Human rights the lost child in Dutch education

Children and youngster in the Netherlands only occasionally get educated on children’s and human rights. And when they do, they mostly are taught about the violations abroad, like child labor and child soldiers. Their own rights and responsibilities in Dutch society often remain undiscussed. Therefore, it is not surprising that international research has shown that Dutch children have little knowledge in this area and as a result score low in comparison with neighboring countries. This is a big problem, because, how can citizens be expected to appreciate the Dutch democratic rule of law and participate in it, if they learn so little about it at school.

For many years now various organizations, including the Dutch section of the International Commission of Jurists, have lobbied for making children’s and human rights an integral part of the curriculum of school education. Structural attention for these rights fit perfectly within the framework of citizenship education. The government has agreed to take this up, however, concrete plans remain yet to be made.

At this moment PILP together with a couple of children’s rights and human rights organizations are looking for possibilities to prompt the government to give actual effect to her promise.