Youth for Human Rights Teaches Students to Take a Stand
Human rights education is implemented in modern school systems to bring an end to bullying and other conflicts of contemporary life in North America. Following are excerpts from the reports of two teachers using the Youth for Human Rights program in their classrooms.
A teacher at a Comprehensive Model School Project in New York City implemented the Youth for Human Rights curriculum with 120 students.
“My students were very engaged during the lessons, and I have found they are more interested and concerned with injustices they see in the world and even in their own neighborhoods. They are overall more aware.
“I found they were more willing and even eager to speak up when they saw anything happen that did not seem to be in line with all the human rights. The posters were an enormous help. I put them all up in my classroom and if a student saw someone bullying someone else, even in the mildest of forms, they would call out the number for the human right they thought was being violated. They really had each other’s back.”
“The students regularly make connections to human rights with what we are learning in class.”
A teacher of grades 3 and 4 in Ottawa, Canada, integrates human rights teaching in many areas—language, social studies, character education, visual arts, drama and music.
“The children loved the human rights booklets and I have heard from parents that their children ran human rights lessons at home. The children are upset that slavery still exists in the world and that human rights are still so elusive in so many countries, even their own.
“The students regularly make connections to human rights with what we are learning in class. They apply their learning in their writing and letters. The students have become advocates for others and self-advocates as well. They stand up for each other in the yard and say each person has the right to dignity. The children in my class are concerned about children’s rights and are writing letters to the federal government to remind our leaders that all children have the human rights to equal education.”
DATES
Human Rights Advocacy in 2015-2016
June 20: World Refugee Day
July 30: World Day against Trafficking in Persons
September 21: International Day of Peace
November 16: International Day of Tolerance
December 10: United Nations Human Rights Day
February 20: World Day of Social Justice
March 1: Zero Discrimination Day
March 21: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
April 6: International Day of Sport for Development and Peace
Be part of upcoming United for Human Rights events on these days by contacting us.
HELP MAKE HUMAN RIGHTS A REALITY
Join the international human rights movement by becoming a member of United for Human Rights. UHR assists individuals, educators, organizations and governmental bodies in all parts of the world to raise awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
