Lithuanian version of: COMPASS – A Manual on Human Rights Education with Young People – was translated, adopted and published by In Actio in 2010.
Human rights are those inalienable and indivisible rights which all human beings enjoy simply because they are human. It is one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century to ensure that they can be exercised by everyone, wherever they are in the world, and important progress has been made internationally in recent years.
However, human rights cannot be implemented through legal process alone. That is why the Council of Europe also works to inspire civil society and public authorities who promote human rights worldwide and strive to prevent injustice, oppression and discrimination. The key is education, and the Council of Europe has developed many tools and programmes to help in teaching the values that has to be extended and defended.
COMPASS – a manual on human rights education for young people – is one of such tool and was produced by the Directorate of Youth and Sport of the Council of Europe on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights.
This book does not offer ready-made ways to avoid violations of human rights. Instead, it is designed to help teenagers and young adults and those working with them in formal and non-formal education to learn how to deal with human rights issues in different situations. For these reasons our organization set a goal to translate this publication into Lithuanian language and make it available for bigger part of Lithuanian society.
COMPASS is a manual, which main aim is to provide youth with ideas, inspiration and motivation to venture into the field on human rights education with young people. This manual seeks not to impose values, but to disclose these values as a part of society.
A long-term task of the manual is to create a culture where human rights are understood, defended and respected. That is why it is true that everyone who works with other people is a part of human rights education.
European Commission released COMPASS in 2002. Since then this manual is translated into more than 50 languages. For more information check www.coe.int/ compass
