We All Have Human Rights

What are human rights?

“Human rights are what no one can take away from you.” René Cassin, (an author of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

Human rights are the basic standards that we need to be safe, to be happy, to grow and achieve our best.

Why are human rights important?

Human Rights

How were modern day human rights created?

During the Second World War millions of people lost their lives and many people wanted to avoid these horrors, particularly the Holocaust, happening again. Creating a set of human rights was a way of safeguarding people and their rights.

In 1948 the United Nations (UN), a global organisation with nearly every country is a member, was created to help countries to work together to make the world a more peaceful and better place for everyone. The UN created the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) a list of human rights that everyone is entitled to.

Although the UDHR is not legally binding, it has led to the creation of a range of international, regional and domestic human rights conventions and laws. For example:

• The United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)

• The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)

• The UK Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA).

UN logo

You can find out more about human rights by watching these videos.

Human rights explained in 2 minutes

What do kids think about human rights?

To explore more about human rights you can

Create

A superhero with superpowers to fix it with a kit produced by Child Rights International Network. The kit encourages the design of outside-of-the-box solutions to some of our most pressing environmental issues. Audience for all.

Teach

Children as defenders of human rights toolkit produced by the Scottish Children’s Parliament and the Children and Young People’s Commissioner Scotland. Excellent tips about taking a rights-based approach and has lots of activities to show how to become a human rights defender. Audience for all.

Amnesty International have produced a range of activities related to human rights including exploring rights in the classroom, we are all born free and how rights apply to everyday life. Audience 5 to 11.