a special democratic experience for the humankind

FIRST
PRESS STATEMENTS

More than fifty organizations have now joined progressive forces worldwide to advocate for an extension of the human right to education. Teachers, educators, students and pupils, universities and trade unions are in dialogue with each other to give the human right to education greater weight than this has so far been the case. Although politics and business are never tired of emphasizing the importance of education, it has become clear – and not just since Corona – that families, schools and even universities quickly take a back seat when it comes down to it. After all, while education is seen as highly significant for economic development, and by some as useful for economic wealth, there is more at stake, namely giving people back the education that is virtually vital for their lives and for developing a democratic society.

6th of September 2021

The Project “Extension of Human Rights to Education” has been conceptualized as a proposal to the UN. Various social actors involved in the extension of human rights to education will work out different aspects of this matter with the aim of formulating a “Declaration on the Extension of Human Rights to Education” to the UN for voting. The project focuses on Article 26 of the UN Declaration of Human Rights which is to be modified/supplemented in the sense of a progressive enlargement.

The goal of extension Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights while developing a broad base of legitimacy will be a meaningful experience for all people excluded from democratic structures. This is an interesting relevant perspective, a vision, because there is rarely time for humanity to act as legislators and articulate its undistorted interests from the outside.

We all as project partners would like to draft a declaration together, based on the legitimacy of our international engagement, for submission to the UN General Assembly for the vote of UN members.

This will make it possible to bring together progress that is stalled at the national level through our project at the international level. The concrete goal of extending Article 26 allows us to interact permanently and plan joint activities.

Our current phase and awaiting duties
In general terms, our project is in a turning point of ground breaking works. These ground breaking works will be considered as completed according to the project participation of a specific number of countries, or regions in which significant amount of world population reside. In other words, when the participants of the project will have a common view regarding sufficient legitimacy of the upcoming declaration, the ground breaking works will be regarded as completed.

At the moment, 59 partners in 37 countries from 4 continents are represented in the project officially, one fourth of the world population live in these countries.

In the first phase of the project, the partners support to extend the number of partnerships to many other protagonist in different countries. For this goal, our project dossier has already been translated into 8 languages: English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese, Russian, German and Turkish. The links to the project dossier in 8 languages follows here:

ENGLISH: http://politeknik.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/PROJECT_DOSSIE_EN.pdf
SPANISH: http://politeknik.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/PROJECT_DOSSIER_ESP.pdf
FRENCH: http://politeknik.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/PROJECT-DOSSIER-FR.pdf
RUSSIAN: http://politeknik.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/PROJECT_DOSSIER_RUS.pdf
ARABIC: http://politeknik.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/PROJECT_DOSSIER_ARB.pdf
PORTUGUES: http://politeknik.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/PROJECT_DOSSIER_POR.pdf
GERMAN: http://politeknik.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/PROJECT_DOSSIER_DE.pdf
TURKISH: http://politeknik.de/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/PROJECT_DOSSIER_TR.pdf

This voluntarily organized project and the efforts of the volunteers supported by their own financial and immaterial possibilities bring a high prestige to our engagement. Obviously, a great surplus has been created thanks to this endeavor. Along with the increasing participants and volunteers, extraordinary opportunities would emerge.

In our current phase, after establishing legitimacy and building coordination units, it can be started to constitute academic advisory boards. The academic advisory boards will prepare proposal catalogues for the formulation of joint declaration. Of course, now all of our members can decide themselves. If conditions of their countries and their resources are sufficient, they can begin to establish academic advisory boards, moreover this step can serve as a model. This decision is up to the partners.

A memory
When we came up with an idea for extending the Article 26 of UN Declaration of Human Rights in 2015/16, we shared it with our close circle; and one of our friends said that; “Yes, this Article can be amended, but only after a great battle!”

Anything can come to an end anytime, and everyone or everything may have to start and set out it again from our current point. Humanity, in any case, will live and learn whether it adopt human rights permanently, after or before a big disaster, through a conscious activity based on its free will.

In this essential time-course, we prefer to leave audience grandstand; and this move indicates a tremendously dynamic situation: We have no doubt that in this project, there is a quality of life which emerges thanks to an engagement occurred in an optimist manner and in harmony with social nature of human. Therefore, cooperating with you in this project is a great pleasure for us.

PROJECT PARTNERS
(59 ORGANISATIONS from 37 COUNTRIES)

GERMANY
• Newspaper PoliTeknik
• Association: Verein für Allseitige Bildung e.V.
• Research Centre Childhoods.Societies (Cooperation partner, University of Wuppertal)
INDIA
• All India Primary Teachers‘ Federation (AIPTF)
• The Brihanmumbai Association of Heads of Secondary and Higher Secondary School
BRAZIL
• Paraiba Federal University Dept. of Education Methodology
• National Confederation of Workers in Education (CNTE)
• Center for Advanced Studies in Public Policy and Governance (CEAPPG)
ITALY
• Department of Humanistic Studies (University of Calabria)
• Italian Association of Psychology (AIP)
GHANA
• Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT)
TURKEY
• Teachers Union Eğitim-Sen
• Civil Servants’ Union of Agriculture, Forestry, Husbandry and Environment Sectors (TARIM ve ORMAN İŞ)
SPAIN
• Trade Union of Education Workers (FECCOO)
• Seminari Ítaca d’Educació Crítica (SIEC)
• Unió Sindical dels Treballadors d’Ensenyament de Catalunya (USTEC) MEXICO
• The National Union of Education Workers of Mexico (SNTE)
CYPRUS
• Cyprus Turkish Teachers’ Trade Union (KTOS)
SRI LANKA
• Union of SriLanka Teachers Solidarity (USLTS)
• All Ceylon Union of Teachers (ACUT)
EGYPT
• Egyptian Center for Education Rights (ECER)
• Independent Teachers Union of Egypt (ISTT)
NEPAL
• Nepal National Teachers’ Association (NNTA)
SOMALIA
• Somalia National Union of Teachers (SNUT)
CHAD
• Syndicat des Enseignants du Tchad (SET)
MALAWI
• Private Schools Employees Union of Malawi (PSEUM)
• Malawi national Students Union (MANASU)
UGANDA
• Uganda Liberal Teachers’ Union, (ULITU)
BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA
• Independent Trade Union of Primary Schools Education of The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina
IRAN
• Cooperative Council of Iranian Teachers Trade Associations (CCITTA) IRAQ
• Kurdistan Teachers Union (KTU)
LIBERIA
• Consortium of Education Defenders of Liberia (COEDEL)
MADAGASKAR
• University of Toliara
CAMEROON
• Cameroonian Federation of Education Unions (FECASE)
USA
• Prof. Dr. Ángel Martínez (from the CUNY) • PORTUGAL Prof. Ana Pedro (from the University of Aveiro)
COLOMBIA
• Prof. Dr. María Isabel Villa Montoya (from the University of EAFIT) LESOTHO
• Teachers Trade Union (LTTU)
NIGER
• Syndicat National des Agents de la Formation et de l’Education du Niger (SYNAFEN)
• Syndicat national des Travailleurs de l’Education du Niger (SYNTEN) • Alliance Globale Pour l’éducation Et Le Developpement (AGEDE)
CAMBODIA
• Dr. Or Siem (from General Department of Education of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports)
KENYA
• Kenya Union of Domestic, Hotels, Educational Institutions, Hospitals and Allied Workers (KUDHEIHA)
• Kenya Building, Construction, Timber, Furniture and Industries Employees Union (KBCFTA)
BENIN
• Organisation Béninoise des Spécialistes de la Petite Enfance (OBSPE)
• Syndicat National des Enseignants des Ecoles Maternelles du Bénin (SYNAEM)
• Syndicat National de l’Enseignement Primaire Public du Bénin (SNEP)
• Syndicat National des Instituteurs Acteurs du Développement pour une Education de Qualité au Bénin (SYNIADEQBENIN)
TUNISIA
• Syndicat Général des Inspecteurs de l’Enseignement Primaire (SGIEP) ZAMBIA
• Professional Teachers Union of Zambia (PROTUZ-Zambia)
SENEGAL
• Union Démocratique des Enseignantes et des Enseignants du Sénégal (UDEN)
IVORY COAST
• Syndicat National des Enseignants du Second Degré de Côte D’ivoire (SYNESCI)
HAITI
• Union Nationale des Normaliens-Normaliennes et Éducateurs Educatrices d’Haïti (UNNOEH)
• The Queensland University (UQ) Human Rights Training Center
MAURITANIA
• Union des Travailleurs de Mauritanie (UTM)