Children draw their districts and then imaginary choose those buildings which they thing can be a school or other institution. Then they decide what rights the school concerns-educational right. Teachers work at schools, they deal with rights of employers. In that way picturesque “Little Compass” manual of human rights education for children raises children’s awareness on their rights and on human rights in general.
June 1 is the International Day of Children. In the framework of the day, Armenian Constitutional Right-Protective Center, NGO organized the presentation of the Manual “Little Compass”. It is made for children of 6-13 years.
The manual is the translation of the edition by European Youth Centre Budapest. Due to agreement, some parts are missing in Armenian version compared with the original; information from Internet websites was added. “Little Compass” is really an encyclopedia about human rights education”, said the head of Armenian Constitutional Right-Protective Center, NGO, editor of the manual Gevorg Manukyan.
ACRPC is an NGO working in the sphere of human rights education. The central office is in Vanadzor. Specialized libraries in human rights education operate in 6 cities of Armenia.
During the presentation of the manual the pastor of Arabkir District was present and with his prayer the presentation launched.
“For me an Armenian, means love towards children”, says the pastor referring to the day.
The RA law on “The rights of Children” defines a norm according witch it is forbidden to participate in religious organizations without parent’s permission till the age of 16. The journalist of Iravaban.net talked to the pastor and tried to find out whether children are protected from such situations.
“In this regard, children are not protected in our country. Proselytizing is forbidden in our country but the fight against it is not included in legislation. Those children who participate in the gatherings of such organizations are isolated from the society, don’t participate in many events and don’t accept some health treatments. There is a lot of work to do in villages, regions and frontier districts to protect children from proselytizing”, mentioned Pastor Babken Hayrapetyan.
Publication of “Little Compass” was possible thanks to the Embassy of Germany in Armenia, UNDP, UN Children’s Fund and European Youth Centre Budapest. Electronic version of “Little Compass” is also available.
Nune Hovsepyan