (6): 927-
42.
Hart, S.N. (1991) "From Property to Person Status: Historical Perspective on Children’s
Rights. American Psychologist 46 (1): 53-59.
Recommended Readings:
Osler, A. (2010) Students Perspectives on Schooling. Maidenhead, UK: Open University Press
(McGraw Hill).
Session 13-14: The Creativity of Human Rights Education Produced by
the Oppressed
(Thursday February 9, 2017) (NOTE: double session MORNING & AFTERNOON)
How children learn and how do they refuse learning hidden curriculum? How do children
of oppressed minorities practice and create their human rights education as a tool for
resistance and self-empowerment? Students will explore the notions of learning and
unlearning as empowering educational practices. These will be used to further advance and
consolidate the students' work on their Book Project. Various methods of educating about
human rights violations and campaigning for the realization of violated and unfulfilled
rights in creative ways will be introduced and analyzed.
Required Readings:
Kohl, H. R. (1991). I won't learn from you: The role of assent in learning. Minneapolis, Minn:
Milkweed Editions. 5 pages.
http://wikieducator.org/images/5/59/Kohl_I_Won't_Learn_from_You.pdf
Sacco, J. (1996). Palestine: In the Gaza Strip. Fantagraphics Books Chapter 1, pp. 1-33.
Sacco, J. (2000) Safe Area Goražde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992–1925 Chapter 1, pp. 1-17.

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Recommended Readings:
UNICEF Little Book of Children's Rights and Responsibilities. pp. 1-25.
http://www.unicef.org/rightsite/files/little_book_rights.pdf
Session 15: Students presentation of final projects
(Friday February 10, 2017)
Students will submit present their final assignment – the Book Project. Each group will
prepare a 15‐minutes presentation of the project. The presentations will be evaluated and
followed by facilitated discussions that will connect them to the themes learnt throughout
the week.
Required Readings:
Kohl, H. R. (1991). I won't learn from you: The role of assent in learning. Minneapolis, Minn:
Milkweed Editions. 5 pages.
http://wikieducator.org/images/5/59/Kohl_I_Won't_Learn_from_You.pdf
Tibbitts, F (2002) Understanding What We Do: Emerging Models for Human Rights Education.
International Review of Education, Vol. 48, No. 3/4, Education and Human Rights,
pp. 159-171.
Recommended Readings:
Sacco, J. (1996). Palestine: In the Gaza Strip. Fantagraphics Books. Chapter 2, pp. 37-69.
Sacco, J. (2000) Safe Area Goražde: The War in Eastern Bosnia 1992–1925. Chapter 5, pp. 24-35.
15. Instructor’s biographical data:
Gal Harmat
Assistant Professor, Gender and Peace Building Programme, Dept. of Peace and Conflict Studies
Dr. Gal Harmat holds a PhD in Gender Analysis of Peace Education and Dialogue encounters
from Nitra University (Slovakia) and a M.A. in Gender and Peacebuilding from the UN-
Mandated University for Peace in Costa Rica. She was a professor in conflict transformation,
peace education and gender and Co-Director of the Social Justice and Peace Education
Teachers Training Program, Kibbutzim Teachers College in Tel Aviv, Israel. She has also been
teaching in the World Peace Academy (University of Basel), the European Peace University
(Austria), and the Arts and Social Change College in Israel.
As a Gender and Peacebuilding Specialist, she has extensive experience in training, conflict
analysis, dialogue facilitation, capacity building, peace education, research, gender
empowerment and gender mainstreaming since 1998 in various countries in Eastern Europe,
Africa, and West and South East Asia. Her consultancies include intergovernmental
organizations (e.g. OSCE, UN Women, UNDP, and the Council of Europe), and various
international and regional NGOs (e.g. Non Violent Peace Force, Friends of the Earth Middle
East; Peres Centre for Peace).