Most of us Europeans take democracy and human rights for granted. We can see that in voter turnouts at national or European elections but also in the number of people participating in political or social activities. However, we are facing many challenges, from migration to climate change, from populism and nationalism to youth unemployment and data privacy. We want to enable students to realize what has been accomplished in terms of human rights but also that democracy and human rights cannot be taken for granted. So, this project is about infringements to human rights in the history of our countries, it is about people that fought for human rights, people we can learn from. However, the main focus is on the challenges we have to face at school and our every-day-life. In our schools today we have a great variety of students: refugees, pupils and families with an immigration background, students with special needs, an increasing number of students who have psychological issues. At the same time we have to prepare our students for an ever more globalized, competitive world. Teaching students human rights in principle and practice is the main objective of our project. Making the students aware of the benefits of diversity and of living in the EU. But also making them realize that we are responsible for living the values written in the Declaration of Human Rights, that we have to meet racism, discrimination, bullying and stereotyping at school, in our communities, in (social) media, songs, commercials, any kind of conversation, gatherings, etc. The participating countries in our project are going to deal with their countries' past in terms of political systems that disregarded human rights. Challenges to values like freedom, justice , tolerance, respect and equal opportunity are detected in our schools, communities and countries. In the course of this project, the participants will find their own creative ways to these values and to meeting these challenges or finding coping strategies. They will also see the benefit of the European Union and its institutions that guarantee common values and freedom. The planned activities will raise awareness of human rights through stimuli that derive from art. The main objectives of this project are to make students aware of values that are essential in our globalized world today, such as acceptance, tolerance, integration and social cohesion. It also aims at making participants aware of and more sensitive to the problems of people facing difficulties connected with their historical, political, economic or geographical situation. The project not only aims at motivating students to cherish diversity and at cultivating respect and mutual understanding It also aims at showing students, teachers and parents how they can contribute to the development of social and civic competences. This project on human rights deals with the promotion of democratic ideas of justice, equality and freedom and transmission of values such as fairness and equal opportunities to all. Teachers will provide a non-prejudiced educational environment and they will have to contribute to the understanding and appreciation of cultural and social differences and opportunities within a pluralistic society. This project will contribute to the development of social behavior, cooperation, teamwork, self-esteem, self-confidence, more acceptance of multiculturism and more information and knowledge on human rights. The students will also improve their language skills and use English as a means of communication. There are five participating schools (secondary level) - Gymnasium Renningen, Germany; 1st GENIKO LYKEIO OF AMPELOKIPI, THESSALONIKI, Greece; Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace Mistrzostwa Sportowego Szkola Mistrzow KOKORO Centrum Przygotowan Olimpijskich, Poland; ITXAROPENA IKASTOLA S. COOPERATIBA , Spain and IIS GOBETTI MARCHESINI-CASALE - ARDUINO, Italy.
The main goal of this project was promoting democracy while focussing on human rights. Today we are confronted with a variety of global challenges. Young people are especially concerned with issues like migration, climate change, populism, nationalism or data security. All of these issues are connected with human rights. To tackle these issues, it is important to know about human rights and to know about countries where human rights are infringed because that affects the rest of the world as well. But it is especially important to learn that in countries where human rights are guaranteed by their constitutions, it is still the people who are responsible for watching over the human rights. This can only be done when we deal with the topic 'human rights' in schools. Our first meeting in Greece was aimed at children's rights. In a creative way each group of students presented children's rights which were especially important to them. Then, all students attended a workshop on child trafficking which was conducted by an NGO. The students realized that child trafficking also happens in Europe and that there are institutions that fight this.Of course, the students also dealt with Thessaloniki's history and the persecution of the Jews. Since our stay was at the same time the International Film Festival took place in Thessaloniki, the Greek team arranged for our students to watch a film on teenage struggles and there was a discussion on that afterwards. In preparation for the meeting in Germany, the students also dealt with the past, especially with people or groups of people that fought against injustice, discrimination and persecution.That made the pupils take a closer look at their countries and regions and had them learn about brave actions from local people. In a theater workshop, the students experimented with their power to stand up for their rights, to fight injustice, in short, to practise empowerment. The results of this workshop were shown to the public at a school event where the students celebrated diversity in presenting songs, performances and speeches. All partners whished to visit the European Parliament and the Counil of Europe in Strasbourg.These institutions are very much connected to the topic 'human rights'. The students could discuss topics like climate change, mobility and sustainability with Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg (MEP). A tour through the European Council made us realize how far we have come in terms of human rights in Europe but also how difficult it is to dealt with countries that don't respect human rights. When in Stuttgart, the group visited an exhibition on degenerate art and made a tour on the deportation of the Jews in Stuttgart. Our plans for our next meetings in Spain, Poland and Italy were to deal with the following topics: idols young people have because of their dedication to human rights; how do young people experience violations to their human rights like discrimination, racism, bullying or sexual abuse. Which coping-strategies are taught at school and what places are there to go to get help. Planned was an exchange of best practice and a handbook. Finding out about human rights in the context of media, art, culture and technics was planned for one of these meetings as well. Since we were not able to travel and meet, we decided to work on these topics online in mixed teams. Some of the results were uploaded on our twinspace, e.g. comics that deal with women's rights. However, it was not easy to only cooperate virtually. Not only did we have technical problems or issues that had to do with making appointments or sticking to deadlines but it was also hard to keep up our motivation. Even though we couldn't do three out of five meetings, we still tried to meet our goals and to document as many activities as possible on our Twinspace.