How should we move forward? A critical review of human rights education in Hong Kong

In this paper, human rights education is defined as ‘education that helps to shape a culture of respecting and protecting human rights, according to the international human rights standards. That is, to cultivate citizens who live in accordance with the principles of human rights and are willing to take actions to protect their own and other citizen’s human rights when the rights are being infringed’. Any discussion of human rights education in Hong Kong, should focus on both the school and community sectors. The Education and Manpower Bureau (EMB) and the Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education (CPCE) of the Home Affairs Bureau (HAB) of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAP) are responsible for human rights education in schools and community respectively. In both sectors, human rights education is considered an aspect of civic education. In this paper I critically review the development of human rights education in the context of civic education and then explore some challenges and possibilities ahead in both sectors. Copyright © 2007 Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center.