Medir progresos en educación en derechos humanos: Una experiencia interamericana en marcha

Since the year 2000, the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (IIHR) has been developing a new research methodology on human rights based on a system of progress indicators about three groups of rights: access to justice, political participation and human rights education. The approach was initially applied in 6 countries of the region, and produced the Progress Maps on Human Rights. This experience set the foundations for the annual preparation of the Inter-American Report on Human Rights Education, which IIHR distributes every December 10th, since 2002. The paper explains the oldest and more widely used approaches for research on human rights: (i) the registration of violations and (ii) the analysis of human rights situations. Then, it introduces the approach of measuring progress, its tools (progress indicators), the main methodological considerations, and the application of this approach, up to date, in 19 countries of the American continent that subscribed and/or ratified the San Salvador Protocol. Such application constitutes the first two Inter-American Reports on Human Rights Education, which are part of a series of 4 reports. El main objective of the series is to investigate the variations produced regarding the incorporation of Human Rights Education in formal and non-formal education, in the selected countries, during the period 1990-2002/03. The I Report (2002) focused on the legal developments of Human Rights Education at the national level, and the II Report (2003) examined the advanced in the curriculum and the textbooks in the elementary and high school levels of the formal education system. The conclusions and recommendations of both Reports are transcribed in the appendices.