Human Rights Education before judicial practice. More effective human rights protection through specifically trained actors

Abstract

This thesis deals with human rights education (HRE) and the role it can play in the protection of human rights. The research focuses on presenting the key aspects of the HRE and highlights its importance for the promotion of human rights. In support of this view, human rights training for specific groups of professionals is emphasized. The thesis continues with the analysis of the way HRE works as a reinforcing mechanism in the prevention of human rights violations and the way its role is promoted by the United Nations monitoring and reporting system and at the European level. It explores the existing mechanisms for the protection of rights in the international and European context. At the regional level, reference is made to the Council of Europe, which oversees the protection of human rights through both non-judicial mechanisms and the European Court of Human Rights. The action of the EU institutions in the protection of fundamental rights will also be mentioned. However, these mechanisms have faced criticism for their functionality, effectiveness and enforcement. Given the limitations of the existing systems, the thesis raises the question whether human rights education may offer an alternative approach to the protection of human rights or even replace judicial or supervisory mechanisms of the existing systems. This thesis proposes research to analyze the hypothesis and assess the effectiveness of HRE compared to the mentioned herein existing protection mechanisms and especially the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). In conclusion, as much as we consider the mechanisms for human rights protection to be necessary to remedy violations, they cannot entirely avoid future violations. To this end we emphasize the importance of establishing human rights education as a preventative mechanism which in a structured and intensive way of function can change the global society and establish a culture of human rights, where the promotion of human rights values will be encountered more often than the finding of violations.