Humanity – an attitude that grows from within

Given the state of the world today, there is an urgent need for a broad, ethically grounded counter-movement – a humanitarian educational mission. Anyone who follows the news can only look upon what they see with outrage and horror.
    International treaties, international humanitarian law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have been rendered meaningless. Treaties and agreements designed to outlaw weapons capable of wiping out humanity and to regulate their disarmament have been unilaterally replaced by a “rules-based order”. War propaganda replaces information and confuses people. Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), rightly replied to a journalist’s question, “Are you saying we are in a world war?”, with: “History will be the judge of that.” She went on to say: “When the belligerents entered the world war in 1939, nobody was talking about the Second World War either. The scale of the ruthlessness and unbridled violence is currently no less devastating than much of what happened in the world wars.”¹
    At that time – following the millions of deaths, the destruction, the despair and the immense human suffering that the war had brought in its wake – treaties were concluded within the framework of the United Nations to erect a wall of protection against future wars. In 1946, the UN General Assembly tasked the newly established Commission on Human Rights with drafting a universal document intended to help spare the world from the horrors of war and barbarism in the future. It was intended to provide a binding framework for the protection of human dignity. Representatives from all over the world were appointed to the Commission to draft it, as the document was intended to reflect their diverse and indispensable legal traditions, philosophies and cultures. Following two years of discussions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948. A hope for a more peaceful world!

A shared ethic as a foundation

This also set out an educational task: the younger generation was to be brought up and educated in the spirit of peace. For the first time in history, all people and nations were committed to a shared set of ethical principles – a foundation for a world of equality and for living together in mutual respect. Particularly in this day and age, when respect for the destructive power of war seems to have been lost, we in schools across the world should devote ourselves to this task with the utmost seriousness and urgency. The younger generation must be taught the true significance of the UN document. Alongside international humanitarian law, it provides an important internal framework for assessing current world events.
    This must not simply be about imparting knowledge that is to be “ticked off” as factual information to be dealt with quickly. Our young people are the guardians of future human coexistence. That is why the humanitarian ethos enshrined in these documents must once again take centre stage in our thoughts, feelings and actions.
    A class community, alongside the family, is the ideal setting in which to take on this honourable task. It is a place where children from all walks of life come together and can be guided to shape their learning and help them to develop an abilty to live together in the spirit of humanity. The school classroom thus becomes the ideal place to treat others as equals – regardless of their gender, religion, or social and cultural background. There, young people can learn to live with respect for the dignity of others, to practise tolerance, to resolve conflicts peacefully, to take responsibility for themselves and their classmates, and to cultivate respect for their own culture and other cultures. Every child needs this basic education so that they can take their place as a confident member of the human family.
    This legacy of previous generations must once again become an integral part of the primary school curriculum, in a conscious and determined manner. It is one of the educational objectives of the founders of our primary school system and is enshrined in many primary school laws. The aim was to lay the foundations for those who would later help to shape a functioning democracy. Today, this educational challenge is all the more pressing given that our public schools have strayed significantly from these objectives. In recent years, our educational system has increasingly become focused on the “human capital” of suitable “clients”, thereby promoting elitism rather than mutual solidarity. Yet children and young people are not like that by nature, even though there have been increasing attempts in recent years to turn them into objects of mind-numbing commercialisation. They are receptive and, deep down, open to the idea of mutual help and support – because that is what human nature is all about.

A small common world

An example from a school class of eleven-year-olds should illustrate this. Under their teacher’s guidance, they studied the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Their names are Anna, Rachel, Jasmin, Liam, Afeni, Marco, Arjun, Isabella and Sajeel, to name but a few² – a colourful group of children from a variety of family backgrounds. They come from different countries and belong to different religions. Some of them fled their home countries with their families and have experienced traumatic and distressing events. Others have grown up in a very sheltered environment in our country.
    Now they are sitting together in a classroom, in their own little world. This gives them the chance to get to know one another. As part of the teacher’s project, they are asked to tell each other about their home countries. For example, what they cherished so much there and miss today, but also what they like about their new home. So different, yet so similar! It becomes clear to the teacher that the topic of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights will strike a chord with her pupils. Of course, she realises that the wording and vocabulary of the document are not easy. However, as an experienced teacher, she knows how to explain the document’s origins, historical context and content to the children in a way that is appropriate for their age.
    This included the historical context in which the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was drafted and its significance for a common, peaceful world. She selected those articles that she felt were relevant to the children’s current lives and illustrated them with appropriate reading texts. The children did not find it difficult to explore one of the articles in more depth, both through art and by writing a short piece of text. Sometimes they asked the teacher to help them put their thoughts into words. They wanted to turn this into a little book containing contributions from all the pupils; that was the plan they had come up with together, and they were really excited about it.

Arjun, Liam, Rachel and Afeni

There is so much to share about this educational project, so we’d now like to give some of the children a chance to speak for themselves. Let’s start with Arjun. He is particularly interested in Article 16, which deals with the right to marriage and family life. His Tamil parents fled from Sri Lanka to Switzerland as young students via a complicated route and were granted political asylum here. This was the only way they could escape arrest by the government’s secret police, as had happened to their relatives.
    Arjun knows the history of his people and the injustices committed against them in violation of human rights. His parents have told him all this. He also knows that his mother often dreams of the wind and the sea and hopes to be able to return to her island one day. The family and the Tamil community are an important source of support for everyone. Arjun often raves about the many festivals and events where he and his friends come together to sing and dance, reconnecting with their Hindu roots. He therefore has plenty to tell his classmates and to capture in a picture.
    His friend Liam has chosen Article 3, the right to life, liberty and security, and writes: “I chose this human right because I believe that all people should live in freedom and not be unjustly imprisoned. The police must ensure safety, and the laws dictate what is right and what is wrong.”
    Rachel is also in his class. Her family has lived in Switzerland for generations and belongs to a Jewish community. For Rachel, the weekend begins on Friday evening, at different times depending on the season. She explains how they spend the Sabbath and celebrate Jewish festivals together. However, in her life skills lessons, she has always been interested in the different backgrounds of religions and is therefore looking at Article 18, which deals with freedom of thought, conscience and religion. She writes: “I chose the right to freedom of belief and religion because it doesn’t matter what religion a person has. After all, everyone hopes for peace and doesn’t want war. Every religion has its own festivals, beliefs and prayers for peace. The law and I believe there should be no war between religions. We are all the same people, after all.”
    And finally, Afeni is yet to have her say. Her father is from Ghana, her mother is Swiss. She chooses Article 4, the prohibition of servitude, slavery and the slave trade. She has heard a great deal from her parents about her father’s homeland and the children there. The fact that it is possible to treat people like goods troubles her, and she writes: “I have chosen the prohibition of slavery because I find it a great injustice. I have seen many pictures and heard many stories. I hope that there will soon be no more slave trade in the world. I hope that there will be no more child soldiers in the world.”
    Other children explore the right to education, work and leisure. This leads to the creation of pictures, texts and stories which they can share with the class and compile into a small book. For the teacher, too, this personal selection of human rights is revealing. It gives her an insight into the pupils’ interests, but also into any concerns they may have – providing starting points for further lesson planning.

Preserving the voice of humanity

Arjun, Liam, Rachel, Afeni and their classmates are now young adults. They find themselves in a world where these universally valid principles of coexistence are scarcely to be found in school curricula any longer, and where the development of young people into mature, responsible, critically thinking and engaged citizens is no longer desired. Will they allow themselves to watch world events unfold without being moved, or have they managed to retain that deeply ingrained human desire to think, act and feel with genuine compassion for their fellow human beings? I would trust them to have done so and hope that they have remained human. •

¹ Tuchschmid, Benno. “Befinden wir uns bereits im dritten Weltkrieg? Darüber wird die Geschichte richten.” (Are we already in the Third World War? History will be the judge of that.) In: Sonntagszeitung of 29 March 2026, p. 10
² For data protection reasons, the names and family histories of these children have been altered in such a way that no conclusions can be drawn about real-life individuals.