Learner Resource 1

What are Human Rights?

In this activity, you will work together in groups to discuss the rights you feel all humans should have access to. You should consider your own lives, and distinguish between ‘wants’ and ‘needs’.

1.Read the statement below from the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR):

Human rights may be generally defined as those rights which are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot live as human beings. Human rights and fundamental freedoms allow us to develop fully and use our human qualities, our intelligence, our talents and our conscience to satisfy our spiritual and other needs. They are based on humankind’s increasing demand for a life in which the inherent dignity and worth of each human being are accorded respect and protection. Their denial is not only an individual and personal tragedy but also creates conditions of social and political unrest, sowing the seeds of violence and conflict within and between societies and nations.

In the space below, list aspects of life which you feel fit the description of human rights, as given above.

Version 11© OCR 2016

Human Rights

2.In groups:

Share your ideas with each other and discuss:

-Do you all agree, are they ‘rights’ or are they ‘wants’?

-Can you think of examples of places or situations where these rights are not enjoyed by all people?

3. Read the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In your class/group, divide the articles between you and re-phrase them in your own language. Use as few words as possible. Each of you should focus on 4 or 5 different rights.

4. Using the mind-map provided, add the rights where they belong. You could shade each one to identify whether it is considered a right of freedom, of justice, or of equality.


Extension Activity:

You can listen to Eleanor Roosevelt read from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, after its ratification, in January 1948 here:

Consider the world news from today. Can you identify situations where individual human rights are being violated in different parts of the world?

How far do you believe it is possible to enforce this declaration? Why doesn’t everyone enjoy the same human rights?

Version 11© OCR 2016

Human Rights