The impact of the Council of Europe Charter on Education for Democratic Citizenship and Human Rights Education
This EDC/HRE Conference was organised in Strasbourg on 29-30 November 2012 by the Council of Europe in the framework of the Andorran Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, and in cooperation with the European Commission and the European Wergeland Centre.
The conference aimed to take stock of the results achieved since 2010 and to discuss the challenges faced by the States Party to the European Cultural Convention in the implementation of the Charter, with a view to plan future strategies in this area, and to assess the support measures needed from the side of the Council of Europe and other international institutions.
The participants welcomed the preparation of the first report on the implementation of Charter (based on replies to a questionnaire received from the governments), and the collection of feedback from civil society organisations, as the first steps for the development of the support measures. They made a number of recommendations for strategic action to be undertaken by the Council of Europe, the States Party to the European Cultural Convention and the civil society organisations with a view to support the implementation of the Charter.
Prof Audrey Osler wrote the official report of the conference which you can download on the webpage of the European Wergeland Centre.
The report contains specific recommendations for civil society organisations, such as
If NGO´s have relevant contributions to make in order to report on the charter implementation they should use this opportunity and for example contact DARE. This is the only way make pressure in order to reduce the discrepancy between the European political committments and the national implementations by the states.
This EDC/HRE Conference was organised in Strasbourg on 29-30 November 2012 by the Council of Europe in the framework of the Andorran Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers, and in cooperation with the European Commission and the European Wergeland Centre.
The conference aimed to take stock of the results achieved since 2010 and to discuss the challenges faced by the States Party to the European Cultural Convention in the implementation of the Charter, with a view to plan future strategies in this area, and to assess the support measures needed from the side of the Council of Europe and other international institutions.
The participants welcomed the preparation of the first report on the implementation of Charter (based on replies to a questionnaire received from the governments), and the collection of feedback from civil society organisations, as the first steps for the development of the support measures. They made a number of recommendations for strategic action to be undertaken by the Council of Europe, the States Party to the European Cultural Convention and the civil society organisations with a view to support the implementation of the Charter.
Prof Audrey Osler wrote the official report of the conference which you can download on the webpage of the European Wergeland Centre.
The report contains specific recommendations for civil society organisations, such as
- "to cooperate with other civil society organisations in networking and advocacy for the implementation of the Charter at national and local level;
- to build collaborative projects with government to further the implementation of the Charter;
- to contribute independently to the Charter review processes;
- to continue the networking and sharing of good practices at regional, national, and European levels to promote the Charter’s implementation;
- to ensure dissemination of the Charter to target groups and empower them to take action for the promotion and development of citizenship and human rights education."
If NGO´s have relevant contributions to make in order to report on the charter implementation they should use this opportunity and for example contact DARE. This is the only way make pressure in order to reduce the discrepancy between the European political committments and the national implementations by the states.