All About Human Rights - What They Are and Why We Have Them

Every person is entitled to certain fundamental rights, simply due to the fact that he or she is a human being. These are called human rights. The United Nations determines that these 30 rights are not simply whims or privileges, but rights which every human on earth is entitled to. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) describes the rights to which each person is entitled. The document was adopted by the United Nations (UN), which came into being shortly after the end of World War II in 1945.

This course will give an overview of the United Nations, the development of the UDHR and the leading historical figures in its inception, including Eleneanor Roosevelt.  It will then cover the 30 human rights as laid out in the UDHR in more detail and explain what the process is for those whose rights are violated.  There will be audio visual aids and a number of projects along the way to help students understand each right and the process for ensuring that these rights are ensured.  

The first class will be an introduction and story of human rights development. 

During the second class the focus will be on Article 1 of the UDHR, "We are all born free and equal".  

The third class will focus on Articles 2-5, the fourth class will focus on Articles 6-11, the fifth class will focus on Articles 12-18 and the six class will focus on Articles 19-25.   The seventh class will focus on Articles 26-30.  During these classes vocabulary will be studied, each right will be presented and discussed, debate prompts may be given, group projects and scenarios to be analyzed may be part of the class experience.  In each section the students will be provided the information and then presented with activities to help the student to understand the right in more applicable terms.  

In the eighth, ninth and tenth classes the students will each do a creative project to highlight an important right and showcase their project during class.  The tenth class will conclude with the students ability to view what a successful application of the UDHRs looks like.  

The objective of this class is not only to learn about the UDHR and the particular rights that are provided within that document, but it is also to have students critically examine these rights and analyze what they themselves think about these rights.  The teacher gives no opinion but will provide many open ended questions for the students themselves to think in deeper terms about the UDHR and the framework it provides.