“Where after all, do human rights begin?” Eleanor Roosevelt, champion of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights once asked. Her question became the point of discussion at the first session of the Global Peace Women 2021 Webinar Series on Feb 27, 2021.
Participants from 17 countries joined Dr. Eva Latham, president of Human Rights Teaching International and Aishwarya Chaturvedi, a young human rights advocate from India. “Most parents expect their children to learn everything from schools, but home is where learning should start,” was Dr. Latham’s answer. "The child in the
home learns from day one to respect itself and respect others in the family,” said Dr. Latham, drawing from her wealth of experience teaching peacekeepers, law enforcement and educators. She emphasized the importance of parents as the first teachers. She introduced the human rights passport, a practical tool to teach children and families about human rights. The passport facilitates a lifelong discourse between the child and the family to recognize basic needs and develop mutual respect.
Aishwarya Chaturvedi presented her capstone project for the Global Peace Women Leadership Academy as an example of how human rights can be addressed on the community level. With the support of her mother, Aishwarya worked with
local children in Firozabad for 4 month between 2018-19 to apply her three “E” approach: Education, Exposure and Experience, to cultivate literacy, life skills, and human rights awareness. She shared case studies to show the project’s impact on the children’s academic, social, and physical well-being. One girl was able to stop incidents of unsafe touch in school, a boy overcame his stammer as he gained confidence and literacy. Aishwarya founded NIRMAN on the foundation of the project’s success.
The dynamic question and answer session addressed COVID19 related challenges to human rights, how to negotiate between cultural norms and human rights, and more on teaching values like integrity in the home.
“What GPW is trying to do, Peace Begins in the Home, no one has done before,” said Dr. Latham. “If we told kids, ‘I expect you to hold peace out there, I expect you to respect others out there, and you start here in the home,’ the world would be different.”
We look forward to continuing our work to empower service-minded women and their efforts towards peace – from the home to society. Thank you for joining us.
Participants' Responses:
"It's true we need to begin from our home only to achieve the bigger aim. Until we change, society will never change.” - Yuvraj Ranolia, India
“It is very important to enhance kids' understanding that every little thing they do might contribute to sustainability of their peace of mind and other family members.” - Irene Ishengoma, Tanzania
“As parents, teaching how to be respectful by respecting your kids first.” - Nona Ricafort, Philippines