“This is my school'” – The project continues
Our "This is my school" project continued over March and April. We held a carnival mask competition and our school won first prize in the contest. You can see all...
On the 20th January our school attended a seminar and five workshops on the topic “Human Rights and the Environment” at the Environmental Education Centre (EEC) of Eleftherio Kordelio-Vertiskos. The event was co-organised by the three EECs of Eleftherio Kordelio-Vertiskos, Kilkis and Poroion. With 2 guest speakers from Environmental Education Centres of Attiki and more than 50 participant educators from Northern Greece, the seminar linked human rights issues to the environment and climate change debate, particularly with reference to immigration.
The speakers introduced the participants to Education for/in Human Rights, highlighting that a human-rights-based approach should be made more prominent in primary and secondary schools. They presented the international conventions and organisations for the protection of Human Rights and the Rights of the Child, the obligations of domestic and international institutions, and educational websites that can provide useful material for introducing Human-Rights Education in class.
For more information on the presentations, click on the following links: Education in/for Human Rights, Educational material and Migration flows due to environmental crisis and war conflicts …
Furthermore, we discussed migration in the context of war, poverty and climate change. We noted that a human rights ‘protection gap’ exists for people forced to migrate by environmental stress and climate change), while the trans-boundary impacts of environmental degradation continue to pose significant challenges. We also investigated why populations displaced by floods, droughts and other environmental hazards do not have the same legal protection as other types of migrants, such as refugees fleeing war (protected through the UN’s Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees, among other instruments.
WORKSHOP 1
In the first workshop, we participated in the activity “Take a step forward” (described in detail in Compass), which aims to raise awareness about the inequality of opportunities in society. Experiencing what is like to be someone else, we addressed the issue of social inequality as a source of discrimination and exclusion, trying to foster an understanding of possible personal consequences of belonging to certain social minorities or cultural groups.
WORKSHOP 2
In this workshop, we dealt with immigration due to environmental degradation and climate change. The working groups marked on a map the places mostly affected by climate change according to posts and personal narratives that were given to them, and examined the causes of environmental migration as well as their interconnection with other factors leading to population displacement.
WORKSHOP 3
In this workshop, we created the “tree of climate change”. On its roots we wrote the causes of climate change; on its yellow leaves we referred to the effects; on the green leaves we defined the actions that need to be taken at the level of institutions; finally, on its red apples, we wrote activities that can be done at the school level in order to deal with the effects of environmental degradation.
WORKSHOP 4
In this workshop, we created a map showing the immigrant flows due to war conflicts described in posts and personal narratives that were given to us. We also discussed the effects of war conflicts on human life, the environment, economy and societal structure. Additionally, according to information we retrieved from personal narratives, we investigated the effects of war conflict on children and adolescents from a psychological point of view and in terms of their dreams for the future.
WORKSHOP 5
In this workshop, we created the “tree of migration”. On its roots we defined the causes of migration due to war conflicts; on its yellow leaves we wrote the problems immigrants face in the host countries; on its green leaves, we referred to the actions that institutions can take to deal with the problems; and on its red apples, we wrote ways to raise awareness and take action in schools. Watch the video here!
