OSCE Chairman-in-Office and Project Co-ordinator launch children's human rights education pilot project in Ukraine

KYIV, 10 October 2005 - Increasing children's awareness of human rights is the focus of a training course for Ukrainian teachers held in Kyiv. The project, organized by the OSCE Project Co-ordinator, together with the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science and the La Strada Ukraine, a local non-governmental organization, serves as a model for a human rights curriculum that could be implemented throughout Ukraine and the OSCE region.

As part of a major human rights education pilot project, called "Our Rights", initiated by the Slovenian Chairmanship of the OSCE, the training course seeks to spread knowledge of human rights issues among children aged 10 to 12.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child will be introduced in public schools throughout the OSCE area using an innovative student material and teaching manual. Teachers from 30 Ukrainian secondary schools, who received training on teaching human rights to children with these tools, will introduce the material to over 600 children in Ukraine.

"We are delighted with the co-operation of the Ukrainian authorities, NGOs and international organizations present, including the OSCE Project Co-ordinator's office, in conducting the pilot project," said Blanka Jamnisek, Minister Counselor with the OSCE Task Force in Slovenia.

"We hope that this human rights education methodology and other teaching tools developed for human rights education will be useful for Ukraine and perhaps could be included for a larger number of children in the school curriculum in the future."

The Convention, to which Ukraine is a signatory, defines the basic human rights of children everywhere, including protection from abuse and exploitation.

Initial training courses for educators have begun in many OSCE participating States, and the student materials and teaching manual have been translated into 16 languages spoken throughout the OSCE area, including Russian and English.