Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes	Part A: What are our human rights and how are we responsible for them?
10 minutes	Part B: Are we respecting and protecting people's right to life?
30 minutes	Part C: Creating a Declaration of Human Responsibilities
05 minutes	Reflection

Part A: What are our human rights and how are we responsible for them?

Step 1.

Discuss: Ask students to list some human rights.

Examples might include the right to a fair trial, the right to marry, or the right to freedom of opinion.

You can find a full list of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), and some brief explanations, here.

Step 2.

Explain that human rights are a set of principles concerned with equality and fairness. In recognising the fundamental worth of every person, people from around the world have agreed that certain things are essential for all people to be able to live a life free from fear, harassment or discrimination.

Step 3.

Discuss how this works in real life? For example, the right to education says that everyone is entitled to a good education so that they can live a good life. Can students describe what actions must be taken to ensure this right is protected?

One way is that the government has an obligation to provide good quality education facilities and services to their people. They build public schools which everyone can attend.

Step 4.

Governments have a particular responsibility to ensure that people are able to enjoy their rights. That's why they're elected, after all, and they can be held accountable if they don't look after the rights of their citizens.

However, Do individuals have a responsibility to protect other people's rights? Why? Discuss as a class.

Students might say it's ethically the 'right' thing to do, but consider that there can be disagreement around the world about what is 'right' and 'moral'. An example is the treatment of women in different places around the world, even though we might think that everyone has a right to be treated equally.

It's therefore worth noting that raising the standard of living for people around the world has benefits for the world's population as a whole and the whole planet and not just individuals. It can lead to global collaboration and efforts which indirectly benefit us all, even if our own human rights are being respected.

Part B: Are we respecting and protecting people's right to life?

Step 1.

Explain that the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change.

In 2021-22, the IPCC released their sixth assessment report. This is the most up-to-date physical understanding of the climate system and climate change.

The report makes a number of important points:

It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land.
Global surface temperature will continue to increase until at least mid-century under all emissions scenarios considered. Global warming of 1.5°C and 2°C will be exceeded during the 21st century unless deep reductions in CO₂ and other greenhouse gas emissions occur in the coming decades (B1). The report describes five possible climate futures, where #1 is not great and #5 is extremely bad. If we want to keep global warming at less than two degrees, which the IPCC says is the best-case scenario, we need to reduce our CO₂ and greenhouse gas emissions significantly and start right away.

Step 2.

Discuss the UDHR #3: the right to life - Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Climate Change has increased the severity of weather events such as heatwaves, and increased the frequency of natural disasters such as bushfires and floods, which threaten human life. It will cause famine. It will create many climate refugees who are unable to live in their current location due to global warming or rising sea levels. There are many, many other consequences.

Given this, do students really think we are respecting and protecting everyone's right to life?

Step 3.

Explain:

A person’s ability to enjoy their human rights depends on other people respecting those rights. For example, when someone uses their right to freedom of speech, they should do so without interfering with someone else’s right to privacy. That is, you can't go into someone's house and yell your opinions at them, and claim you have a right to freedom of speech.

Right now, we are probably actively taking a lot of actions that impede people's ability to enjoy a right to life, especially with regard to the environment.

Being neutral is also not an option. IF we truly recognise the fundamental worth of every person, and IF we agree that certain things are essential for people to live a good life, then we probably have to undertake some actions to ensure people's rights are protected and that we are not violating those rights.

Part C: Creating a Declaration of Human Responsibilities

Step 1.

One challenge is that the UDHR is great at laying out what things are essential for all people to be able to live a life free from fear, harassment or discrimination, but doesn't really give us any suggestions of how we are supposed to ensure those rights are respected.

So, what if we created a set of principles that guided our behaviours toward a better world: a Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities?

Independently or in small groups, students will work on setting out these responsibilities that they think people should universally try to adhere to for the betterment of the planet.

Step 2.

It's important to note that abuses and violations of human rights are happening all the time. Many countries do use human rights as principles for the basis of their laws. However, laws are not universal, and neither the United Nations nor any other body has the ability to legally enforce the UDHR, which is why we still see violations to greater and lesser degrees.

However, the responsibilities students come up with should be ambitious whilst still being achievable. This means they shouldn't restrict too many freedoms.

For example:

Everyone must become vegan

is probably not helpful. Whereas

Everyone should do their best to reduce their consumption of meat by as much as is reasonable

is more achievable.

Step 3.

Students should start by defining what needs to be achieved in order to improve society and the planet, and how much of this is within the realms of personal responsibility.

For example, students might want to address pollution.

Everyone has the responsibility to not spill oil in the ocean

is probably a little too niche. However, more reasonable alternatives might be:

Everyone has the responsibility to avoid taking action or making decisions that actively harm the environment (broad, applicable to everyone including individuals, company CEOs, and government officials)
Everyone has the responsibility to make sustainable purchases, and especially try and avoid single-use plastics (more specific and small scale)

Step 4.

Students should also think about the behaviour in the world that is commonplace and should be challenged.

For example:

Everyone has a responsibility to advocate for the environment wherever possible.
Everyone has a responsibility to develop skills that can benefit, rather than harm, the environment (such as becoming climate scientists rather than coal miners), and to make use of these skills.

Step 5.

Students should aim to develop a list of ten universal responsibilities.

Write these up on a piece of paper with a heading and display them around your room.

Reflection

Invite each student or group to share one responsibility they have come up with.

Students can offer constructive criticism to their peers, whether they think it is a useful responsibility in terms of causing positive change, and whether they think it is achievable.

Differentiated learning

Provisions for Learning Support

The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future. At its heart are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries – developed and developing – in a global partnership.

The goals - which can be found here - will provide inspiration for things students could make into a more practical responsibility.

For example, Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns. What is our individual responsibility towards this?

Examples might include:

Everyone has the responsibility to reuse items as much as possible
Everyone has the responsibility to not buy new clothes, unless they're absolutely necessary

Provisions for Learning Extension

Students could use their individual devices to find some other Universal Declarations of Human Responsibilities published by different organisations and see how theirs compare. Is there anything they missed? Is there anything they disagree with?

Teacher reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

IPCC - Do we need a Universal Declaration of Human Responsibilities?

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