Amnesty InternationalHuman Rights Education Project

•To have clear knowledge of universal human rights

•To have knowledge of instances where these rights have been contravened

•To investigate and understand the impact of these contraventions individually, nationally and globally

•To be aware of action we can take individually, nationally and globally to take action.

•Series of 4 Human Rights lessons

Module Overview

AS Citizenship

WALT

• To highlight the importance of human rights on individuals and real impact on quality of life

• To introduce the idea of organisational/national records or approaches towards human rights

WILF

• Interdependence• Capitalising

Outcomes – Balloon Debate, Class discussion, peer presentations.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1-

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and

conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood”

Article 3-

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”

Somalia, - Child starved by famine, a man-made weapon of mass destruction

Somalia, - Lifting a dead son to carry him to a mass grave during the famine

Sudan, - Famine victim in a feeding center

Sudan, - Famine victim about to receive water in a feeding center

HIV/AIDS

•10 new HIV infections every minute•as many as 46 million people are infected

•40% infection rate in Botswana and Swaziland

South Africa, - Grandmother cared for young girl affected by HIV

Zimbabwe, - In a tuberculosis ward where the great majority of the patients suffer from AIDS

South Africa, - Care giver comforted an AIDS sufferer

Article 5-

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”

East Germany, 1990 - Pollution from a coke factory

Czechoslovakia, 1990 - Heavy metals contaminated the air of an aluminum factory

Indonesia, - A beggar washed his children in a polluted canal

Bhopal – Union Carbide Disaster –Dow Chemicals

• 20,000 people have had their lives transformed into agony and shortened as a direct result of gas poisoning and 120,000 suffer debilitating and chronic ailments to this day. Future generations of Bhopal residents are not free of Carbide's touch either. Cases of birth defects and mental disabilities are widespread among the children of the gas victims.

http://portland.indymedia.org/media/images/2002/10/226731.jpg

The Chernobyl accident in 1986

• the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with inadequately trained personnel and without proper regard for safety.

• The resulting steam explosion and fire released at least five percent of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere and downwind.

• 28 people died within four months from radiation or thermal burns, 19 have subsequently died, and there have been around nine deaths from thyroid cancer apparently due to the accident: total 56 fatalities as of 2004.

• An authoritative UN report in 2000 concluded that there is no scientific evidence of any significant radiation-related health effects to most people exposed. This was confirmed in a very thorough 2005-06 study.

Chernobyl nuclear disaster

West Bank, - Palestinians fighting the Israeli army

West Bank, - Digging out the ruins of a shop in Jenin refugee camp

Article 4-

“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their

forms”

India, - Untouchables working in a brick factory

India, - Untouchables haul a boatload of sand up the ganges

Article 9-

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.”

Child Soldiers

“The clarity of what you ought to do gives

you courage.” – Wangari Maathai

What Amnesty does-•Researches human rights abuses worldwide

and releases reports- TRANSPARENCY

•Organizes huge grassroots movement to call attention to actions of governments and

individuals involved in abuses

•Seeks to educate about basic human rights in all societies

•Tries to motivate students and young people to get involved!

Student and local groups often adopt a “prisoner of conscience”,and write letters to government, prison and local officials to urge the release or fair treatment of

someone.

Why do we care about the human rights of other people?

•Imagine them as your neighbor

What we can do… (yes, this means you too)

•PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT’S GOING ON IN THE WORLD• study languages and history• learn more and tell others about it• join Amnesty or another organization• raise money, send letters, call your representatives

•make a short documentary on a local or world issue

•Invite a local speaker to tell their story in your class

Organize a fundraiser for a local or international cause

www.jamesnachtwey.com

www. amnesty.org

www.hrw.org

www.us-childsoldiers.org