High School Students Debate on Development Approaches

At the occasion of the International Day of Human Rights, the Slovak NGDO Platform (MVRO) in cooperation with its member organizations eRko, People in Peril, UNICEF Slovakia, and the Slovak Debate Association organized a debate on the Human Rights Based Approach in development cooperation. The debate took place on 9th December 2011 at the European Information Center in Bratislava. Around 70 students from 6 high schools in Bratislava and Malacky participated. At the debate two approaches to development were discussed: the charity approach and the Human Rights Based Approach. Members of the Slovak Debate Association discussed the thesis: the Human Rights Based Approach in development cooperation is more effective than the charity one. One team of students was advocating the thesis and another group was disapproving it. After the debate a vote followed. Despite the fact that the opposing team used interesting arguments in favor of the charity approach, most of the participants voted for the Human Rights Based Approach.

The Slovak NGDO Platform believes that the Human Rights Based Approach is an important tool to achieve the MDGs. The Human Rights Based Approach enables the new donors, where Slovakia belongs, to concentrate more on quality than quantity of aid and fight poverty more effectively.

Information provided by Andrea Girmanová, MVRO