Opening the Door
to a Culture of Non-Violence
With the adoption of General Comment 26 (GC26) within the Child Rights framework, the United Nations has unlocked a transformative pathway – one that leads toward a culture rooted in empathy, respect, and non-violence. ​
​GC26 makes this vision unmistakably clear:
Paragraph 35 affirms:
“Children must be protected from all forms of physical and psychological violence – whether in their homes or in society – including exposure to domestic violence or violence inflicted on animals.”
Paragraph 23 recognises:
“The development of children is inseparable from the environment in which they grow. A healthy environment offers vital opportunities for outdoor experiences, and for interaction with – and connection to – the natural world, including animals.”
These are not aspirational ideals. They are binding commitments.
All 196 UN Member States are now called upon to bring this vision to life.
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What makes this so important is that it is an acknowledgement at the highest international level that how we treat animals matters – for ourselves, as much as for them.
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Through its Nature-based Education platform, The Humane Education Trust is actively helping to turn principle into practice – equipping young learners with the understanding, compassion, and ethical awareness needed to ‘walk through the door’ and start building a world where non-violence is normalised.
The alternative is to leave the door closed and allow these long-term consequences to destroy our communities:
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progressive desensitization to violence
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normalisation of violence
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erosion of empathy
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disruption of fundamental human values
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acceptance of violence as part of life
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participation in acts of violence
Criminologist Dr Roshni Ladny is internationally
recognised for her pioneering research into childhood trauma, family violence, and the impact of the criminal justice system on youth offenders. Her work at the Department of Justice Studies, at Florida Gulf Coast University – alongside that of Malcolm Plant, head of the World Link Coalition – played a pivotal role in advancing the recognition of animal welfare within the Child Rights domain.​ When requested to reflect on The Humane Education Trust’s educational resources developed in support of the United Nations GC26 framework, Dr Ladny noted:
“The Humane Education Trust’s emphasis on early, nature-based, and empathy-driven education is not only developmentally appropriate, but essential for fostering a truly comprehensive culture of non-violence. At its core, humane education brings empathy to the fore and offers one of the most effective long-term approaches to preventing violence and abuse in all its various forms."
“It offers significant benefits for children, animals, and society more broadly, including stronger critical thinking skills, improved emotional regulation, and greater academic engagement and achievement. These outcomes do not exist in isolation; they create cumulative and cascading effects across the micro, meso, and macro levels.
“For disadvantaged youth, and for those who have experienced trauma, humane education can be particularly impactful. Over time, it has the potential to help interrupt cycles of violence, support healing, and foster a renewed sense of trust and connection.”
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“The Humane Education Trust’s integration and alignment of GC26 into Learning Areas and Learning Outcomes in the schools’ curriculum is seamless and very well done.”
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We thank Dr Ladny.
The Humane Education Trust asked Advocate Zannis Mavrogordato, a member of the World Link Coalition and a specialist in international law, for his thoughts. He said: “It is hard to over-state the importance of GC 26. By recognising that exposure to violence on animals is a form of violence on children, international law mandates a radical transformation of our relationship with animals. Whereas the normalisation of violence on animals has led to ‘empathy erosion’, the normalisation of kindness towards animals will expand empathy and enable our children to become their best-possible selves. Through its Nature-based Education platform, The Humane Education Trust will play a crucial role in turning this vision into reality.”
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We thank Advocate Mavrogordato.
Prominent German educator and statistician serving as the Director for Education and Skills at the OECD in Paris, Andreas Schleicher, is best known for initiating and overseeing the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which evaluates education systems globally. He advises leaders on education policy and emphasizes improving education quality, equity, and skills for the future.
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Schleicher believes the education system is a relic of the industrial age. He explains the kind of things that are easy to teach and maybe easy to test, are precisely the kind of things that are easy to digitise and to automate. The advent of AI should push us to think harder about what makes us human... to mobilise our cognitive and emotional and social resources to do something that is of benefit to society. Otherwise the world would be educating "second-class robots and not first-class humans".
Malcolm Plant, founder and director of the European Link Coalition and the World Link Coalition, whose research, together with the research of Dr Roshni Ladny, was instrumental in achieving GC26 : 35, says: “A doorway has been opened and a new horizon expands before us.”
See Dr Rinchen Chophel, Vice Chair of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, addresse delegates in this video:
A ground-breaking new international resource titled the "Palgrave Companion to Humane Education" is to be published in 2026 and is dedicated to Louise van der Merwe, Managing Trustee of The Humane Education Trust.
This resource has been compiled and edited by The Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics.