The Marangopoulos Foundation for Human Rights continues to be active in the sphere of disseminating and teaching human rights. Human rights -as they are a matter not only of abstract knowledge but also practical implementation- can be taught on various levels and in various ways.

To date, our human rights teaching activities have been and are largely informal (seminars, conferences, lectures) and are addressed in some cases to the general public and in others to professionals (judges, lawyers, individuals who already possess experience in the field). Our purpose is to update such professionals on the rapid and significant developments which are taking place in the human rights field, especially on the international level, and to provide them with a deeper grounding in such issues.

However, as we believe that respect for human rights involves above all a way of life and not merely a knowledge of the relevant provisions on the national and international level, it is our opinion that the teaching of human rights from an early age -in a special manner- so as to consolidate in children the concept of respect for them, will make a major contribution to the implementation of those rights in human societies. For that purpose, the MFHR has undertaken an additional activity: we have published a guide to the teaching of human rights to children (1990) prepared by the relevant department of the UNO. Our Foundation was responsible for translating, editing and funding the Greek version of the guide which is distributed free of charge to the Greek teachers of elementary schools.

We provide further support for the dissemination of the ideology of human rights through our publications devoted to the main issues regarding human rights. Some of these publications contain papers presented at the conferences, seminars and other events we organise.

A considerable number of the papers in this volume were presented at a seminar on the protection of social rights in Europe held in spring 1992. (An excerpt of the preface)