HUMAN RIGHTS

What are human rights?

Journal entry (5 min) Please use complete sentences to answer the questions below

• Think of some of the rights that you as a student living in the United States enjoy today. List 5 of the rights.

• Explain how are the rights different from privileges? Give a specific example

What are some of the rights we enjoy in the U.S?

• Turn to your partner and discuss (2 min) • Be ready to share

Lesson objectives

• Today we are going to be learning about human rights and how they help human beings to live and grow.

• Learning objectives:– Understand that human rights belong to everybody.– Understand that every human right is important and needed for

human beings to live and grow.

What do human beings need to live?

• Describe what human beings need to live and grow as productive person

• For example:– What do human beings need to survive? – What things help us to grow physically? – What things help us to succeed in life?

Those of you that are familiar with Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs know that satisfying the survival needs of hunger and thirst are prerequisites to everything and anything else that humankind may endeavor to accomplish. Maslow pointed out that physiological needs, including the most basic needs that are vital to survival, including the need for water, air, food, and sleep, are the most basic and instinctive needs in the hierarchy because all needs become secondary until these physiological needs are met.In other words - food-deprived people cannot work, cannot learn, cannot contribute to the community and, ultimately, cannot survive.

                                                                                                                                                         

A scientist, Maslow pointed out that physiological needs, including the most basic needs that are vital to survival, including the need for water, air, food, and sleep, are the most basic and instinctive needs in the hierarchy because all needs become secondary until these physiological needs are met.In other words - food-deprived people cannot work, cannot learn, cannot contribute to the community and, ultimately, cannot survive.

Human rights• All human beings, have similar basic needs: nutritious food, health

care, shelter, education, protection from harm and more.

Human rights

• Human beings need these things to live and grow and to be human.

• Needs are different from wants. Wants are not necessary for a person to survive, grow and develop.

• Everyone of us has the right to have these needs fulfilled.• These rights are called human rights.

What are Human Rights?

• Human rights are rights natural to all human beings, regardless of race, sex, nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, or any other status.

• Human rights include the right to life and liberty, freedom from slavery and torture, freedom of opinion and expression, the right to work and education, and many more. Everyone is entitled to these rights, without discrimination.

• You can think of human rights as a set of rules that state what we all need to live and grow, and how we should treat each other.

What are Human Rights? • They are “rights” because they are things you are allowed to be, to

do or to have. • These rights are there for your protection against people who

might want to harm or hurt you. • They are also there to help us get along with each other and

live in peace.• Many people know something about their rights. Generally they

know they have the right to food and a safe place to stay. They know they have a right to be paid for the work they do. But there are many other rights.

.

Why do we need to learn about human rights?

• When human rights are not well known by people, abuses such as discrimination, intolerance, injustice, oppression and slavery can arise.

• Born out of the violence and enormous loss of life during World War II, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed in 1948 to provide a common understanding of what everyone’s rights are.

• It forms the basis for a world built on freedom, justice and peace.

What is UDHR?• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a very

important document in the history of human rights. Drafted by representatives with different legal and cultural backgrounds from all regions of the world, the Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948 by General Assembly resolution 217 A (III) as a common standard of achievements for all peoples and all nations. It sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.

• http://www.un.org/en/globalissues/humanrights/index.shtml

Group activity directions: • You will receive a set of cards with 16 human rights• With your group members you will decide which rights are the most

important and why• You need to hold a conversation to discuss why the certain rights

are important more than others• Each group member should be involved in the conversation and

speak up his/her opinion• During the conversation each of you need to be polite, patient and

listen to each others’ opinion• After each of you had a turn explaining your opinion, you will decide

as a group where on the spectrum the specific right be more appropriate.

• Then you will share your spectrum with the class

Remember• The purpose of this activity is to think about the importance of

human rights, not just lining them up in order.• Think about:

– How will the human rights benefit your / our lives?– What would happen if you / we didn't have them?

Language Frames /sentence starters• I chose __________because_____________

• I think this right is very important because it _______________.

• If this right wouldn’t exist then_____________________.

• I think this right is not that important because_______________.

• I am having a hard time to choose between___________ and __________ . I think that both of them are equally important.

• I believe _____________is less important than ______________.

• This right___________ is important for the physical well being of a human, but this right___________is important for the ____________.

• If we do not have _________right, then ____________

Evaluation CriteriaPoints (8) (12) (16) (20) Ability to work together as a team 1 2 3

4

Presentation skills (eye contact, posture, voice, time) 1 2 3 4

Clarity of explanations 1 2 3 4

Providing relevant examples 1 2 3 4

Participation (everyone) 1 2 3 4

Total points: _________/100

Class discussion• Be ready to answer:

– Did you find it easy / hard to choose which human rights are less important?

– Which human rights did you select why? – How would these rights benefit your life?– Which human rights did you not think were important? – What would be the impact of not having these rights?

THE KEY MESSAGES OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION ARE THAT HUMAN RIGHTS ARE:

• Universal

• Equal

• Interdependent & indivisible • Inalienable

Important - all human rights are yours

• In reality you don’t ever have to choose which human rights are more important than others.

• Human rights belong to everyone from when they are born.

• Although they can sometimes be restricted, human rights can never be taken away from you.

• There are different laws that protect everyone’s human rights which we will explore in the next lesson.

What are the violations of Human Rights?• Some of the worst violations of the right to life are

massacres, the starvation of entire populations, and genocide.

• Genocide is commonly understood as the intentional extermination of a single ethnic, racial, or religious group

Examples of genocides in history:• Armenian Genocide in 1915 by the Ottoman Empire (1.5 million people were

killed)

• Holocaust by Hitler in 1939-1945 (6 million people were killed) • Rwanda Genocide by Hutu government in 1994 (800,000 people were killed)

• Genocide in Darfur in 2008 (400,000 people were killed)

Global Issue: Human Rights Violations• People in some countries are denied freedoms of expression or

political involvement. • They are persecuted and imprisoned, often without trial, if they speak

out against their government or stand up for their rights.• Action: Community organizations such as Human Rights Watch and

Amnesty International defend human rights by pressuring governments and monitoring, investigating and publicizing human rights violations.

Important - all human rights are yours

• Every human right is important!

• Every human right is needed to live and grow – and to be a human being!

What have we learned? That human rights belong to everybody. That every human right is important and needed for human beings

to live and grow.

Ticket out of the door-your exit assignment ( 20 pts)

On a separate sheet of paper, write 5-6 sentences summary of what have learned about today.

I have learned_____________________.

I did not know that____________________.

I think the most important part of the lesson was ___________.

One thing I enjoyed during the lesson today was________.

Something that I will never forget is______________.

It is important to learn ______________ because____________.

• Of all the articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which right is the most important (either to you, or to society), and why?