The Aveiro charter of rights for human beings: a milestone for the second decade of the 21st century

Abstract

BEING HUMAN is an extraordinary privilege. Every woman and every man that is born has something to learn and a project to build throughout their lives. Designing futures in the present and affirming what makes them BE HUMAN requires work, study and fun. Since the first decade of the 21st century, the Human Rights in Action project, by Civitas Aveiro, has helped, through its work with children, young people and teachers, to construct answers to the question: what makes us truly human? What are the effects of technologies’ in our life? The Aveiro charter of rights of the Human Being is one of the results of the 10th edition of the project developed in partnership with the University of Aveiro, with the backing of the Municipality and local Businesses. Twenty-five education and teaching institutions, from Nursery School to University, and a total of eight hundred Children and Young People, joined by around fifty teachers, from various subject areas, were involved in the development of the one hundred and twenty six rights inscribed in the Charter of Rights of the Human Being, which has been turned into an agenda for 2010. The dissemination of the charter by Civitas Aveiro aims to make a contribution in order that the citizens of the city of Aveiro, upon hearing the voices that speak out in this charter, may take steps toward making Aveiro a city blessed + dreamed with the Rights of the Human Being. The purpose of this presentation is to lay out and encourage discussion on the process of collective participation in the construction of the Charter of Rights of the Human Being, in various contexts, the methodology used and the analysis of the rights inscribed in it.