Australia in Switzerland
Bern and Geneva
Switzerland, Liechtenstein

Statement187

Report of the Open-Ended Working Group on
Draft UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training

Statement by Australia
15 March 2011


Australia appreciates the efforts of the Open-Ended Working Group on the draft United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training.


The Australian Government considers human rights education to be of central importance in strengthening respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and in contributing to the promotion, protection, and effective realisation of allhuman rights.


The development of a UN Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training is particularly timely for Australia.


Following Australia’s National Human Rights Consultations in 2009, the Government announced Australia’s Human Rights Framework (April 2010).


The centrepiece of this Framework is education. The Government has invested more than $12 million in a suite of human rights education and training initiatives for schools, communities and the Commonwealth public sector.


Australia welcomes the draft UN Declaration of the Open-Ended Working Group, and remains strongly committed to promoting human rights education and training in Australia and abroad.