Human rights education is no longer a “nice to have” – it is a survival skill in a world marked by overlapping conflicts, climate breakdown, inequality, and mass displacement. In this landscape of multiple crises, knowing one’s rights and how to use them becomes a form of protection, a tool for collective action, and a foundation for more just societies.
1. A world of overlapping crises
We are living through what many describe as a “polycrisis”: armed conflicts, democratic backsliding, climate emergencies, economic shocks, and displacement are reinforcing each other rather than occurring in isolation. UNICEF warns that children in particular face a “new era of crisis”, as conflict, climate change, and inequality simultaneously disrupt their lives and futures.
Climate change is already undermining rights to life, health, food, water, housing and education, with mortality from floods, droughts and storms between 2010 and 2020 fifteen times higher in highly vulnerable regions than in those with very low vulnerability. At the same time, forced displacement has reached historic levels, and global reports show rising labour exploitation and human trafficking, fuelled by poverty, conflict and environmental disasters.
In such conditions, people most affected by crises – women and girls, migrants and refugees, minorities, and low‑income communities – face multiple and intersecting human rights violations. Responding only with emergency aid or high‑level diplomacy is not enough; there is a need to strengthen people’s capacity to understand, claim and defend their rights in everyday contexts.
2. What human rights education actually does
Human rights education (HRE) is not merely about teaching international law; it is about building knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable people to promote and protect human rights in their own lives and communities. A major UNESCO–OHCHR study on HRE shows that well‑designed programmes increase people’s understanding of rights, reduce violence and bullying in schools, improve empathy, and support more inclusive attitudes and behaviours.
The same study highlights that HRE can strengthen learners’ “competencies to affirm, safeguard and promote human rights”, improve academic performance, and foster engagement in social and civic life. Key success factors include clear goals, trained educators, and interactive, experiential methods rather than purely theoretical teaching.
For organisations like AFRIW, whose work is grounded in empowering women* and girls*, advancing labour rights, and supporting migrants and refugees, human rights education is a core method rather than an add‑on. It allows us to translate complex legal standards into practical tools that communities can use to navigate crises, demand accountability and build solidarity.
3. Education as protection in crisis
Crises often weaken institutions and erode legal safeguards, leaving people unsure how to access protection or redress. During the COVID‑19 pandemic, for example, school closures, digital divides, and underfunded systems deepened educational inequalities and disproportionately affected the most marginalised learners, prompting the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education to call for stronger rights‑based responses and better preparedness.
In emergency and protracted crisis settings, research shows that education can be protective – offering safe spaces, information and continuity – but only if the right to education is actively prioritised and adapted to local realities. Efforts to decolonise education in emergencies, by including marginalised groups and shifting decision‑making closer to affected communities, are essential to closing the gap between international human rights mechanisms and people on the ground.norrageducation+1
Human rights education is a critical part of this protective function. It helps learners identify when their rights to education, safety, or non‑discrimination are being violated, understand the applicable standards, and know which institutions or organisations they can turn to. For displaced children and youth, HRE can also support psychosocial resilience and a sense of agency amid uncertainty.
4. Multiple crises, multiple rights – why education matters
Climate crisis and environmental injustice
The climate emergency is a human rights crisis, disproportionately affecting communities with the least responsibility for emissions and the fewest resources to adapt. Rising temperatures and extreme weather events are damaging health, livelihoods, infrastructure and education systems, and driving new waves of displacement and conflict.climatepromise.undp+1
Human rights education can strengthen climate justice efforts by making explicit how climate policies and impacts are linked to rights – including rights to life, health, food, water and participation – and by equipping communities with the language and tools to demand fair, rights‑based climate action. When communities understand that climate decisions are not only technical but deeply political and rights‑related, they are better positioned to challenge harmful projects and advocate for just transitions.ohchr+2
Conflict, displacement and migration
Global displacement has reached record levels, with conflicts and persecution driving over one hundred million people from their homes, and mid‑year reports continue to register new peaks. In parallel, restrictive migration policies and securitised borders are undermining asylum systems and exposing people on the move to violence, exploitation and death.
Within this context, HRE helps migrants, refugees, and host communities understand the rights applicable in border zones, asylum procedures, detention, and access to services. Organisations working on migration and refugee rights use human rights education to raise awareness of non‑refoulement, non‑discrimination, and due-process guarantees, and to support more humane and lawful policy approaches.
For AFRIW, which works on migration and asylum as a key focus area, integrating HRE into counselling, community outreach and advocacy is a way to connect individual experiences of injustice with broader structural patterns and international standards. This helps move from isolated cases to collective claims for fairer systems.
Labour exploitation and human trafficking
Economic instability, conflict and climate impacts are increasing people’s vulnerability to labour exploitation and trafficking, as documented in recent UNODC reports. The 2024 Global Report on Trafficking in Persons notes a sharp rise in detected victims, including a 31% increase in child victims and a 47% increase in those trafficked for forced labour between 2019 and 2022, with women and girls still making up the majority of victims.
In this context, HRE supports both prevention and protection. Workers and communities that understand labour rights, anti‑trafficking frameworks and complaint mechanisms are better able to identify abusive recruitment, forced labour or coercion and seek help. At the same time, human rights‑based training for employers, officials and service providers can shift institutional practices and reduce impunity.
AFRIW’s focus on labour rights and protection from exploitation reflects this approach: combating trafficking and abusive working conditions not only through legal and policy work, but also through rights‑based information, trainings and community engagement.
5. Building inclusive, resilient societies
Human rights education also contributes to broader social resilience in times of crisis. UNESCO’s research indicates that HRE can reduce violence and bullying, increase empathy, and improve “transversal skills” such as critical thinking and cooperation. These outcomes are essential for societies grappling with polarisation, hate speech and shrinking civic space.
By centring dignity, equality and participation, HRE supports inclusive leadership and meaningful involvement of women, minorities and other marginalised groups in decision‑making. For AFRIW, whose work includes empowering women* and girls* in peacebuilding and public life, human rights education is a means of ensuring that inclusion is not merely symbolic but grounded in shared knowledge and rights‑based frameworks.
In communities affected by crisis, collective understanding of rights can help people organise, negotiate and hold authorities accountable, rather than being reduced to passive recipients of aid. This aligns closely with AFRIW’s mission to protect, empower and amplify the voices of those facing injustice and discrimination.
6. From principles to practice: AFRIW’s perspective
At AFRIW, human rights education is woven into our work on women’s rights and peace, migration and refugee rights, labour rights and protection from exploitation, and cultural, social and economic rights. We design trainings, awareness activities, and practical guides that translate legal standards into accessible language and concrete strategies that individuals and grassroots organisations can use.
Our approach is grounded in the belief that those most affected by crises – women*, migrants, minorities and communities at the margins – must have both the knowledge and the space to shape responses. Through advocacy, education, and collaboration with local actors, we work to ensure that human rights are not only recognised on paper, but actively realised in everyday life, even – and especially – in times of multiple crises.
In the months ahead, AFRIW will continue to explore how human rights education can support communities confronting conflict, displacement, environmental degradation and social exclusion, and how we can collectively build more just and resilient societies.