Children in the Irish school system should be taught about human rights as part of their formal education, a cross-Border conference has heard.
Calls for greater leadership from the Irish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive in supporting human rights education were made at the education conference held in Dublin Castle yesterday.
Pointing to research showing that human rights education had tangible benefits for the behaviour and academic achievement of pupils, a number of speakers emphasised the need to resource adequately efforts to make human rights a mainstream subject throughout the education system.
Noeleen Hartigan, programmes director of Amnesty International, said "despite the unquestioned practical benefits for children who have participated in human rights education, there has been a failure of leadership by the Irish Government in mainstreaming it throughout the education system".
The conference was organised by the Irish Human Rights Commission, the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission and the Lift Off initiative, which includes Amnesty International, the INTO and the Ulster Teachers' Union.
