Human Rights Educational Centre, Belarus

The Human Rights Educational Center is a regional, nonpolitical, nonprofit NGO. The association was registered with the Department of Justice of Minsk on December 22, 1997.

Though the Human Rights Educational Center (HREC) has only begun its activity, it has already given some demonstration lessons of human rights in secondary schools using interactive methods (T.I. Ulanova, V. I. Hrytsuk) and has received invitations to different Minsk schools. It has also developed a specialized library of international human rights documents and corresponding educational literature and in a joint program with Belarus Scientific Pedagogic Library, has exhibited this literature for large publics. These exhibitions have been of big interest to citizens and teachers ask for this literature for work in schools.

The Center has large contacts with the Moscow School of Human Rights and Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Poland. Members of the Center have participated in seminars by this Polish NGO.

The Center has also organized a prize contest on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) for schoolchildren of Minsk. Our NGO has also initiated the creation of the same contest on the UDHR with the division of UN in Belarus and the creation of books for school children on human rights.

The Center has published articles in the following newspapers Vecherni Minsk, Zviazda, Minsk News, and the magazine Shkola. (See, for example, Minsk News, 17.11.98. Accessible at: www.css.minsk.by/Publications/MinskEconomicNews)

HREC was formed by volunteers and unites citizens who are interested in the distribution of knowledge in the field of the human rights with the purpose of creating the bases of civil society and the priority of principles of humanism.

Project goals include: humanitarian education, training, in the field of the rights of the person with attraction of the diverse information on existing international and republican human rights documentation by use of modern information methods.

Problems: Creation of a constantly active system of education (training) and distribution of information on problems of protection of the rights of the person and partnerships with the same Centers of NGO.

Methods: Organisation of different seminars, schools, conferences, exhibitions, ... discussions, editing and distributing of information and educational materials together with other public and state organisations and structures.

HREC was formed on July 8, 1997 by a group of citizens in with jobs in various professions. Among the citizens-initiators of the organisation five have scientific degrees and two have the rank of "honorary lawyer, Republic of Belarus". Other founders include lawyers, teachers, journalists, and researchers.

Agenda: The prime plan of action is assistance for human rights education (training) of the citizens. This includes

• helping youth in understanding of the rights of the person and citizens
• acquainting them with international Human rights documentation
• assisting the program of the Ministry of Education of Belarus on maintenance of an effective exposition of the rights of the person at general educational schools
• training of teachers using texts in documents of the European Community (EC), UN, etc.
• training teachers in modern interactive techniques
• training in the coordination of exchange based on experience
• organizing exhibitions of human rights documents
• organizing competitions among youth on knowledge of human rights

An important problem is widely informing citizens on their rights, in order to create legal knowledge of the basic articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Constitution of Belarus, and other normative documents.

This information was posted to CCSI's Organizational Guestbook May 1999.

Last updated:    June 1999

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