Spreading Culture of Human Rights to Eliminate Human Rights Illiteracy

By Ayman Okeil

At the conference to launch National Human Rights Strategy, which was adopted by President of the Republic on September 11, 2021, I stated that the majority of Egyptian society suffers from human rights illiteracy. This means that some citizens are unaware of their rights, and even when they realize these rights, they do not know how to exercise or assert them through legitimate channels.

What I would like to add in this article is that the Egyptian citizen often needs support to become aware of these rights. The greatest burden in the task of spreading the culture of human rights falls on Egyptian civil society, as it is the link between the government and the citizens, and can directly communicate with a large part of the Egyptian population.

The National Human Rights Strategy allocated an entire pillar out of its four pillars to education and capacity building in the field of human rights. The first sub-item within this pillar was devoted to spreading the culture of human rights. The Strategy recognized the weak awareness of human rights values and principles and the need to increase educational programs in this field. It aimed to achieve 12 outcomes in this sub-item during the first phase of the Strategy, which ends in September 2026.

However, more than two and a half years after the launch of the Strategy, I still see limitations in the projects implemented by civil society that aim to spread a culture of human rights and increase awareness of rights and duties. Even some international bodies have refrained from fully supporting some projects in this area. Therefore, international bodies also have a role to play in promoting these projects.

There is an international reference for spreading and promoting the culture of human rights, which is the United Nations World Programme for Human Rights Education. The fifth phase of this Programme was approved by Human Rights Council in October 2022, pursuant to Council Resolution No. 2/51 of 2022. This resolution urged United Nations system, its bodies and agencies, along with all intergovernmental and regional organizations, to provide technical support to states that wish to implement action plans adopted within the framework of the World Programme for Human Rights Education at national level, and to build capacities for human rights education and training, upon request from these countries. United Nations also considered civil society to be an integral part of implementing these plans.

The resolution concluded that World Programme for Human Rights Education can contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including achieving SDG 4.7. It is clear from this that there is a direct relationship between spreading a culture of human rights and implementing the 2030 Agenda. However, in my opinion, Egyptian civil society must still make additional efforts to make human rights a mainstream culture in Egyptian society. Without these rights, we as human beings cannot live a healthy life, nor can any society achieve sustainable coexistence and dialogue.