Story of Our Rights and Freedoms - Exploring Human Rights

This lesson is designed to build students’ competencies in the following skills:

• communication
• problem solving

(V9) Australian Curriculum content descriptions:

Year 9 Civics and Citizenship:

• How and why individuals and groups, including community, religious and cultural groups, participate in and contribute to civic life in Australia and to global citizenship (AC9HC9K05) 
• Analyse information, data and ideas about political or legal issues to identify and evaluate differences in perspectives and interpretations (AC9HC9S03)  

General capabilities: Literacy, Intercultural Understanding, Critical and Creative Thinking

Relevant parts of Year 9 achievement standards: Students identify the reasons individuals and groups participate in and contribute to civic life nationally and globally. They analyse information, data and ideas about political, legal or civic issues to identify and evaluate differences in perspectives and interpretations.

Unit of work: Story of Our Rights and Freedoms – Exploring Human Rights and Justice

Time required: 90 mins.

Level of teacher scaffolding: Medium - facilitate class discussion.

• Student Worksheet – one copy per student OR computers/tablets to access the online worksheet
• Device capable of audio/visual presentation to present a website to the class
• UDHR articles (one per student)
• Scissors, glue, note paper
• Categories of Human Rights Match-Up (one per student), Categories of Human Rights Display

Throughout the Story of Our Rights and Freedoms lessons, students will consider Civics and Citizenship concepts through a human rights lens. They will critically assess the Australian system of government and the effect that it has on our rights and freedoms.
There is no universally accepted definition of human rights, and our understanding is continually developing. Some definitions include:

• The recognition and respect of peoples’ dignity
• A set of moral and legal guidelines that promote and protect the recognition of our values, our identity and access to an adequate standard of living
• The basic standards by which we can identify and measure inequality and fairness
• Those rights associated with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)

When we talk about human rights we usually refer to principles that have been agreed upon by countries throughout the world. These rights have been set down in international agreements and form part of international law. They can also be written into the domestic law of individual countries. Human rights cover virtually every area of human life and activity. These include:

• Civil and political rights, such as freedom of speech and freedom from torture
• Economic and social rights, such as the rights to health and education
• Individual rights, including the right to a fair trial
• Collective rights, or those rights that apply to groups of people, such as the right to a healthy environment or to live on one’s ancestral land.

The UDHR is an international document that recognises the basic rights and fundamental freedoms to which all human beings are entitled. It was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 and marks a key milestone in the history of human rights. The Magna Carta, though limited in who it protected, was an important precursor to the UDHR.

Click here to watch a video about the Magna Carta.

You can view the entire text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the other core international human rights treaties, on the United Nation’s website or by downloading RightsApp (free from the iTunes App store).