Human rights act worksheet

Through brainstorming and discussion, this activity leads participants to define what it means to be human and to relate human rights to human needs.

PART A: What Does It Mean to Be Human? (20 minutes)

1. Write the words "HUMAN" and "RIGHTS" at the top of chart paper or a blackboard. Below the word "human" draw a circle or the outline of a human being.

Ask participants to brainstorm what qualities define a human being and write the words or symbols inside the outline. For example, "intelligence," "sympathy."

2. Next ask participants what they think is needed in order to protect, enhance, and fully develop these qualities of a human being. List their answers outside the circle, and ask participants to explain them. For example, "education," "friendship," "loving family." (Note: Save this list for use in Part B)

What does it mean to be fully human? How is that different from just "being alive" or "surviving"?

4. Explain that everything inside the circle relates to human dignity, the wholeness of being human. Everything written around the outline represents what is necessary to human dignity. Human rights are based on these necessities.

Read these sentences from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and explain that this document sets the standard for how human beings should behave towards one another so that everyone’s human dignity is respected:

PART B: What Is a Right? (20 minutes)

1. Brainstorm for the many meanings "right" can have (e.g., "correct," "opposite of left," "just.") Consider common expressions like "We’re within our rights" or "You have no right to say that." Record these different meanings on the board. What is the meaning of "right" when we speak of a human right?

2. In small groups or all together, brainstorm a definition for human rights and write these possibilities on the board. Try to evolve a definition that everyone can agree upon and write it on a chart sheet by itself.

3. Write on the board this definition of human rights:

4. Look back at the list of qualities that define a human generated in Part A.

5. Write "SURVIVAL/SUBSISTENCE," "HUMAN DIGNITY," and "CONVENIENCES AND LUXURIES" on another chart or blackboard. Discuss the meaning of these terms.

Consider the chart made in Part A. Place each item listed as necessary to fully develop human qualities under one of these headings. For example, is education necessary to survival? To human dignity? Is education a convenience or a luxury?

Should human rights address only what a human being needs to survive? Why or why not?

PART C: What Is a Universal Right? (20 minutes)

1. Read the comments of Eleanor Roosevelt, Chair of the UN commission that drafted the UDHR, on the importance of universal human rights standards:

What do you think Eleanor Roosevelt means by "universal rights"?

Going Further

1. Introduce the UDHR, explaining that this document was intended to offer all people in all situations the equal justice, opportunity, and dignity of which Eleanor Roosevelt spoke. Then give a brief history of the UDHR. See Part I, A Short History of Human Rights for background information or use this as a reading.

2. Introduce the concepts of moral, legal, and natural rights. See Part V, A Human Rights Glossary. Are human rights necessarily legal rights?

When does life begin? When does life end?

4. Discuss the relationship between human dignity, human rights, and the concept of "humane treatment."

For younger children –

Note that everyone has good qualities.

Do you respect in others the quality you like about yourself?

Did someone say something insulting or hurtful to you?

• Use the outline in Part A.

5. Ask "What does it mean if we say that all human beings deserve respect because they all have human dignity?"

• Read the quotations given in Part A, Step 4.

7. Ask children to think of one example of how life in their community could be more peaceful if people showed greater respect for each other.

8. Have children work in pairs or alone to illustrate one way they could show respect to someone. Share these ideas with the rest of the class.

Sources: Adapted from The Bells of Freedom (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Action Professionals Association for the People, 1996) 15-17; Ralph Pettman, (Teaching for Human Rights: Pre-School and Grades 5-10) 30; Betty Reardon, Educating for Human Dignity (Philadelphia: Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1995) 25-28; Felice Yeban, ed., Human Rights Education Pack (Bangkok: Asian Resource Center for Human Rights, (1995) 67-68.