Human Rights Day: Understanding the Universal Declaration

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Introduction

This lesson focusses on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (the UDHR) and the UN, with a particular focus on why the act was created, how it affects us today, and how effective or ineffective it is around the world.

Instructions

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What do you remember about 'Human Rights'?

Background

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was created in response to the atrocities of World War II, especially the horrors of the Holocaust.

In 1948, the newly formed United Nations sought to establish a universal standard of human rights as a roadmap to prevent such "barbarous acts" from happening again.

Understand the reasons for and challenges to the UDHR

Identify, in your opinion, the most important clauses of the declaration.

Why was it created?

WWII

Establishing Peace and Preventing Conflict: After the war, governments made a renewed effort to foster international peace and prevent future conflicts by creating a shared framework for human rights.

Founding of UN

Founding of the United Nations: The UN, founded in 1945, provided the framework for international cooperation to address these issues, leading to the drafting and adoption of the UDHR.

Establishing Peace

Establishing Peace and Preventing Conflict: After the war, governments made a renewed effort to foster international peace and prevent future conflicts by creating a shared framework for human rights.

First 'Universal Standard'

First Universal Standard: The Declaration represented the first global effort to set out the fundamental rights and freedoms that should be shared by all human beings, regardless of their location or background.

International Scrutiny

International Scrutiny: The UDHR made it clear that how a government treated its citizens was a matter of international concern, setting a precedent for accountability for how countries treated their people.

There is a lot of detail here - take your time!

What are the articles?

The 30 declarations can be split into two main categories;

• Civil and political rights

and

• Economic, social, and cultural rights

You may have seen some of these before, but do your best to see if any 'stick out' to you...

Get some paper and a pen - note down the ones that interest you, or you think are the most important!

Which organisation adopted the Declaration?

A

EU

B

United Nations

C

WHO

D

NATO

What is freedom from torture?

A

Torture is acceptable for national security.

B

Only prisoners have this right.

C

Torture is allowed in certain cases.

D

No one should be tortured or treated cruelly.

How many articles are in the Declaration?

A

15

B

35

C

25

D

30

Which right is explicitly guaranteed?

A

Right to privacy

B

Right to life

C

Right to have guns

D

Right to vote

What does the right to privacy protect?

A

Privacy is only for businesses.

B

Public figures have no privacy rights.

C

Your personal life from intrusion.

D

Privacy applies only during work hours.

What year was the Declaration of Human Rights adopted?

A

1950

B

1965

C

1948

D

1989

Three main challenges

Lack of enforcement mechanisms: There is no way to police the entire world into making sure they are respected.

Differing cultural interpretations of the principles: Some places understand the rules differently to how they were originally intended.

Selective application of it by some states: Some countries ignore some (or all) of the rights, claiming they can for religious and political reasons.

Take some time to have a discussion!

Can we solve this?

This bar chart races shows the highest and lowest human rights scores by country from 1946 to 2019.

The higher score the better. The scores are constructed from an econometric model with data from nine sources.

Source (model):

Fariss, Christopher; Michael Kenwick; Kevin Reuning, 2020, "Latent Human Rights Protection Scores Version 4", https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/RQ85GK, Harvard Dataverse, V2, UNF:6:QPg88sybNJyuljPYph2OXQ== [fileUNF] - This is a great opportunity to see if the countries your students thought of in the previous slide made the list.

Alternatively: Why not see if your students can work out what world event / crisis was happening when the scores drop or rise in certain places?

Summary

The UDHR was created after one of the worst conflicts the world had ever seen, designed to make sure that every person on the planet had universal and unquestionable rights and freedoms.

They shape how our country is run today, even how you are treated at school. But some people around the world still don’t have many of the basic rights detailed in the declaration.

Is this 'just the way of the world' or should we be doing something to change it?

I understand more about the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights