The 21st century has seen the rise of conflicts, whether armed, psychological
or of other nature, which inevitably led to a human rights crisis like never
before. Sustainable, lasting peace and security can only be attained when all
human rights are fulfilled and building and maintaining a culture of peace is
a shared challenge for humankind. Therefore, the subject of peace education
has become more and more important in the wider field of education, because it
promotes the development of people and society in a peaceful way, based on the
principles of harm, tolerance, equality, respect for social justice and social
justice.
Introduction
The Santiago Declaration on the Human Right to Peace (1), adopted in 2010 by
The International Congress on the Human Right to Peace recognizes individuals,
groups, peoples and all humankind as holders of the "inalienable right to a
just, sustainable and lasting peace" (Art. 1). Right in the beginning of the
UNESCO Constitution (1945) it is stated that since wars begin in the minds of
men, it is in the minds of men that the defence of peace must be constructed
(2); therefore, education is the key to rehabilitating a post-conflict society
and young people are the most receptive to understanding the importance of it.
In the light of current critical situations putting peace at risk worldwide it
is important to address the need for peace education as a tool in the fight
against the radicalization of young people and provide youth workers with
skills and knowledge on peacebuilding, prevention of conflicts and resolving
the occurrence of conflicts in a peaceful way, which they can transfer upon
young people in a non-formal and sustainable manner. Peace education has a
profound effect on forming attitudes about the meaning of peace, on preventing
the emergence of conflicts and creating conditions for lasting peace.
Peace Education in Romania
These are the words in the speech Progresul ideii de pace (3) (Progress
of the idea of peace) of Nicolae Titulescu, Romanian diplomat, ex-foreign
minister, and for two terms President of the General Assembly of the League of
Nations. Romania has a great academic tradition in proposing new ways of
developing peace education among the younger generations.
In 1960 for the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly, Romania
suggested the topic: “Measures for the promotion among young people of the
ideals of peace, mutual respect and understanding among peoples”. It was
underlined that the education of the younger generation could be influenced in
a positive way by the condemnation of war, war propaganda, violence, extremism
and by developing their understanding of the ideals of peace. The proposal led
to the 1965
Declaration of the United Nations General Assembly
regarding the promotion amongst young people of the ideals of peace, mutual
respect and understanding among peoples, which stated that “young people
should be educated in the spirit of peace, justice, freedom, mutual respect
and understanding, in order to promote equal rights for all peoples and
nations, as well as economic and social progress, disarmament and the
maintenance of peace and international security” (4). In the Cold War period,
the major contribution to the development of the peace education framework was
related to the advocacy of the détente and disarmament.
The idea was that a process of peace education could help in the short-term
in the promotion of a conception based on the peaceful resolution of
conflicts already present or still to appear, and in the long-term, it
should aim to prevent any serious international conflicts arising.
In order to have a proper peace education, it’s necessary to have strong links
with the principles and values of a democratic, transparent and accountable
governance. Since the end of the communist regime in 1989 and the entry in
1994 in the European Convention on Human Rights (5) Romania has made major
progress in developing its own democratic culture. The European membership has
pushed academic and legislative research and the Romanian political and
popular will to adapt to the new democratic context without losing its roots.
Several governmental programs have been formulated and implemented to promote
Human Rights culture and peace education, to train teachers, educators and
managers through workshops and courses, to build a safe environment based on
human rights, rule of law and political pluralism. Meanwhile Romania has
encouraged a new role for the school environment. School should be a place not
only for the fostering of technical knowledge and notions, but should help in
building the individuals that are going to represent the society of tomorrow.
Therefore schools need to look outside and understand the single classroom
cannot be the only educational training system to raise a Peace consciousness.
Despite a great effort in promoting peace education, major structural problems
remain. The democratic process in Romania is still incomplete (6). Cultural
changes and shifts in the democratic perspective have very different speeds
across different actors. It’s not easy to build a Peace framework in the civic
society, especially in countries characterized by fragile public institutions.
Furthermore the 2008 economic crisis has stressed the already high level of
perceived corruption in the political system. Romania struggles in increasing
the levels of civic and political participation, political and social trust,
essential elements to build a Peace Education plan and a Peace Culture.
In the face of these problems, the unceasing work of non-governmental
organizations must be emphasized. GEYC promotes and encourages projects with
youth organizations in order to increase youth civic participation. For
example, on 27 January 2021 it announced a
partnership with UNICEF
to strengthen meaningful adolescent participation and engagement (online and
offline) in programs and events in the European and Central Asian regions. In
the framework of the Erasmus+ program, GEYC is going to organize several
training courses on peace education aimed at youth workers who are motivated
to explore and develop their competences to design, run and evaluate
non-formal education activities in the field of peace education.
GEYC believes in the importance of collaborating with educational institutions
with the aim of mixing formal and informal education not only for young
students but also for teachers, to ensure the learning of social information
and new teaching techniques. With this goal in mind, the
edu.geyc.ro platform was created to offer
teachers from high schools, colleges, post-high schools and universities in
Romania a space for networking, collaboration with the NGO environment and
learning through non-formal education.
GEYC is careful to develop programs that can be implemented taking into
account local specificities. As in the case of the participation in the
RAN YOUNG Empowerment Academy, a programme for young Europeans to increase their capacity-building
knowledge, skills and competences in order to start their own local
initiatives to prevent radicalization. Participation in the program in the
2019 session enabled three young GEYC members to set up a local initiative in
their city, Cluj-Napoca to raise awareness and prevent manifestations of
radicalization among the Romanian and Hungarian communities in their city.
Peace Education at EU level: the specificity of Belgium and Netherlands
The European Union is one of the key actors that believes and invests in
peace education through several programs and networks. One of the most
significant is the
Radicalisation Awareness Network
(RAN) funded by the EU Commission’s
Internal Security Fund - Police. The RAN is a network of frontline practitioners who work daily with those
vulnerable to radicalization and those who have already been radicalized.
Since 2011, RAN has attracted over 6,000 practitioners engaged in both
preventing and countering violent extremism in all its forms and
rehabilitating and reintegrating violent extremists. RAN works through
thematic Working Groups and produces various publications to share knowledge
and experiences.
The
Youth and Education (Y&E) Working Group
is particularly valuable and plays a great role in peace education. It
underlines the role of schools and teachers to provide a safe and respectful
environment for their students and allow schools to function as a lab for
democracy. A safe place where emotions and opinions can be freely expressed
with respect and tolerance. For practitioners, schools are central to
develop direct contact with struggling youngsters and deepen their
understanding of the phenomena of extremism and radicalization.
The policy paper of October 2018
Transforming schools into labs for democracy: a companion to preventing
violent radicalisation through education
reiterates the principles and values underlying RAN and specifically Y&E
Working Group, following the 2015
Paris Declaration on promoting citizenship and the common values of
freedom, tolerance and non-discrimination through education (7)which stressed:
The policy paper highlights that educators across Europe are facing
constraints in implementing projects and tools in their classes. Many
schools have developed procedures to tackle cases of abuse, crime and
violence but they lack similar rules and regulations, making it harder to
provide clear answers and solutions. Difficulties regarded also the limited
time allocated to citizenship education in curricula, and to an emphasis on
the transmission of knowledge, technical skills and competencies in national
education. This also relates to the field of media education that often
remains confined to technical learning. Experiences from teachers across
Europe highlight the importance of online media for the promotion of
communicative skills and critical thinking. Citizenship education and media
education should be placed at the center of educational policies targeting
polarization and prevention of violent radicalization.(8)
A specific case is Belgium, a country that in the last years has suffered
the risks of violence, radicalization and the complex management of the
ghettoization of minorities and younger people. According to the 2019
ex-post paper
Education and radicalisation prevention: different ways governments can
support schools and teachers in preventing/countering violent extremism, the Belgian government has implemented some preventive measures within
the field of education at the regional and local level. Each region has
formulated their own action plans based on specific policy lines. The
general idea is to avoid the creation of new structures in order to:
- Consolidate the abilities of educational first-line workers by increasing their knowledge of radicalization, handing them tools and reinforcing their competences.
- Supporting schools in developing a warm school climate where students feel safe and valued, diversity is addressed in a positive and respectful way, and students and parents are involved in decision-making processes.
- Investment in media literacy and citizenship and the support of projects that focus on the inclusion of vulnerable student groups.
Surveys conducted by RAN underline that there are concerns about the lack of
specificity in the strategy developed by the governments. The Belgian
perception of polarization is increasing in all levels of society and in
school, and it makes the students more vulnerable to extremist influences.
Professional competences among the school staff need to be enhanced within
the awareness of their role. It’s necessary to improve peer exchange and
learning, schools should be stimulated to connect with professionals and
create strong links with local institutions and communities.
Regarding the importance of specific strategies, the Netherlands approach is
quite interesting. To tackle the issue of radicalization, the Ministry of
Education set up six concrete actions:
- Experts from the School & Safety Foundation provide customized, direct support for schools, depending on the request for help from the schools.
- The ministry provides free, accessible training for teachers in recognizing and dealing with young people who are at risk of radicalization.
- The ministry is investing in the portals available for all educational institutions
- The “confidential counsellors” at the Dutch Inspectorate of Education follow special training on radicalization
- To enhance cooperation within the local authorities, municipalities can ask the School & Safety Foundation to directly help the educational institutions that need assistance most
- Teacher training course materials have been developed with cooperation from the Ministry of Social Affairs and higher educational institutions.
To tackle the issue of prevention, the Ministries of Education, of Health,
Welfare and Sport, and of Justice and Security also set up the program
Preventing radicalization (9) for the years 2018-2019. The goals are to
increase school awareness of their responsibility towards their students and
their local areas with regard to radicalization, to strengthen cooperation
between schools and local stakeholders, and provide training on these issues
and how to deal with difficult situations in the classroom.
Despite more specific approaches and procedures, challenges remain even in
the Netherlands. Indeed, institutions are not always well-equipped to deal
with radicalization and extremism and it can compromise the positive effect
of the effort. There are cases of teachers who feel unfit or unable to
interpret the signs of radicalization, as this requires high sensitivity and
skills that cannot be taught in courses of a few months. For this reason,
sharing information among schools, local authorities, stakeholders, NGOs,
and agencies are fundamental to report risks and signals and lower the
environmental vulnerability.
Conclusions
Peace education necessitates a vigorous work of learning, cooperation,
exchange of best practices and common policies that take into consideration
the different cultural and social characteristics of local communities.
Effective education is possible only if there is full and transparent
collaboration between European institutions, national and local governments,
schools, stakeholders, NGOs and private actors.
War and violent propaganda, extremism and radicalization are phenomena that
constantly change, therefore attention is required towards new threats and
the ability to modernize approaches, practices through the continuous
exchange of information and knowledge.
Democratic and accountable institutions and the quality of education can
have a terrific impact in preventing radicalization and violent behaviors.
If teachers and educators are well-prepared in explaining how to handle
conflict in a peaceful way, in supporting and guiding the development of the
younger generations identity and in listening to their voices, young people
will be less tempted by extremist messages and by socially harmful
propaganda.
The quality of education is strictly connected with culture. The Russian
poet Evegenji Evtuchenko wrote(10) that:
Creating a tolerant and open educational environment means working towards
the direction of international solidarity for the future generations.
References
International Congress on the Human Right to Peace,
Santiago Declaration on the Human Right to Peace
- International Journal on World Peace Vol. 28, No. 4 (DECEMBER 2011), pp.
94-114.
Adrian Nastase, The culture of Peace and Peace Education -
International Review of Education
volume 29, pages 391–401(1983).
Raducu Razvan Dobre,
Evolution of human rights development in Romania - Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 46 ( 2012 ) 4967 – 4972.
Gabriel Badescu,
Corruption, Education and Political Culture in Romania
- ResearchGate (2011).
RAN Y&E WG publications October 2018,
Transforming schools into labs for democracy: a companion to preventing
violent radicalisation through education.
RAN Y&E WG publications, 06/05/2019:
Education and radicalisation prevention: Different ways governments can
support schools and teachers in preventing/countering violent extremismThe
Netherlands: supporting safe schools and colleges.
Adrian Nastase, Op.cit.