The Inter-American Report on Human Rights Education focuses on the 19 countries that that have signed or ratified the Additional Protocol to the American Convention on Human Rights in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Protocol of San Salvador). Its purpose is to pinpoint trends that may reflect progress in the recognition and guaranteeing of HRE as a human right, as established in Article 13 of the aforementioned Protocol and other international conventions ratified by the countries in question. The research involved is being carried out over a five-year period.

In 2002, the first report examined the legal framework for HRE established in the domestic legislation of the countries concerned.

In 2003, the second report analyzed, from a HRE perspective, changes that had taken place in the design and content of the official curriculum, in study plans and programs and in the content of school textbooks used for certain grades.

In 2004, the third report focused on changes in the principles, content and pedagogical guidelines of teacher education, both in initial and in-service training programs.

In 2005, the fourth report looked at the progress that countries in the region had made in making HRE a State policy. This was measured in terms of the progress achieved in drafting national HRE plans (HREPLAN), a core objective of the Plan of Action for the United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, or in equivalent instruments. Plans of this kind call for sustainable, long-term political, technical and financial decisions to galvanize the efforts of the public sector and involve the national community.

Based on findings from the previous four inter-American reports on HRE (2002 to 2005), the V Report presents two fundamental factors for the incorporation, improvement and growth of education in and for human rights, as well as democratic life in formal education offered by States. They are: 1) the clear selection of content which must be part of the curriculum, and 2) the establishment of adequate spaces for this content to be effectively developed.

This Sixth HRE Report is not merely the sixth in a series that was first introduced in 2002; it is the first in the second cycle of research and monitoring. The new reporting cycle will revisit the same issues measured in the first five reports. In addition, it will raise the profile of a specific topic that will cut across its analysis during the entire second cycle of measurement: democratic participation by students in educational management. This first report of the second cycle examines this specific issue, as well as HRE and the right to education in general, from the perspective of current laws and institutions. Future reports will analyze it from the perspective of curriculum, school textbooks and educational planning.

The documents and data contained in this section are in Spanish. Please notice that they will not be available in English in the near future.