Part I Introduction to human rights education The Australian Human Rights Commission, in partnership with the Sydney Community Foundation, made 20 short films to show how people have used the law to change their lives and the lives of others. The federal Disability Discrimination Act provides people with disabilities – and their relatives or associates – with the opportunity to pursue a complaint if they are treated less favourably than other people in a range of areas of public life. “Going to school, catching a bus, watching a movie or entering a building are things we do every day. But some of us have had to fight hard to be able to do them,” Disability Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes said. He said the films show that the biggest barrier Australians with a disability face is not the disability, but negative attitudes towards disability. Speaking at its launch, Australia’s Governor-General, Ms Quentin Bryce AC CVO, said the film series is “of great practical import, filled with constructive advice and valuable information for the way forward”. Twenty Years: Twenty Stories is available at www.humanrights.gov.au/ twentystories/index.html. More information is available at www.asiapacificforum.net/news/australiavideos-showcase-achievements-of-people-with-disabilities. It is good practice for NHRIs to ensure that their human rights education programmes and activities have action dimensions and action results. They can encourage and enable people to act for human rights by: • proposing action possibilities through human rights education programmes and activities • incorporating learning by action and reflection in human rights education programmes and activities • assisting learners to develop human rights projects to follow up human rights education programmes and activities • supporting learners to implement what they have learnt in human rights education programmes and activities. NHRIs produce materials that assist people to talk about human rights. Some of these materials are purely informational but others are more specifically directed towards education, for example, training and education modules and manuals. NHRIs also conduct programmes that develop human rights educators. Building the ability for others to be human rights educators is an effective way for NHRIs with limited resources to maximize their impact in communicating human rights messages. NHRIs cannot provide human rights education directly to everyone. Equipping others to do so is one of the most effective and efficient means of broadening human rights education. Human rights education programmes conducted or sponsored by NHRIs should develop strategies for this to occur. The three basic requirements of NHRIs in providing human rights education include: • a planned, strategic and resourced human rights education programme • skilled human rights educators • effective resources. Chapter 3: National human rights institutions and human rights education | 21