UNIT PLAN FOR AGES 12-14 IN HUMAN RIGHTS AND REFUGEES:
Rights, Responsibilities and Refugees
UNIT OBJECTIVES
Knowledge
To understand the nature of human rights and responsibilities
To know that:
- the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) exists
- that it sets forth the basic civic, economic, political, and social rights and freedoms of every person
- the UDHR is meant to serve "as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations"
To understand that refugees flee their countries because their human rights are violated To understand what individuals and governments can do to ensure respect of human rights
Skills
To articulate the rights, and the corresponding responsibilities, which are needed to secure harmony in and outside the classroom
Values
To appreciate the need for reciprocal rights and responsibilities To appreciate the common humanity we share - citizens of our country and refugees
LESSONS 1 and 2
| CONTENT |
TEACHING METHODS/LEARNING STRATEGIES |
| Classroom rights and responsibilities: People cannot function in a situation of anarchy. Rules setting out the rights and responsibilities of each individual are required to allow any unit of society to function harmoniously. |
Students first are asked to envisage a classroom where everyone can do whatever they want. They are asked to determine the consequences of such a situation.
Working in groups, students are then required to decide upon the basic rights to which each student is entitled, and to devise a set of class rules that would bring about a harmonious learning environment in the classroom, while respecting the students’ rights.
Homework: The students are to imagine that they have been given the job of planning the rules to manage the global community. |
| RESOURCES |
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Suggested readings for the teacher:
Teaching Human Rights (New York, United Nations, 1989), p. 19-27 David Selby, Human Rights (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1987) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (external link to UNHCHR) |
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LESSON 3: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
| CONTENT |
TEACHING METHODS/LEARNING STRATEGIES |
| The Universal Declaration of Human Rights |
Review the homework assignment around the class, building up a blackboard summary of the rules suggested by the students for the global community.
Ask the students to explain their understanding of ‘rights’ and ‘responsibilities’.
Introduce the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Go through the rights listed there, ensuring the students understand their meaning and importance. |
| RESOURCES |
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Student Resource:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in full (external link to UNHCHR) |
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LESSONS 4 and 5: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Rights of Refugees
| CONTENT |
TEACHING METHODS/LEARNING STRATEGIES |
| The Rights of Refugees |
Make sure that the students understand who refugees are and why people become refugees. Reference to concepts and materials in the Geography units, ages 9-11 and 12-14 may be useful and necessary.
Discuss the 3 Lego posters and the messages they convey. Help the students to identify the needs and rights of refugees in countries of asylum.
Stress solutions to these problems - the contributions that governments, refugees themselves and we all can make to ensuring the acceptance and wellbeing of refugees. |
| RESOURCES |
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UNHCR Lego posters: Spot the Refugee, How Does It Feel? and What’s Wrong Here?
Teachers’ Resources:
The Teaching Tools Geography Unit, ages 12-14.
UNHCR, Protecting Refugees: Questions and Answers [PDF] (Geneva, UNHCR, 2005) for more background on who is a refugee. |
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