Secondary Lesson to Celebrate Human Rights Day

Secondary lesson to celebrate Human Rights Day

Preparation: Read the factsheet that accompanies this activity.

Resources: Videos, sticky notes, students note books or scrap paper, UDHR articles cut out and placed in an envelope,

Web Resource Links:

UN Human Rights video: What is a Human Right?: https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=JpY9s1Agbsw

Learn about Human Rights (pdf presentation) http://www.una.org.uk/sites/default/files/Lesson%201%20presentation%20-%20Universal %20Declaration%20of%20Human%20Rights.pdf

Additional Resources:

Human Rights Glossary Universal Declaration of Human Rights presentation Student friendly version of Universal Declaration of Human Rights Resource sheet: Human Rights Articles

Lesson Plan

Aims: To understand what human rights are and why they are important To understand that the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were created in response to the destruction of World War 2 and the horrors of the Holocaust To become familiar with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) To identify human rights and to begin to understand their interconnection and importance

Outcomes: To work collaboratively to produce a written speech communicating a Human Right

Key words: human, universal, declaration, treaties, rights, responsibilities, entitlement, needs, global, international, freedom.

Starter: (suggested time 10 minutes):

Video: What is a Human Right? (see web resource links).

Watch once. Watch the video a second time and ask students to make notes in their chosen format (bullet points, mind map etc). Ask students to make a special note of any words they are not familiar with.

Discuss: ‘What are rights?’ and ask students to write down on their sticky notes their definition of human rights, using their own words. Ask for volunteers to share their definitions. All students then post them on the wall/board. Confirm understanding of key words (see additional resources for glossary).

Main: (suggested time 15 minutes):

Using the slides from the UDHR presentation as support (see web resource links). Explain: Human rights are the rights and freedoms that we are all entitled to. They are based on the values of fairness, justice, dignity, equality and respect, values that can be understood by everyone and that have existed for hundreds of years in different societies. But the concept of human rights as universal values, that apply to everyone regardless of race, gender, age, disability, religion, sexuality or any other distinction, was recognised officially in 1948, when countries from around the world adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Every person has every human right because we are all born equal and should be treated with equal dignity and respect

Pause the slide presentation after slide “What is the United Nations.”

Introduce Human Rights Day: In 1948 the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to help protect people’s rights worldwide. Human Rights Day is celebrated each year on 10 December, and all over the world, this occasion is used to promote respect for human rights and human dignity as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.

Continue slide presentation and explain: the UDHR was drafted by a committee of eight people representing Australia, Chile, China, France, Lebanon, the former Soviet Union, the UK and the US. Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, chaired the committee. It was very difficult for them to agree on what to put in the document, and even after they had agreed, all the UN member states voted on almost every word – over 1,400 times in total! Finally, on 10 December 1948, the UDHR was born. This day is now celebrated each year as Human Rights Day across the world.

Highlight to students the importance of the declaration being internationally recognised – this is the first global expression of human rights and the first time the concept of universal human rights was embodied in an international document.

Display: ‘All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Group Work: (suggested time 30 minutes):

Place the students in small groups. Display the student version of the UDHR (see additional resources) and provide each group with a copy to read through. Confirm understanding of the different articles.

Ask each group to pick a card from the envelope (see additional resources for Human Rights Articles). Explain to students that they need to read the Human Rights Article they have picked together without revealing it to other groups. Ask students to imagine that they have been asked by the Secretary General at the United Nations to join a Human Rights Youth Committee. Their task is to create a short speech that they will present at the first committee meeting. Their speech should introduce the right they have been allocated and provide convincing arguments as to why it is an important right both for the general public and young people in particular.

Sitting in a circle ask students to share their speeches. Recap the articles looked at.

And finally: (suggested time 5 minutes)

Highlight to students that rights are not based on ‘wants’ but on ‘needs/entitlements’. Discuss. Ask: What is the difference between wants and needs/entitlements?