Human Rights & Global Citizenship Education

This week, my thoughts have focused on global citizenship education and human rights around the world, as I began my elective coursework in Global Education, Citizenship, and Cross-Cultural Conceptions of Teaching and Learning. The class readings thus far have reminded me of the fragile and unideal origins of public education in developed nations, which started as a way for countries to develop their workforce and raise nationalistic voters. Looking at the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the United Nations, there are so many elements to unpack and critically reflect on. For instance, the notion of parental choice and authority in education. In Alberta, this is a debate that rages on as the government has removed the limit on the number of charter schools, allowing for new influx of smaller independently operated school jurisdictions. Public school teachers unanimously argue that this erodes the quality of free and universal public school systems by shifting students and funding away to selective and boutique schools because parental choice is misguided. However, it is interesting to note that this notion of parental choice and right to choose schools for their child/ren are enshrined in the Declaration of Human Rights in the UN. This also reminds me of the option for parents to decline sexual health education in schools. All of these controls and powers reside in the hands of the parents and not in the educational professionals. We are also forgetting about the students themselves. They do not get a say in any of these matters. Even changing one's pronouns have become politicized, where the government toys with the idea of requiring schools and teachers to report such sensitive and potentially threatening information to parents and guardians, regardless of the student's wishes. The UN has a Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) but it is largely unknown and not practiced. As a K-12 educator, I reflect on the systems adults have created for children and how it impacts them. Parents certainly have a role, but many are uneducated themselves and grossly misguided due to their own upbringing and surrounding circles. Especially today with growing economic hardships, increasing numbers of families include parents that wish for more time, energy, and resources dedicated for the raising of their own children. Teachers see this too, as declining supports from homes are creating implications in their classrooms. Ultimately, it is the children who suffer with no means and agency to change their circumstances.

In terms of global citizenship education, it appears to be a luxury for many who are barely surviving. Global citizenship education also harbours conflicting aims, such as training our youth to become competitive in the global marketplace, but then also developing empathy and solidarity for others around the world. Our kids are smart and they will see the fallacy in being taught to think and care about others around the world, but then also to outcompete them when it comes to economic and intellectual pursuits. Some may reason that once our own cups are filled in the developed world, we may responsibly allocate the abundant leftover resources to those who are less fortunate (aka the losers in this global competition). But why even have this competition? Questions surrounding capitalism and the unfairness of global economic hegemony certainly arise.

When considering those less fortunate around the world, it is easy to express pity and empathize, perhaps donate some money to charities, and then get on with your day-to-day. But our day-to-day exists due to the sufferings of those in other parts of the world. For instance, our numerous technologies and devices are developed in factories with unsafe working conditions. The raw materials that are fed into those factories are sourced from slave and child labour. Countless violations of human rights and children's rights due to modern-day economic imperialism have been exposed and documented around the world. Yet, we enjoy our individual freedoms and rights in our privileged parts of the world.

In countries under dictatorial governments such as North Korea, forced labour and slavery have become institutionalized, where citizens are put to work without choice and provided miniscule wages, if at all. Just last year (2024), the UN reported six different forms of institutionalized forced labour in North Korea, including human trafficking into detention camps, military conscriptions, compulsory labour allocations, shock brigades (work projects that recruit individuals unable fulfil dictated obligations such as paying unfair taxes), mobilizations of school children on work field trips, and overseas labour programs to earn foreign currency for the government. These violations of human rights continue despite the broader international community sanctioning the North Korean government and non-governmental organizations exposing such inhumane institutions of the country. Escapees have also reported gross abuses of power involving bribery, sexual exploitation, and unjust violence, which have all increased in recent years since the global pandemic and its consequent economic decline worldwide. This has further mobilized the North Korean government to exploit and abuse its citizens in order to maintain the dictatorship, continuing the nuclear weapons program, and recently sending its ill-equipped and underprepared troops to the Ukrainian-Russian border which resulted in mass casualties.

As the global power dynamics shift and the United States steps back from its former role on the world stage, violations of human rights by legitimate state governments may increase. Education and travel could be part of a solution where people freely exchange ideas and learn from witnessing other lifestyles. This is perhaps where global citizenship education can play a role by encouraging youth to venture outside of their localities to become interested in the world beyond their limited scopes. But when governments such as the one in North Korea strictly control such freedoms, abuses in human rights would certainly continue.