Human Rights Education A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions PERCEPTIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS A three-day workshop was organised in Fiji by the Regional Rights Resource Team (RRRT) of the Pacific Community (SPC), in partnership with the APF, for participants to: • share examples of effective human rights communication and education initiatives in the Pacific • develop skills and strategies to build community engagement on human rights issues. The workshop brought together representatives from the three national human rights institutions in the Pacific – Samoa, Fiji and Tuvalu – as well as from government agencies and civil society organisations from the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Tonga. One of the greatest barriers when discussing human rights in the Pacific is the community attitude that it is a ‘foreign’ concept, at odds with traditional cultural values, participants explained at the workshop. What emerged however, was an understanding that human rights and Pacific cultural values share far more in common than their differences and that when these shared values are communicated effectively, understanding and enjoyment of rights can increase substantially. A common theme throughout the discussions was the importance of using stories that connect human rights with the cultural values that are meaningful to people in different parts of the Pacific. Participants began planning a communications or education program they would like to run in their respective countries. Some of the practical ideas discussed by participants included: • Developing human rights content for an induction program for public servants • Preparing an engaging program on human rights and the work of parliamentarians for incoming MPs • Providing human rights information for detainees in prisons and other places of detention • Integrating songs, legends, stories and proverbs with linkages to human rights values into the school curriculum and human rights education activities. • Working with village councils to promote human rights values in the development of by-laws • Developing media guidelines on how to report on persons with disabilities. Further information can be found at www.asiapacificforum.net/news/changingcommunity-perceptions-human-rights/ 32