Integrating human rights in education as a basis for social change

Jesús Sabariego and Juan Antonio Senent at the beginning of the conference.

 

“When we had all the answers, they changed all the questions”. With this phrase by Mario Benedetti, Dr. Jesús Sabariego began his lecture on human rights and education last Tuesday at the Seville Campus of the Loyola Andalucía University.

The researcher of the CES of the University of Coimbra (Portugal) and of the Research Group on Political Communication and Social Change (COMPOLITICAS) of the University of Seville explained how the era of globalization has led to a change in the objectives to be achieved with human rights. Faced with this situation, human rights must change the old strategy focused on needs; they must leave the legal sphere and adopt a new, more practical dimension. As he himself commented, human rights must follow the line of progress since we live in a time in which democracy is being redefined because there are social movements demanding change. But progress can be dangerous if we do not change the vision that man is the center of the planet and if we continue to pursue the accumulation of wealth as the ultimate goal. “Human rights start with breakfast. You are hardly going to take sides if you are more focused on other day-to-day things,” Sabariego pointed out.

The key role of education

Reconciling good learning about the importance of human rights with the current education system is a very complicated task. Sabariego explained: “When we work competitively in the classroom, we eliminate the part of reflection on what is human. It is necessary to carry out a transversal education on human rights that is present from evaluations to the way classes are taught, including the design of a curricular plan and a solid project within the institutions. Going beyond the pre-established logical framework is the only way to question concepts related to the means, the ends or the methods we use to achieve what we want.

Measures that could well be transferred to the local level, especially to the relationship between culture and local policies. According to Sabariego, it is essential to establish connections that broaden the human, and for that it is necessary to open up the intercultural perspective, drink from various ethical perspectives and encourage respect for diversity. “We must change priorities, because growth in the absence of equity and social integration will not reduce poverty,” he added.

To conclude, he stressed how effective it would be to generate critical awareness through education and encourage citizen participation through effective and quality processes to focus political decision-making on the activation of human rights.

The SDGs at the University

This activity is part of the II Permanent Seminar ‘Contributing from the university to the achievement of the SDGs from its research mission’, coordinated by the ETEA Foundation – Institute for Development and the Doctoral School of Loyola University, with funding from the Secretary of State for International Cooperation and for Latin America and the Caribbean (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation).