The UN World Programme for Human Rights Education (2005-2015) provides the framework for an empirical study of human rights education in the formal education system of Croatia. The overall aim of the World Programme is to create a culture of human rights. The first three years of the programme are devoted to formal education.

The dissertation deals primarily with core issues common to the various concepts of human rights education (knowledge, attitudes and behaviour) and with important factors that need to be taken into consideration when applying such concepts in schools.

Very few governments have developed national plans of action in line with the United Nations guidelines on the basis of which they can give details of the state of human rights education in their respective countries. A further shortcoming is to be found in the evaluation process: both the provisional appraisal of the UN Decade for Human Rights Education (2000) and the plan of action for the first phase of the World Programme (2005-2007) have demanded an analysis of the status quo of human rights education in the school system. This research project aims to set an example by providing quantitative and qualitative data about the effect and implementation of human rights education in schools, and to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of this process. Research has been carried out in Croatia in a very specific socio-political context which nevertheless has recourse to relatively broad experience in the field of human rights education. This research was initiated in the mid-1990s by international organisations, then subsequently supported by Croatian representatives who were interested in setting up a national programme, developing teacher training courses and devising their own teaching materials.

This dissertation inquires into the effectiveness of human rights education in Croatian secondary schools, based on studies of selected classes. It aims to assess the knowledge and attitudes of pupils as well as their commitment to human rights. Further data which is useful when evaluating human rights education has been obtained by conducting qualitative interviews with members of NGOs and teachers. The results of the study should be judged in the context of the post-conflict situation and in relation to the political changes which Croatian society is currently undergoing.

The study has been completed in 2010.