Discussion on human rights

Group size: Adaptable, Big group 10+, small group 3+ and medium 5-9
Timescale: 10-30 min
Where?: Indoors
Gym hall/ similar

What you need:

Flip chart 

Pens 

Instructions:  1. Read/Discuss
Read the following quotation by Eleanor Roosevelt Chair of the UN Human Rights Commission which created the UDHR to participants
Where after all do universal rights begin? In places close to home so close and so small that cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man woman and child seek equal justice equal opportunity equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these right has meaning there they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home we shall look in vain for progress in the large world.
Eleanor Roosevelt The Great Question (NY United Nations 1958).
2. Brainstorm
Write the four problem areas on a flip chart. Discuss the following questions recording responses as declarative sentences.
Do the problems exist in our community? Are they severe? What are our sources of information? Are they reliable and complete?
From what individuals groups or organizations can we get informed data about the problem in our community?
Are there other more pressing concerns that we should study rather than those suggested above?
3. Discuss
Introduce the UDHR and indicate how this activity relates to this document. In particular call the group's attention to Articles 22-27 in the UDHR. Discuss language that is unclear and identify definitional problems.

Categories:  Communication
 Environment
Core outcomes:  Increase confidence
Express opinions
Express themselves
Acknowledge challenges
Recognise rights
Understand the role of power