USAID grant to the Law and Society Trust for a program in teaching human rights

The Trust will undertake three activities. First, it will prepare an adult education manual for the teaching of social and economic rights. The manual will analyze the historical and philosophical bases of the (International Social and Economic) Covenant, explore these issues in the Sri Lankan context, and discuss problems of human rights education, training, and promotion, with a focus on legal literacy projects and other programs aimed at empowering the deprived; it will also examine the activities of some activist Asian judiciaries. The Trust may develop a second manual based on the International Civil and Political Covenant and treating the interdependence of civil and political rights, freedom of expression and movement, political participation, the rights of vulnerable groups, and the problems involved in enforcing and advocating such rights. The manuals will be prepared in Sinhala, Tamil, and English in collaboration with the Institute of Workers Education and the Sri Lankan Foundation Institute. Second, using materials developed by Australia"s Human Rights Commission as a model, the Trust will prepare teaching manuals, handbooks, posters, audiovisuals, and teaching aids for human rights education in primary and secondary schools. These materials, which will also be produced in Sinhala, Tamil, and English, will deal with such issues as racism, sexism, and caste prejudice in both their ideological and institutionalized forms. Teachers will be encouraged to integrate the materials in music, art, and drama curricula. Two audiovisual presentations - "Remand Prisoners" and "The Enforcement of Fundamental Rights" - will be produced. Third, the Trust will commission the preparation of casebooks on Human Rights Law and Comparative Constitutional Laws for use in the Law Faculty, the Open University, and the Sri Lanka Law College. Such material, whose absence has seriously impeded the effective teaching of human rights law and practice, could be used to develop special courses for judges, law enforcement officials, and prison officers at the newly created Judges Training Institute. All project-developed materials will be available to nongovernmental organizations such as the Sri Lanka Foundation and the Marga Institute for community education programs, workshops, and seminars.