Chinese school teachers and civil servants to be educated in human rights

School teachers and civil servants in the 10 million city of Tianjin are about to become the first of their peers to receive training in human rights. That will be the outcome of a partnership between the Danish Institute for Human Rights and Nankai University, signed on the 17th of March in Tianjin, China.

“This is pioneering work. Chinese school teachers have never been trained in human rights before. We are very excited about the prospects,” Tang Yingxia, Deputy Director of Nankai University’s Human Rights Research Centre said.

The agreement stands on the shoulders of the Danish Institute for Human Rights’ yearlong dedicated cooperation with Chinese institutions and civil society organisations with the aim of promoting human rights in the country.

“We are extremely pleased with this partnership. We are committed to contribute with human rights expertise and experience,” Jonas Christoffersen, director of the Danish Institute said after the signing in Tianjin. Christoffersen also gave a guest lecture on the European Court for Human Rights for Chinese students.

Education promotes rights

The cooperation agreement runs for a period of three years, with both parties looking to extend the cooperation afterwards. The first two years will be spent developing educational materials aimed at the different age groups in primary and secondary schools as well as teachers manuals. During the third year, the first teachers will go through the human rights training. And getting off to an early start teaching human rights is essential:

“In order for people to claim their human rights, the first step must necessarily be to know them. Without knowledge, you are neither able to exercise your own rights, nor respect the rights of others,” Jonas Christoffersen said.

The idea is to develop materials following a child through all the different stages of school and tackle the human rights issues that might pop up in the respective class levels.

The project for civil servants is at first focused on developing the necessary tools for the training.

Nankai University is with 95 years one of China’s oldest and most respected universities. It holds 25,000 students and faculty numbers 2,000. The university has boasted a human rights research centre since 2005, which holds six full time researchers and has published more than 100 scholarly articles in the field of human rights.

The work of the Danish Institute for Human Rights in China receives funding from the Danish Ministry for Foreign Affairs.