By Ulrike Zeigermann

In the age of Digitalization, new technologies, digital media and online communication channels are rapidly changing the content, methods, pedagogical practices and theoretical foundations of human rights education. What are the opportunities and challenges of this development?

Human rights education in transition

In the last ten years, there has been an enormous increase in digital learning, information and communication technologies, which make it possible to reach more people regardless of their background, educational level, income and personal circumstances. With increasing Digitalization, formats with online-based approaches to human rights education have also been increasingly used in the formal education sector at schools and universities as well as in the informal education sector by non-governmental institutes and academies, international organizations and civil society actors.

In accordance with the 2011 United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training, human rights education encompasses the right to education about human rights, education through human rights and education for human rights. The Declaration is the result of intensive work by the United Nations in the field of human rights education over the past decades. In December 1994, following the World Conference on Human Rights in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004). Subsequently, the World Program for Human Rights Education was launched. In the first phase of this program (2005-2009), the focus was on human rights education in primary and secondary education. In the second phase of the program (2010-2014), the program focused on higher education and human rights training in the public sector, i.e. teachers, trainers, police, military, judiciary, public administration, government and healthcare. The current third phase (2015-2019) is intended to strengthen and implement the first and second project phases and is particularly concerned with the human rights education of journalists.

The declaration and work programs of the United Nations are also regarded as orientation and quality standards for the content of human rights education in Germany. As early as 1980, the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs issued a recommendation on human rights education, which was adopted again almost unchanged in 2000 and applies to the whole of Germany despite the sovereignty of the federal states in educational matters. Today, human rights education is anchored in the school laws of the individual federal states and can be taken up in all grades in the various subjects from social studies to ethics, geography, history or religion (see Secretariat of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany 2008).

At the high-level panel discussion in September 2016 on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training, practical experiences and future challenges were discussed and the importance of global human rights education as a prerequisite for protecting and guaranteeing other human rights was emphasized. E-learning formats are intended to improve access to and the quality of human rights education in the future.

Digitalization of human rights education

New digital offerings in the field of human rights education are already being used today, in part to supplement and in part to replace traditional direct and interactive communication between teachers and learners. They cover a wide range of formats for various target groups at different levels and in many languages:

• There are apps for smartphones, tablets or computers with which human rights issues can be addressed to different target groups. Download statistics from the manufacturers indicate that up to 50,000 installations have been made(Amnesty Mag, as at October 2017). In most cases, however, the number of users is significantly lower (e.g. UN Human Rights and UDHR Human Rights 5,000-10,000 each, Women's Human Rights and Geneva Human Rights Agenda 1,000-5,000 each or Human Rights Mapper andChild Rights Monitor 500 -1,000 installations, as of October 2017).
• In addition, there is an increasing number of online games that simulate the weighing up of critical human rights issues and raise awareness of the situation of people through role-playing games. Various online games have been developed in part by United Nations bodies, such as "Against all Odds" by UNHCR, but also by civil society organizations such as Amnesty International(RespectMyRights), DoSomething (Karma Tycoon) or Breakthrough (ICED).
• In the field of higher education, Massive Open Online Courses(MOOCs) are increasingly being offered online by universities, international organizations and research institutes as a special form of further education and expansion of skills and knowledge, for which people all over the world can enrol in courses from various disciplines and subject groups. In the field of human rights, as in the other subject groups offered, the majority of online courses are offered in English and for a fee to obtain a certificate.

The listed examples of online-based learning and education formats show that human rights education is available across borders thanks to new technologies on various topics and that access to these is facilitated by the internet. The public statistics on installations, players and enrolled persons as well as comments and online evaluations of the e-learning programs also indicate that these formats are being used by a growing number of people.

Challenges and areas of tension

The new e-learning offerings in the field of human rights policy not only expand access through independence of time, place and situation, but also enable lifelong learning in principle. For young people who have grown up with digital information and communication technologies ("digital natives"), the new formats can be an educational opportunity that is closer to the reality of their lives and also serves to train technical skills that facilitate social participation. Research on eLearningalso underlines

• that this can improve the quality of the learning experience (Garrison 2011);
• eLearning is an opportunity for users and education providers to respond to global competition (Anderson 2008);
• eLearning is more cost-effective than other educational formats (Twigg 2013)
• and there are fewer barriers to access (Bates 2005).

The fundamental advantage is the simplified opportunities for international interaction and communication with open access to online-based learning platforms. But also the transparentaccountability of learning content.

At the same time, the availability of digital information and communication technology (ICT) does not automatically mean more or better quality human rights education or even social participation. The 2015 PISA study underlines that socio-economic educational differences in society are also reflected in the use of ICT in the education system (OECD 2015a). It is therefore important to ask who does not benefit from digital educational opportunities. Which people do not have access? The study "Students, Computers and Learning. Making the connection" points out that without solid basic scientific and literary knowledge, most digital educational opportunities cannot be used effectively and fully exploited (OECD 2015b). Digital educational offerings are usually selected individually, which does not necessarily facilitate complex learning and understanding of content, given the potential decrease in direct contact between teachers and learners and the decreasing regulation of the curriculum. The examples of eLearning cited above have also shown that these are mainly offered in English and by well-known educational institutions from the global North. Critics therefore speak of an increasing hegemonic monopolization of educational content, priorities in the curriculum, service offerings and increased technological and pedagogical uniformity.

The United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training affirms that states have the primary responsibility for the promotion and provision of human rights education "to be developed and implemented in a spirit of participation, inclusion and responsibility" (Article 7). At the same time, eLearning offerings are increasingly provided by private providers, which represents a parallel competitive offering to state service providers. This can lead to a shift of educational costs to the learners, which in turn reinforces social inequalities and neoliberal logics as well as the individual pressure for self-optimization in lifelong learning. eLearning can thus also increase the risk of commercialization of teaching and learning. In addition, in contrast to traditional educational formats, the protection of privacy is a particular challenge when using blended learning. States and their public institutions have a human rights responsibility(accountability), but private, corporate or civil society providers of e-learning formats cannot be held accountable for discriminatory practices or (data) misuse under current international law.

In conclusion, it can be said that human rights education has been continuously developed and disseminated in the formal and informal education sector in recent decades and is now being discussed as a human right in its own right. The challenges have changed significantly in the context of new digital information and communication technologies. This also concerns requirements for knowledge and competence objectives (e.g. media sensitivity) and a critical examination of technology (e.g. technology assessment, Industrialization 4.0). Table 1 summarizes the main opportunities and challenges once again.