The Diplomat
The Organization of Ibero-American States for Education, Science and Culture (OEI) and the Pablo de Olavide University of Seville have joined forces to create the Ibero-American Network of Universities Committed to Human Rights Education and Inclusive Citizenship, which will bring together 24 universities in the region with a recognized track record in the field of human rights education.
According to the OEI, the network’s mission will be to promote the creation of updated content on the subject that focuses on the situation of human rights education in Ibero-America, developing training programs, university extension initiatives, as well as research and dissemination projects with an impact throughout the region.
The act of constitution of the network took place on June 21, in an event headed by Mariano Jabonero, secretary general of the OEI, and Francisco Oliva, rector of the UPO, and was joined virtually by rectors, vice-rectors and academic representatives of the universities that make up the network, from 15 Ibero-American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Peru, Portugal, Dominican Republic and Uruguay).
For Mariano Jabonero, the creation of the network is one more step “to achieve a fairer and more equitable Ibero-America, placing value on peace, coexistence, democracy, inclusive citizenship and justice through cooperation in education”, values that, in his words, are in line with the OEI’s Institute for Education in Human Rights and Democracy, which was born in 2014 in Bogota and which will be a key institute in the network’s activities. With its implementation “we will have more committed, tolerant and supportive critical citizens”. For his part, Francisco Oliva, stated that the project unites two key concepts in societies: human rights and education. “It is important to reflect on human rights, but above all it is important to educate in human rights”.
The OEI and the UPO have been working together to promote education with a human rights approach in the region. Thus, this Monday they signed another cooperation agreement for the creation of the Ibero-American Chair of Education in Human Rights and Critical Citizenship for Sustainable Development, within which the network is inserted, and which will develop specialized training activities in this area.
