Lesson 9
How do human rights work?
Note to teacher
• These slides provide all the information you need to deliver the
lesson.
• However, you may choose to edit them and remove some of the
detail to make them appropriate for your students.
• To edit these slides, you should save them to your computer with a
different file name.
Human rights quiz
1. Name two human rights.
2. True or false: Most human beings have human rights.
3. Yes or no: It is your human right to have an education.
4. Yes or no: It is your human right to have a mobile phone.
5. True or false: Every human right is needed for a human being to
live and grow.
Human rights quiz
1. Name three human rights.
Refer to human rights cards
2. True or false: Most human beings have human rights.
False: every human being has human rights
3. Yes or no: Is it your human right to have an education.
Yes!
4. Yes or no: Is it your human right to have a mobile phone.
No: this is a want; it isn’t a need that we are entitled to
5. True or false: Every human right is needed for a human being to
live and grow.
True!
Human rights
• Today’s lesson objectives:
– Understand where human rights came from.
– Be aware of the laws that help to protect young people’s human
rights in the UK.
– Understand how human rights work in practice.
The human rights story
• The ideas behind human rights can be traced far back in history.
• For example:
• c26-33AD: Jesus Christ preaches morality, tolerance,
justice, forgiveness and love.
• 613-632: Prophet Mohammed teaches the principles
of equality, justice and compassion revealed in the
Qur’an.
The human rights story
• 1215: Magna Carta is issued and challenges the
monarch’s power and aims to protect people’s rights.
For example, it stated the King should no longer have
freedom to punish an individual except through the
law of the land.
• 1689: Parliament agrees the Bill of Rights which
set limits on the power of the monarch and sets out
rights for all Englishmen, including freedom to petition
the Monarch without fear of retribution.
The human rights story
• The modern concept of human rights was created after the Second
World War.
Why?
The human rights story
Why?
• About six million European Jews were
killed - about two-thirds of the
population of European Jews.
• Millions more murdered included
Romani gypsy, homosexuals, people
with disabilities and other political and
religious opponents.
• Total number of Holocaust victims between 11 million and 17 million
people killed!
Is this right or fair?
The human rights story
• The international community came together to discuss ways to make
sure events like the Holocaust never
happened again.
So, what did they do?
• The United Nations put together the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR).
• It includes 30 rights that every human needs to grow and flourish.
• Countries around the world started to agree to the UDHR in 1948.
What was the impact?
• The UDHR started the development of human rights laws all around
the world.
Why do we need laws?
If we didn’t have laws, do you think...
More or less people would steal?
More or less people under 18 would drink?
More or less people under 17 would drive?
Human rights laws
Why are laws needed?
• Laws help to make human rights a reality in
people’s lives.
• Instead of just saying the Government should
respect people’s rights, it makes it law that
they MUST.
And if they don’t then the courts can hold the
Government to account!
Real-life legal cases
• Working in groups, review the
message from a child via Facebook
asking for your advice about their
human rights.
• Each member of your group will
need to work in a different role....
Roles
•
Reader 1:
Read out the case study and the response that you need to
complete to your group.
•
Reader 2:
Read out the fact sheet to your group. You should all listen
carefully as you will need to use this information to try and
write your response to the child.
•
Writer:
Take notes and write the response to the child.
Note! Everyone should discuss and agree what the response should be.
•
Presenter 1: Read out the letter from the child to the class.
•
Presenter 2: Read out your response to the class.
Case study 1
Identify which human rights are not being protected:
• The right to play, rest and leisure.
• The right to express his or her views and have them taken into
account on all matters that affect them.
Explain which human rights law or laws can help to protect their
rights:
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Case study 1
Provide advice on action they can take:
• Complain to the local council and highlight how they are in breach of
the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• Join an organisation and campaign to the Government to improve
children’s rights.
Case study 1 – real-life
• Every five years the Government has to submit a report to the
United Nations stating what they are doing to protect children’s
rights .
• In 2008, a group of children complained to the United Nations in
Geneva as part of Get ready for change! which is a project run by
the Children’s Rights Alliance for England (CRAE).
• They highlighted that the UK Government was failing to protect their
right to play under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of
the Child.
• They also made 14 other recommendations to make sure children’s
human rights are fully protected and respected in England.
• The young people made a real difference as the Government made
several changes, including further investment into play areas.
• http://www.getreadyforchange.org.uk/
Case study 2
Identify which human rights are not being protected:
• The right not to be tortured or treated in a way that is cruel or
humiliating.
• The right to respect for private and family life, their home and their
letters, emails and phone calls. This was relevant as it considers
personal integrity.
Explain which human rights law or laws can help to protect their
rights:
• Human Rights Act 1998
• European Convention on Human Rights
Case study 2
Provide advice on action they can take:
• They could complain to the Secure Training Centre.
• If this complaint was not taken seriously, they could take their case
to a UK court.
• If the case failed through the UK courts, they could try to take their
case to the European Court but this is rare and can be expensive.
Case study 2 – real-life
In July 2008, the UK Court of Appeal protects the human rights of
children in Secure Training Centres by overturning new restraint rules.
The rules were rushed in following the death of a child following
restraint. Instead of increasing child protection in Secure Training
Centres, Ministers had given staff extra restraint powers.
The UK Court of Appeal found that the new rules breached the
following human rights:
• The right not to be tortured or treated in a way that is cruel or
humiliating.
• The right to respect for private and family life, their home and their
letters, emails and phone calls.
Case study 3
Identify which human rights are not being protected:
• The right to have your own thoughts, beliefs and religion.
• The right to express his or her views and have them taken into
account on all matters that affect them.
Explain which human rights law or laws can help to protect their
rights:
• Human Rights Act 1998
• European Convention on Human Rights
• United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child
Case study 3
Provide advice on action they can take:
• She could complain to the school and if they do not do something
about it, she could get advice from a lawyer and take her case to the
UK court.
• If the case failed through the UK courts, she could try to take her
case to the European Court but this is rare and can be expensive.
• She could also campaign to the Government to improve children’s
rights.
Case study 3 – real-life
• In 2004, a 16 year-old girl called Shabina Begum complained to the
UK courts about her school’s uniform rules.
• The UK Court of Appeal agreed Shabina’s rights had been breached
because the school would not let her wear a jilbab. But then the
case went to the House of Lords, which disagreed and said that her
rights had not been breached.
• Even though Shabina lost her final court case, there was a lot of
discussion about school uniforms in the newspapers and on TV.
• The Government wrote new rules for schools emphasising that
students and parents must be asked their views when uniform rules
are being made.
Children’s rights
• When the Government makes human rights part of UK law, it is
saying that they think it is so important, we should be able to protect
it through our UK courts.
• Do you think the human rights in UNCRC should be part of UK law?
Vote
Stand up to vote for which of these human rights you think should
be better protected by the UK Government and made law in the
UK:
• The right to express his or her views and have them taken into
account on all matters that affect them.
• The right to play, rest and leisure.
• The right to an adequate standard of living.
• The right to the best possible health.
Text campaign
• You are going to raise awareness of why you think your chosen
human rights is important and should be better protected.
• Compose a short but impactful text message that you will use to
spread the word.
• The text message should state:
– Why the human right you voted for is important.
– Why you think it should be better protected by the Government.
So remember...
• Human rights laws protect people from being mistreated by the
Government.
• The laws only apply to the Government and public bodies.
• The laws don’t apply between individuals, so you couldn’t take
your friend or private companies to court for breaching your
rights.
• If you think your rights are not being protected, you can take action!
• And it is important to speak out and campaign for other people’s
human rights so you can help to make a difference to everyone’s
lives.
You can take action
and make a difference
What have we learnt?
 Where human rights came from.
 About the laws that help to protect young people’s human rights in
the UK.
 How human rights work in practice.