Rights and Responsibilities
10th December: International Human Rights Day
The link between human rights and
human dignity
Right: Something the law allows you to do
Declaration A serious statement of opinion (not
legally binding)
Every human being has rights because they are
human
Some of our most basic needs are referred to as
rights
When humans have their human rights, they can live
with dignity
Rights are things that are fair or just for a person to
have or for a person to be able to do.
An important document the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (UDHR) was drawn up in 1948
The person who was mainly responsible for this was
Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Fought for an improvement in the lives of people
everywhere
She believed than an international agreement on
human rights, set out in a way that everyone could
understand, would bring about an improvement
She managed to involve many nations in spite of
their differences
The destiny of human rights is in the hands of all our
citizens in all our communities
The declaration of human rights has 30 articles
which set out the rights of all people
The United Nations (UN) is constantly dealing with
human rights issues
The UN has chosen a theme for each year since
1959
They do this to draw attention to major issues and to
encourage international action on global concerns
UN themes
Year
Theme
1994
The Family
1995
Tolerance
1996
Eradication of Poverty
1999
The Older Person
2000
The Culture of Peace and Thanks Giving
2001
Volunteers
2003
Fresh Water
2006
Deserts and Desertification
2007
Heliophysical (concerned with the sun and the earths atmosphere)
2008
Planet Earth
2009
International Year of Astronomy
Human Rights Issue: Older People
Articles Explored: 7,19,27
Ageism is discrimination against people and a
denial of their rights because of their age
Sometimes older people are seen only as a burden
to society
Some people believe they shouldnt wear certain
clothes or colours or take jobs that could be done
by a younger person, this is ageism-not respecting
the rights of older people
Human Rights Issue: Older People
Some older people are afraid to go out for fear of
being attacked
Others feel at risk because they live on their own in
an isolated place
Some feel that they are being discriminated against
by society
In reality older people are still involved in politics,
business, religion, learning, entertainment, holidays
and all other aspects of life
Prejudice and Discrimination
Prejudice is when you form a bad/negative opinion
without knowing the facts. Prejudice is usually based
on a judgement that is not true
There are many groups in ireland and all over the
world that suffer from discrimination and prejudice:
Women
Travellers
Refugees
Minority
religions and races and groups
Human Rights: Refugees and Asylum
Seekers
Article of Universal Declaration Explored: 14
There are approximately 19 million refugees in the world today
It is important to try to understand what they have been through
They have been persecuted and forced to leave their homes, to
leave all their favourite things behind, they dont know if they will
ever see their homes again
They arrive in a foreign county where they dont know the language
, they have no money, no friends and nobody cares about them
They have no idea what will happen to them tomorrow
If the are allowed to stay they will have to try to rebuild their lives.
Stages in a Convention
Convention:
Signing:
An agreement or treaty, which is legally binding. It says how
rights are to be established and protected through the laws
of the state
This is the first step in the process. It usually means that the
country intends to ratify a convention. A country may need
to look at its laws to ensure that they dont contradict the
laws of the convention
Ratifying:
A country makes a commitment to uphold the laws of the
convention
The United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
A child is any person under the age of 18 years
As early as 1923 there was talk of children's rights
When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
was passed, many people felt that childrens rights
were included in it, but many continued
campaigning
In 1959 the UN adopted a Declaration on the
Rights of the Child
This
was a big step forward but was not legally binding
The United Nations Convention on the
Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
On the 2nd of September 1990 the Convention on
the Rights of the Child became part of International
Law
The convention was ratified by 191 countries
making it the most ratified human rights treaty in
history
Ireland signed the Convention in September 1990
and ratified it in September 1992
However all over the world children are still being
denied their basic human rights
Themes of the Convention
The UN Convention of the Rights of the Child has 54
articles.
These articles are grouped together under four
themes
Survival
Rights
Protection Rights
Developmental Rights
Participation Rights
Survival Rights
Cover a childs right to life and the needs that are
most basic to live
These
include food, shelter, clean water, a proper
standard of living and medicine
Developmental Rights
Include the things that children need in order to
reach their full potential
These
include the right to education, play, leisure,
cultural activities, access to information, freedom of
though and religion
You have a right to know what your rights are. It says so
in article 42 of the Convention!
Protection Rights
Says that children must be protected against all
forms of abuse, torture, cruelty, neglect and
exploitation
They
cover issues such as protection for children in
employment, special care for refugee children,
protection for children who find themselves involved
with the law and care for children who have suffered
abuse of any kind
Participation Rights
Provide for children to take an active role in their
communities and nations
They
ensure that children have the freedom to express
opinions, have a say in matters affecting their own lives
and can join organisations
Human Rights: Bullying
Articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
explored: 32-36, 31, 15, 28
Bullying is the denial of human rights
At school it can take awa y a persons right to learn
in a place where they feel safe, make friends and
where they feel they belong.
It makes some people feel so miserable that they
dont want to go to school, they become sick and
feel unhappy about themselves
Types of bullying
Physical: Includes hitting, pushing, kicking, hurting,
punching and threatening as well as taking or
hiding things which belong to other people
Verbal: Includes name calling, nasty repeated
slagging, making threatening remarks and passing
insulting comments
Psychological: Sniggering when a person walks by,
ignoring them, etc
Remember: Bulling is deliberate and hurtful. There is
no excuse for bullying
How to deal with bullying
Do:
Be
a friend to the person being bullied
Encourage him/her to report the bullying to a
responsible older person
Include him/her in activities (both in class and outside
school)
Dont:
Encourage
other to bully
Turn a blind eye
Be afraid to report the bullying
Human Rights: Bullying
Remember: the bully has the bigger problem,
usually they cannot get acceptance any other way
and are over compensating for fear of being
rejected.
Bullying is such a major issue today that many
schools, offices, factories and organisations have
anti-bullying statements, codes and charters
Clash or Rights
In many situations the rights of more than one person, or
group of people have to be taken into account
Sometimes there can be a clash of rights
These are times when a compromise is needed
A compromise is when each side gives up part of its
demands to make a settlement and come to an agreement
When this happens the two sides come together to find a
way of respecting each others rights
It is a way of bringing peace to a situation
It is a way where nobody looses and both sides end up with
a win-win situation
Responsibilities
It is important to remember that with rights come
responsibilities
People often get caught up in demanding their
rights and forget that they have responsibilities too
It is often easier to demand our rights than to fulfil
our responsibilities, but they go hand in hand
Who is responsible for human rights
In ireland the minister for Justice, Equality and law
reform has the responsibility for the protection of
human rights
In the European union the European Court of Human
rightshears cases relating to human rights
The UN has a High comission to monitor human rights
around the world
1997-2002 Mary robinson was high comissioner for
human rights
2002-2003: Sergio Vierra de Mello (Brazilian and
killed in Iraq in 2003)
2004-present Louise Arbour (Canadian Judge)
Organisation for Human Rights
Irish
Global
Simon Community
Amnesty
Trcaire
UNICEF
Combat Poverty
Childline
Pavee Point
The Samaritans