In the Face of Ignorance, Paredes Shines a Light on Human Rights
Manuel de Jesús Paredes González, an educator from Aguascalientes, Mexico, equips students and officials to respect human rights.
In the heart of Mexico, in the state of Aguascalientes, educator and public servant Manuel de Jesús Paredes González is proving that knowledge is power—especially when it comes to human rights.
After more than 25 years teaching and working in government, Paredes saw that many students and officials around him knew little about their rights or how to protect them. So when he was invited in 2014 to teach a high school class on human rights, he seized the opportunity. Searching for the right materials, he discovered United for Human Rights and its Bringing Human Rights to Life Education Package.
The results were immediate. “Educating people is about changing their inner selves, humanizing their lives and sensitizing them to have empathy toward others,” says Paredes. “It is basing every action on respect and tolerance for human rights.” Seeing students become more aware and tolerant inspired him to expand his efforts beyond the classroom.
“Educating people is about changing their inner selves, humanizing their lives and sensitizing them to have empathy toward others.”
Since then, Paredes has taught hundreds of people the 30 human rights of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), including high school students, teachers, agents of the Municipal Civil Guard of Jesús María, local politicians and more than 700 public servants in the Municipal Government of Jesús María. His training helped them better understand their responsibility to protect citizens’ rights in their daily work. The certification of the municipal staff by UHR marks the first time the national government has implemented human rights education at this level.
Paredes’s next move is to integrate the UHR program into the Initial Training Course for cadets entering the municipal and state police. And to make human rights education truly universal, Paredes is launching a community drive to deliver a copy of the UDHR to 5,000 families in Jesús María. His mission is clear: to ensure every citizen knows their rights—and respects the rights of others.
FACTS
VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS
These stats illustrate why human rights education is urgent and imperative:
EVERY 12
MINUTES
a civilian dies
in armed conflict.
1 IN 6
PEOPLE
experience
discrimination.
122 MILLION
PEOPLE
were forcibly displaced worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence or human rights violations.
79
PERCENT
of human trafficking
is sexual exploitation.
50
MILLION
people are living in
modern slavery.
Restore Human Rights
Join the international Human Rights movement by becoming a member of United for Human Rights and donate today. UHR assists individuals, educators, organizations and governmental bodies in all parts of the world to raise awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
