Human rights day honoured at schools in Bosnia and Herzegovina

SARAJEVO, 11 December 2000 - The OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina is in the next two weeks working with schoolteachers and principals all over the country to mark the occasion of the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948. To commemorate this day teachers and headmasters are carrying out a wide range of activities with their school students on human rights issues.

Many of the activities are based on human rights education materials distributed by the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina. Other events reflect local initiatives such as; cross-axis meetings (Banja Luka and Bugojno, Prijedor and Sanski Most, Novi Grad and Krupa); the Canton 10 Youth Parliament; and the viewing of human rights video productions in Gorazde and other areas. The Council of Europe and CIVTAS have co-operated closely with the OSCE in organizing many of these events. One of the OSCE's long-term activities has been to support current efforts to formulate human rights and civic education, which has been agreed to by the entity Ministers of Education to form part of the school curriculum commencing the academic year in September 2001.

The head of the OSCE Misson's Department of Human Rights, Petra Katz, said, "The teaching of human rights education and the awareness of young people about individual rights and freedoms is essential for the long-term future of a democratic Bosnia and Herzegovina, based on the rule of law. And thus using the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a source, events round the country are designed to create dialogue among students on human rights issues."

As the first major human rights instrument to be adopted by countries worldwide, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights paved the way for international recognition of the importance of human rights. Today, it remains the best known enumeration of human rights and continues to be honoured as the original human rights standard.

For further information please contact OSCE Deputy Spokesperson Sanela Tunovic- Becirovic at ++ 387/(0)33 292 338 or at ++387/(0)66 134 758.

The OSCE established its present Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina on 18 December 1995. In accordance with the General Framework Agreement for Peace (GFAP), the OSCE Mission activities are to: promote Democratization and the building of a vibrant civil society, foster the development of professional journalism and monitor the rights of journalists, monitor and advance the Human Rights situation, supervise the conduct of Elections, and encourage Regional Stabilization through arms control and confidence and security-building measures. The OSCE Mission continues to work closely with other international organizations and local institutions to implement the Dayton Peace Accords.