Preventing Human Rights Abuse

Estimated time: 1 hour 30 minutes (Part A: 30 minutes teaching, Part B: 1 hour activity).

Part A: Campaigning and prevention (30 min)

1. Review (5 min). Remind the class what human rights are and how they can be violated (from the Universal Human Rights lesson). Explain that this lesson looks at what can be done to stop abuses.
2. What is campaigning? (10 min). Explain that campaigning means carrying out activities to bring an issue to public attention or persuade governments to change policy — researching an issue, writing letters or emails to politicians, collecting petition signatures, getting media coverage, and raising public awareness. Discuss: does the class think campaigning works? It often does, because most governments care about their citizens’ views and their international reputation — but it can also be slow, since governments may see a change as costly, low-priority, or simply disagree with the campaigners.
3. Who protects human rights? (10 min). Introduce Amnesty International — one of the world’s largest human rights organizations, with more than 10 million members and supporters in over 150 countries, who research and report on abuses and write letters, emails, and petitions on behalf of individual cases. Note other groups doing similar work: the United Nations Commission for Human Rights and UNICEF (which focuses on children’s rights), government offices such as the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and organizations like Human Rights Watch and Anti-Slavery International.
4. Debate (5 min, optional, time permitting). Not everyone agrees with organizations like Amnesty International getting involved in another country’s affairs — some argue it should be up to each government to decide how it treats its citizens. Ask the class: are universal human rights more important than a country’s right to govern its own people its own way? Why or why not?

Part B: Write a letter (1 hour)

Choose a current, age-appropriate human rights case (Amnesty International’s website is a good source) and prepare a short written summary for the class, using simple language and leaving out graphic detail. Distribute copies and spend a few minutes explaining the case. Students then write a polite letter addressed to the appropriate official using their correct title, asking them to act. Allow about 45 minutes for reading, writing, and addressing the letters; students who finish early can start a second letter. Offer to photocopy finished letters for a classroom display. Finish with a discussion: how does the class feel about the issue, and what did writing the letter accomplish?

Assessment

Assess each letter for a clear, polite request; correct addressing; and evidence the student understood the case.