Report submitted by Iraq

The national report deals with Human Rights Education on several occasions (points 29, 41, 52, 128)

29. [...] The Ministry has created structures on the basis of principles which are consistent with the realization of its goals: oversight and monitoring systems; a process for overcoming the legacy of past human rights abuses; and systems for disseminating a human rights culture
and human rights education. [...]

41. [...] There are dozens of organizations devoted mainly to disseminating a human rights culture and human rights education through educational and training programmes. [...]

52. The “Friends of Human Rights” groups established in schools via direct and free elections is one of the key achievements to which attention may be drawn. In 2008/09, during the first phase of the experiment which was carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, “Friends of Human Rights” groups were set up in 90 schools in Baghdad. In 2009/10, during the second phase, the experiment was extended to include all the governorates.

128. In that connection, Iraq calls for continued international support in building its capacities in the fields of human rights monitoring, protection and education and in the preparation of periodic and other human rights reports.

Among the achievements mentioned in the report, several deal with Human Rights Education.

• The establishment of the National Institute for Human Rights as a fully-fledged institution with responsibility for implementing human rights education plans.
• The promotion of human rights education through the inclusion of human rights in curricula for the basic and secondary stages of education and the teaching of human rights as a subject in its own right in higher education curricula;
• The establishment of a child welfare authority, schools for gifted students and the Children’s Culture Home; the consolidation of democratization processes and human rights values through the creation of the Children’s Parliament and the Youth Parliament; and efforts to establish “Friends of Human Rights” groups in schools
  through free and direct elections.

From the voluntary pledges we shall mention the one to «Adopt a five-year plan on human rights education, focusing on students and young persons of both sexes, in line with the World Programme for Human Rights Education.»

Download the Report PDF http://lib.ohchr.org/HRBodies/UPR/Documents/Session7/IQ/A_HRC_WG.6_7_IRQ_1_E.pdf