Abstract

Since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed in 1948, special priority was given to publicise the Declaration through education, “principally in schools and other educational institutions” (United Nations, 1948). Over the last 63 years, the interest about teaching and learning processes in human rights amongst Governments, International Agencies, local NGO ’s, schools and education stakeholders has grown; as a consequence, several educational models for human rights have been developed. Despite the pedagogical or practical discrepancies amongst them, each model relies on a particular theoretical approach to human rights. The aim of this research is to explore the different theoretical approaches to human rights, their philosophical foundations and their possible consequences for human rights education. The Objectivists, Contractualist, and Consequentialists theories, with representative authors of each one, and the influence they have in human rights education are closely discussed in this research.