Human rights are an important ideal of political and social action. For their implementation, human rights education is important with the components knowledge, positive attitude and willingness to act. Representative studies point to low knowledge, contradictory attitudes and moderate willingness to act. Significant reasons for this are the portrayal of human rights in textbooks and mass media. The perception of human rights violations depends on the context as well as on personality traits. Human rights are not only violated worldwide, but also misused politically: they are reduced to civic and political rights, criticism of states regarding human rights violations is highly selective, and they are misused to justify wars. Finally, we give recommendations on human rights education from a psychological perspective. Human rights are highly significant; their realization contributes to peace within states, while their misuse often leads to violence and war.
economic, social and cultural human rightshuman rights educationwillingness to act for human rightsHandlungsbereitschaft für MenschenrechteAllgemeine Erklärung der Menschenrechte (AEMR)wirtschaftliche, soziale und kulturelle MenschenrechteMenschenrechtsbildunbürgerliche und politische MenschenrechteEinstellung zu Menschenrechtenhuman rights chartercivil and political human rightsUniversal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)humattitudes towards human rights
