The overriding aim of the project is to raise awareness about human rights and democratic values in order to fight against, and facilitate the detection of, intolerance in schools and society. This will be carried out through a study of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), reflecting on the extent to which this has been applied and respected in our immediate environment and in the world as a whole. Humans are sociable by our very nature. This characteristic, together with our adaptability have helped us to become the dominant species. However, consistent undervaluing of human dignity has given rise to acts of cruelty, and intolerance becomes a manifestation of the most serious problems which have been present throughout our history. Intolerance can be present in every form of expression that spreads, incites, promotes or justifies any type of discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, culture, gender, ethnic origin or disability. Of particular concern is the increasing presence of hate speech and how the unacceptable is starting to become “the norm”, which is a true threat to human rights and democracy. Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right, but exercising this right carries duties and responsibilities. Hate Speech has become one of the most common forms of intolerance and xenophobia in Europe today. Words of hate have already led to real-life crimes ruining the lives of many people. The fundamental principles of Human Rights are the following: the respect of basic dignity; an expectation of equal rights and the right to democratically decide and establish the laws which govern everyday existence. The current measures taken to combat intolerance are considerable, but insufficient. Education in Human Rights and Democratic Values is the only long term solution to prevent hate and its consequences. It is everyone’s responsibility to avoid and report hate whenever we can. Nevertheless, school is the best arena for providing learners with tools to be able to actively participate in our society by acquiring not only knowledge and skills, but also values of democracy and human rights. Education in Human Rights covers three dimensions: ✓ LEARN ABOUT democracy and human rights: what are they? how do they work? how do we respect them? ✓ LEARN THROUGH democracy and human rights: the context and the way of learning about human rights must be based on the same promoted values (inclusion, participation, freedom of expression and thought) through democratic working methods and principles of human rights. ✓ LEARN FOR democracy and human rights by developing the critical skills needed to apply human rights in their own life and actively participate, individually or as a member of a team, in a democratic society to promote and defend human rights. Promotion, Prevention and Reaction are the three pillars when addressing Hate. School promotes social cohesion, intercultural dialogue and the valuing of diversity and equality, as well as empowers the readiness to take action in the defence of human rights. Promotion of these values leads to build trust and safer society. Prevention is aimed at identifying and reducing risks of Hate. Finally, when something is happening, a quick reaction consists of taking measures to handle expressed Hate Speech and support the victims. Education must foster in the individual a sense of justice, generosity of spirit, tolerance and responsibility. The task of all schools is to encourage all pupils to discover their own uniqueness as individuals and thereby be able to participate in the life of society by giving of their best in responsible freedom. And we will only be successful in this attempt if all the countries work together. Our project aim is to raise interest on environmental problems among students, teachers and parents with the activities in and out of the school and other people with transnational meeting activities. We have three main steps: First, We attract our students’ attention on environmental issues. Environmental issues and project activities will be included in the curriculum and monthly implementation activities at schools. Second, we will do various activities for better environment such as planting trees, workshops, organizing open to public activities such as Walk, Critical Mass, and celebration international days, competitions shooting film, documentary or public service ads to raise awareness on environmental problems. In the last step, we will enhance our students and the community’s ability to act responsibly for a sustainable future. For this step, we will prepare leaflets, infographics, public interviews and polls, and organize contests by integrating many people from all age and profession group. Additional to these; we will do extra cultural activities to learn more about our partners and overcome the prejudices, raise cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity among students. We will also provide a training for e-safety and secure
The IES Eras de Renueva, coordinator of this Erasmus project has extensive experience in this field having organised multiple activities Our center participated, together with twenty-five other European schools from nineteen countries, in the sessions in which the document "The European Charter for Democratic Schools without Violence" was written, in Strasbourg in 2004, organised by the Council of Europe. The "Peace Day" has been celebrated every year, with literary, musical and artistic activities in which the protagonists have always been the students. Through this project, attempts have been made to raise awareness about the importance of Human Rights and democratic values to promote tolerance and fight hate speech. It has been intended to favor social inclusion and the development of ICT skills. The objectives set were the following: Learn about democracy and human rights, learn through democracy and human rights and learn for democracy and human rights developing the critical skills necessary to participate in a democratic society. All partners have previously worked on this issue, trying to prepare their students for their future lives, encouraging them to discover their own identity and making them responsible European citizens. There is no doubt that cooperation and collaboration among students from different countries create the right space for human interaction. Regarding the activities carried out, six meetings were organised, four LTT meetings and two transnational meetings (TM) with the aim of organising the entire project. LTT meetings were held in Slovakia, Turkey, Italy and Spain, while TM meetings took place in Slovakia and Italy. A calendar was needed to sequence the planned activities for the two years of the project, which were the following: Creation of Erasmus teams of teachers and students. Websites, email accounts and social networks (whatsapp, Facebook, Instagram) to interact and disseminate project products. Information panel (Erasmus Wall) for activities. E Twinning project to work and share. Survey on Human Rights. It was passed to students, teachers, families and citizens. analysing them in each country. Collection of final results Project logo competition. Publication of finalists on Facebook and Twinspace. Voting through Google. The winning logo appears on all project documents. Triptych about the objectives of our project. Activities in different subjects to raise awareness about human rights. They were shared on eTwinning. Calendars (2018-2019) and Posters with Human Rights based design. International Women's Day: exhibitions, conferences and workshops. Presentations of the sociocultural context of each centre and on the specific topic of each mobility. Specific topics of each LTT: 1 LTT: “Sociocultural reality of my region” 2 LTT: “Violation of human rights” 3 LTT: "Rights of refugees and vulnerable groups". 4 LTT: "Human rights through art". Results and impact achieved Participating in this project, students have developed their social and civic competences through active participation in the workshops and proposed activities on Human Rights and Democratic Values. All this has contributed to the development of the critical spirit and the ability to work in a team. The sharing of their work has been an opportunity to put democratic values into practice in a suitable atmosphere. It has also been the occasion to respect the ideas of others and learn to collaborate with colleagues from different countries. Students have used workshops to create materials in order to disseminate the project using ICT tools. These meetings improved respect and sociability, reduced xenophobia, improved oral skills in English and expanded knowledge about other countries. Longer term benefits. Some teachers participated in courses related to the awareness of students in Human Rights during the summer of 2019 to continue working on this topic in their classes