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The
students are told that the United Nations have just discovered a bunch
of new islands and they are each being put in charge of their own island.
Unfortunately for them there are people on the islands, and your first
task is to provide them with a Bill of Rights. The inhabitants have come
from many different places and they speak many different languages. They
have also brought with them a variety of religions, while some are not
religious at all.
Each student draws up the ten most important rights in his/her view for
the island inhabitants, as well as a name for their island. Towards finishing
this exercise, a call comes in from the UN. It appears that there is only
one island after all. So groups of 3-6 persons are created to each work
out a compromise. Each group is now given the assignment by the United
Nations to do the following: (It is possible to assign a facilitator and
note taker - see the teacher guide for a discussion of such roles). |
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Agree on
the five most important rights for the inhabitants of the island
(this entails a lot of discussion since each person has written
down ten rights). |
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Agree on
the best name for the island. The name should reflect the diversity
present on the island. |
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Design a
flag for your nation. It should also reflect the island's diversity. |
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Come up
with a tune and words for a national hymn that expresses the essence
of your society |
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group presents their five most important rights, shows a large drawing
of their national flag with name of the country, and sings its national
anthem. Children tend to have a lot of fun doing this exercise. |
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Discussion: |
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teacher or an invited expert talks about the history of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (and also for instance about how it was a
compromise document at the time). Teachers can also discuss the Rights
of the Child. |
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Further
Classroom Follow-up: |
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| A |
Hang
up on your wall the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the Convention
on the Rights of the Child. To find an English language copy of
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights go to the bottom of the
site:
http://www.splcenter.org/teachingtolerance/tt-index.html
or
for a plain language version:
http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/humanrights/resources/plain.htm
For the Convention on the Rights of the Child:
http://www.unicef.org/voy/meeting/rig/convsum.html
For
an excellent site created by young people, for young people:
http://library.advanced.org/28172/ |
| B |
Find
out more about the United Nations at the following website (in English):
http://users.bart.nl/~imuna/
Make
an information poster that contains the many ways in which the United
Nations is trying to improve the world. |
| C |
Following
the exercise outlined in the unit, you can compare the list of rights
that the young people came up with to the UN Declaration on Human
Rights. Which rights are not on their lists, but are in the Declaration?
Do they have rights listed that are not in the Declaration? Do certain
rights conflict with each other?
Now with
the Declaration in hand, can they choose two rights that they
think can be done away with, or need significant modification.
(e.g. in my work with gay groups of young people Article 16 can
lead to hours of conversation). This part of the exercise promotes
critical thinking skills, and can reveal the ambiguity, yet importance
of the Universal Declaration.
With your
list in hand go on-line and try to find other documents that guarantee
rights (e.g. UN Declaration, European and English charters, US
Bill of Rights, African Charter on the Rights of Man and of the
People). Print these other documents and hang them on the wall.
How do they differ? How are they the same? Which of these offer
the most protection? One place to find many of these documents
is:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com
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