Human Rights Challenges

Starter: what patterns and trends to you see? 

Objective: explore the human rights challenges that exist in the world today. 

Outcomes:

1. (30 minutes) You will choose a country to investigate regarding human rights challenges. You need to find and document in your Social Studies Journal - make sure you include the title of this lesson (Human Rights Challenges) and the date:

• • 2-3 human rights challenges / issues within that country

  • link each challenge to a relevant article (or articles) from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

  • explain the impact this issue is having on the lives/well-being of people within that country, i.e. the SOCIAL impact; also consider if it affect everyone/majority of the population or does it effect just sub-groups of the population?

 You can use these two sites to find information about your chosen country:

• • Human Rights Watch

  • UN OCHR

2. (15-20 minutes) You will share your answers to the above questions using a 'Micro Lab' routine to develop your communication skills.  

SHARE: the first person in the group (of 3 people) shares their answer for 2 minutes. The other group members listen attentively WITHOUT COMMENT or INTERRUPTION.

PAUSE: for 30 seconds in SILENCE to take in what was said. 

REPEAT: for persons 2 & 3 in the group, as above. 

DISCUSS: as a group 5-10 minutes, referencing the comments that have been made about the SOCIAL EFFECTS, especially the SIMILARITIES & DIFFERENCES between the countries discussed. 

3.  (10 minute) Use your discussion to write a paragraph in your Social Studies Journal with the following opening sentence... "Human rights issues may differ from country to country, but there are often similar issues they face"... provide examples of these similarities and differences in your paragraph.