Human Rights and Abuses

Students are introduced to the idea of universal human rights and learn the history and components of the 1948 United Nations declaration. In small groups, students research and report on human rights abuses in a specific country. Finally, students write a letter to a human rights organization describing the abuses they have learned about in their research.

This learning experience is designed for device-enabled classrooms. The teacher guides the lesson, and students use embedded resources, social media skills, and critical thinking skills to actively participate. To get access to a free version of the complete lesson, sign up for an exploros account.

The Pack contains associated resources for the learning experience, typically in the form of articles and videos. There is a teacher Pack (with only teacher information) and a student Pack (which contains only student information). As a teacher, you can toggle between both to see everything.

Here are the teacher pack items for Human Rights and Abuses:

Teaching About Rights: Historical Context, Contemporary Challenges: A Primary Source Curriculum Unit for World History, World Geography, and Comparative Government
Background information about teaching human rights
Attributions

Engage

Overview

In this experience, students are introduced to the idea of universal human rights and learn the history and components of the 1948 United Nations declaration. In small groups, students research and report on human rights abuses in a specific country. Finally, students write a letter to a human rights organization describing the abuses they have learned about in their research.

Students will work in small groups in Scene 3 to create reports on human rights abuses in several different countries. If possible, plan enough time so that small groups can present their reports to the rest of the class.

The Teacher Pack includes several additional resources that may be useful throughout this experience.

Objectives:

Define basic human rights.
Describe human rights abuses by governments.

In 1948, the United Nations issued the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. What is it? And why did the UN publish it? In this experience you will explore what human rights are, the intent of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and examples of human rights abuses in governments around the world.

Objectives:

Define basic human rights.
Describe human rights abuses by governments.

Begin your study of human rights by watching a short video, Born To Be Free and Equal.

What did you learn from the video?

Post your answer

Discuss your response with a partner or the class.

So what are some human rights? As a class, try to list as many as you can think of.

Discuss student responses and tell them to keep their lists in mind as they learn more about universal human rights.

When everyone is ready to continue, unlock the next scene.

The Complete List of Learning Experiences in Government and Economic Systems Unit.