STEP THREE
Seeking Justice by Using Analysis
Moral Value 7: Using Human Rights
EXERCISE 13, THE UDHR: WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?
Overview:
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) is a detailed charter of rights and liberties which captured the idealism of the day (1948) and continues today to serve as an analytical tool for sorting out the claims we need to demand as human beings so as to realize our potential dignity. That early idealism was classically stated by President Franklin Roosevelt in a wartime message in 1941. He tried to look beyond the battlefields of World War II to a more peaceful state of international affairs. He enunciated as a key to peace "four freedoms": freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want (meaning economic security), and freedom from fear (i.e., international peace.) These ideas became conceptional components of the UDHR. The Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic's Constitution says: "The fundamental rights and liberties contained in the Chapter shall be interpreted in conformity with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights... and other relevant instruments which Ethiopia accepted and ratified." Article 13Objectives:
The primary objectives of this exercise are:Procedures:
To introduce students to specific UDHR provisions and how they are arranged and organized, the facilitator will need to use more inputting activities than used in earlier exercises. As you introduce general organizing ideas -- (1) my right to be me, (2) don't interfere with us; (3) I can help decide; and (4) I need care and work-- select a few provisions of the UDHR (simplified language) and ask participants to link the provisions with the organizing ideas. Help them gain a cognitive command of the structure of rights by helping them image it as a temple (or a traditional Ethiopian gojo) with a roof resting on four pillars (supports), each pillar with a meaning from (1) to (4).Materials:
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Simplified Version), and reading selection for the information of the facilitator on René Cassin's vision of the UDHR as a temple.Sequence:
Step 1. Facilitator input: Explain that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has 30 articles. One of its drafters, a French scholar and diplomat, René Cassin, said its many provisions could be seen altogether as if they are the pillars of a temple holding up a broad roof. Each pillar supports human rights of a different kind. One set of human rights mean: "MY RIGHT TO BE ME." That is pillar one. If you think about these rights, (Facilitator: select a few examples for the list below), why do you suppose they carry the idea of a "right to be me":1. All human
beings are born free and equal . We are all the same in dignity and rights and have the same rights as anyone else. This is because we are all born with the ability to think and to know right from wrong, and so we should act toward others in a spirit of friendliness.
2. Everyone should have the
same rights and freedoms, no matter what race, sex, or color he or she may be. It shouldn't matter where we were born, what language we speak or what religion or political opinions we have, or whether we are rich or poor.
3. Everyone has the
right to live, to be free and to feel safe.
4. The buying and selling of people is wrong and
slavery should be prevented at all times.
5. No one should be put through
torture, or any other treatment or punishment that is cruel or makes the person feel less than human.
6. Everyone has the right to be
accepted everywhere as a person , according to law.
7. You are entitled to be
treated equally by the law, and to have equal protection of the laws.
8. If your rights under the law are violated, you should have the right to have fair judges who will see that
justice is done.
9. You should not be
arrested, held in jail or thrown out of your own country for no good reason .
10. In case you have to go to court, you have the same rights as anyone else to a
fair and public hearing by courts that are open-minded and free to make their own decisions.
11. If you are blamed for a crime, you should be thought of as
innocent until you are proven guilty. You shouldn't be punished for something you did which was not illegal when it happened.
Step 2.
A second group of rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 12- 17) are supposed to protect people in their roles and relationships in society, telling government "not to interfere with me, my family and my friends." Thus this second pillar of the temple says: "DON'T INTERFERE WITH US." If you hear about some of these rights, why do you think they carry that idea?12. No one should butt into your
privacy, family, home or mail, or attack your honesty and self-respect for no good reason.
13. Within any country you have the right to
go and live where you want. You have the right to leave any country, including your own, and return to when you want.
14. You have the right to
seek shelter from harassment in another country.15. No one should take away your
right to the country where you're from .16. Grown men and women have a
right to marry and start a family, without anyone trying to stop them because of their race, country or religion. Both have to agree to marriage and both have equal rights in getting married, during the marriage, and if and when they decide to end it.17. Everyone has the
right to have belongings that they can keep alone or share with other people, and no one should take your things away for no good reason.
Step 3.
A third set of human rights in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Articles 18-21) promise to empower people and carry the idea: 'I CAN HELP DECIDE." Listen to this list of rights and tell us why they mean you should decide on matters affecting you and participate in social and political life?18. You may believe what you want to believe, have ideas about right and wrong, and
believe in any religion you want, and you may change your religion if you want without interference.19. You have the right to tell people how you feel about things without being told to keep quiet. You may
read the newspapers or listen to the radio , and you have the right to print your opinions and send them anywhere without having someone try to stop you.20. You have the right to
gather peacefully with people , and to be with anyone you want, but no one can force you to join or belong to any group.21. You have the right to be one of the people in your government by choosing them in
fair elections where each vote counts the same and where your vote is your own business. Because people vote, governments should do what people want them to do
Step 4.
Another set of human rights (Articles 22-27) talk about peoples' basic human needs including their need to work. They list some of our economic and social rights, and altogether seem to say: "I NEED CARE AND WORK." When you hear them, see if you agree that they carry that meaning:22. As a person on this planet, you have the
right to have your basic needs met so you can live with pride and become the person you want to be; and other countries and groups of countries should help.23. You should be able to work,
choose your job, join a union, have safe working conditions, and be protected against not having work. You should have the same pay as others who do the same work without anyone playing favorites. You need decent pay so your family can get by with pride, and that means that if you don't get paid enough, you should get other kinds of help.24. Everyone has a right to
rest and relaxation, and that includes limiting the number of hours required to work and allowing for a holiday with pay once in a while.25. You have a right to have what you need to live a decent life, including
food, clothes, a home, and medical care for you and your family. You have the right to get help from society if you're sick or unable to work, or you're older or a widow, or if in any other way you can't work through no fault of your own.26. You have a
right to education. At least in the early years it should be free and required for all. Later education should be there for those who want it and can undertake it. Education should help people become the best they can be and to respect the human rights of others in a peaceful world.27. You have the right to join in and be part of the world of
art, music and books, so you should enjoy the arts and share in the advantages that come from new discoveries in the sciences. If you have written, made or discovered something, you should get credit for it and get earnings from it.
Step 5.
Facilitator: explain that one drafter of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Charles Malik from Lebanon, felt strongly that all these rights focusing on the individual needed something more to hold them all together: a roof to rest on the four pillars of the temple and to interconnect them all together by saying that these rights must be supported worldwide with all countries cooperating to promote human rights. In other words, the last three articles of the UDHR seem to say this: 'WE ALL NEED A ROOF TO HOLD TOGETHER." Do you think these articles embrace everybody worldwide in responsibilities to hold things together:28. Everyone has the right to a
world where rights and freedoms are respected and made to happen.29. We all have a responsibility to the place where we live and the people around us, so we have to watch out for each other. To enjoy freedom, we need laws and limits that respect everyone's rights, meet our
sense of right and wrong, keep peace in the world, and support the United Nations.30. Nothing in this statement means that anyone may
weaken or take away our rights.
Step 6.
Ask participants to divide into five groups, each one considering a separate "pillar" or "pediment" of the UDHR and report back on why they think their cluster of rights forms an important part of the whole structure of rights. What do they think is a good image to make in your mind regarding this structure: a temple of rights, a house of rights, making a gojo human? Some other image? If you imagine the structure as an Ethiopian traditional house (gojo) with a single supporting center pole, then which article is the center pole? Article 28?Appendix to Exercise 13.
Background information for the facilitator. This reading selection is on the vision of one of the drafters of the UDHR, René Cassin. He wanted people to see the way the articles of the UDHR were organized as a coherent set of rules clustering around various organizing ideas which are simple to understand, even if the rules are somewhat complex. His vision was that of a Greek temple with a pediment or roof resting on and tieing together four pillars, with each pillar and the roof a differentiated collection of articles. The reading selection below is adapted from Richard Pierre Claude, Educating for Human Rights: The Philippines and Beyond (Manila: University of the Philippines Press, 1996), pp. 183-188.After the end of World War II, the countries of the world established the United Nations to create the "conditions of stability and well-being which are necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among nations...." To do this, they said in Article 55 of the UN Charter that all members must promise: (1) to fight poverty by promoting "social progress and development," (2) to seek solutions to international problems based on international cooperation; and (3) to promote "universal respect for, and observance of, human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion."
As described by one of the Declaration's framers, the French scholar, René Cassin, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is founded on four pillars. First come the personal rights (the right of equality; right to life, liberty and security, etc. of Articles 1-ll). Then come the rights that belong to
the individual in his and her relationships with the social groups in which they participate (the rights to privacy of family life and to marry; to freedom of movement within the national state, or outside it; to have a nationality; to asylum in case of persecution; rights to property and to practice a religion (Articles 12-17). The third group is that of civil liberties and political rights exercised in order to contribute to the formation of government institutions or to take part in the decision making process (freedom of conscience, thought and expression; freedom of association and assembly, the right to vote and to stand for election, the right of access to government (Articles 18-21).
EXERCISE 14, THE FACE OF HUNGERThe fourth category is that of rights exercised in the economic and social area (i.e., those rights which operate in the sphere of labor and production relationships and in that of education, rights to work and social security and to free choice of employment, to just conditions of work, to equal pay for equal work, the right to form and join trade unions, to rest and leisure, to health care, to education and the right to participate freely in the cultural life of the community. A fifth section, Cassin called the "pediment of the temple" erected on the four pillars and found in Articles 28 to 30. The right to a social and international order in which human rights can be fully realized (Article 28). Charles Malik from Lebanon suggested this broad provision to overcome the otherwise biased view that rights are largely negative, that is --rights from state interference and things which governments must not do, such as interfering with freedom of the press. He wanted to include in the UDHR the view that governments, alone and in international combination and cooperation, have duties to implement a favorable national and international social structure within which human rights can take root, and that international duties also call on prosperous states to assist the economic development of poorer states. Articles 29 and 30 try to set out principles to harmonize rights, e.g., that they must not be exercised in ways conflicting with other UN objectives, e.g., free speech should not be misused to disseminate war propaganda, etc.
Overview: World Food Day is October 16. On that day peoples in over 140 countries
(all members of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) will be studying problems of food and hunger. Each country will have its own perspective on food issues, but member states seek to work together to find solutions. Ethiopia's food-needs place it well below most other developing countries, raising serious questions about why this is the case and what can be done to implement the right to food. Objectives: Participants will:Procedures: The facilitator will be particularly challenged in this exercise to ensure that new analytical skills are developed by respondents, attempting to generate explanations for the difficult questions about hunger and the right to food. This exercise will probably take more time then most, and may require two sessions, because the exercise calls for the processing of new information and because time is needed to test new analytical techniques (use of data, prioritizing among categories of explanations).
Materials: Simplified provisions from the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Rights of the Child; and comparative data and definitions useful in analyzing the face of hunger in Ethiopia.
Sequence: Step 1. Follow the brainstorm method to answer the question: what do people need to survive? The facilitator helps to classify responses between (1) fundamental "survival needs" (food, shelter, clothing, health care); (2) "human needs" (such as relationships, security, respect, etc.) and (3) wants (more money, a new pair of shoes; to be more good looking, etc.) Help participants recognize that food is the most basic of the fundamental survival needs.
Step 2.
Ask participants to volunteer instances when they have experienced hunger. Help them recognize the differences between wanting a snack, and not getting all you need to eat.hunger:
not getting enough to eat
malnutrition: not getting the right things to eat
starvation: dying from lack of food or nutrition.
Encourage participants to talk about each of these three situations in their own lives or those they know.
Step 3.
Facilitator input: tell participants that experts in the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimate that there are one billion hungry people in the world. Tell them that everyone has trouble understanding such a large number. Explain that if you started counting to 1 billion, counting each number each second (give an example), it will take you 31 years to finish. Next, explain that groups such as Oxfam and Bread for the World estimate that two thirds of the 1 billion people who are hungry are children, that is most of them are children. If you started counting the number of hungry children in the world, counting a number each second, you would not finish for 20 years.Step 4.
Use the brainstorming method to identify various causes of hunger among children. The facilitator should keep track of the causes stated, and show that many causes group under the heading of poverty. Explain that poverty often leads to hunger and disease and that in very young children, hunger and disease are closely related. Hungry and malnourished children contract more diseases than well-fed and well nourished children. Sick children often cannot eat and end up hungry and malnourished. This is a vicious circle from which it is hard to escape. Ask if any participants can "speak from experience" on this problem --the problem of being so hungry you cannot eat.Step 5.
Facilitator input: Write on a paper or black board: U5MR. Explain that the most important piece of information that the United Nations uses to measure the well-being of children is the Under Five Mortality Rate, that is, the number of children who die before the age of 5 for every one thousand children in the country. Children who die very young are almost always sick and/or hungry, so this statistic is very important to understand world hunger. Tell students the U5MR for six of the lowest ranking developing countries:COUNTRY U5MR/1000
Yemen 190
Mali 292
Ethiopia 259
Tanzania 176
Chad 223
Haiti 171
Ask the participants which country has the most children die of hunger/sickness? Which the second most? Can they rank all six countries from 1 to 6. Make sure the participants understand that Ethiopia ranks second from the worst among the countries most afflicted with hunger and child hunger in particular.
Step 6.
Return to the question of the causes of hunger, and specifically seek brainstorming answers to the question of why hunger is a more serious problem in Ethiopia than in most countries. The facilitator must carefully record or keep track of different explanations, classifying them for the participants as: (1) social, (2) political, (3) economic, and (4) cultural explanations. Facilitate various of these explanations with supporting data, using the comparative tables in the Appendix, if appropriate for the target group. Whether some of respondents' causal factors can be supported with comparative data or not, conclude by organizing discussion groups to discuss each of the four causal categories and report back (from group 1) as to which social cause is the most important in explaining widespread hunger; from group 2, which political cause, group 3, which economic cause, group 4, which cultural cause.Step 7.
Following the general discussion prioritizing the answers to the questions --why, why, why-- encourage respondents to recognize the usefulness of breaking down causal explanations into different categories (social, political, economic, and cultural) and improving their analysis of problems in this way. Return to the discussion group format to report back suggestions about changes that can be made to improve Ethiopians implementing the right to food, with special attention to children.Appendix to Exercise 14.
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights(1976); Convention on the Rights of the Child(1989); Statistics on Hunger in Developing Countries (1990)International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Article 11, Section 2
1. The States parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international cooperation, the measures, including specific programmes, which are needed: (a) To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources. (b) Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need.
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Article 24. (2) State Parties... shall take all appropriate measures (a) to diminish infant and child mortality; (c) to combat disease and malnutrition including within the framework of primary health care, through inter alia the application of readily available technology and through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution. (d) to ensure appropriate pre-and post-natal health care for expectant mothers, (e) to ensure that all segments of society, in particular parents and children, are informed, have access to education and are supported in the use of basic knowledge of child health and nutrition, the advantages of breast feeding, hygiene and environmental sanitation and the prevention of accidents.
Statistics on Factors Related to Food and Hunger in Developing Countries with High U5MR
COUNTRY
U5MR
GNP/CAPITA
FEMALE
POPULATION
CALORY INTAKE AS
US$
LITERACY GROWTH
%OF DAILY NEED
Yemen 190 590 3% 2.3% 91%
Mali 292 210 11% 2.9% 86%
Ethiopia 259 130 5% 1.8% 71%
Tanzania 176 180 70% 3.5% 96%
Chad 150 150 11% 2.3% 69%
Haiti 171 360 35% 1.8% 84%
MORAL VALUE 8: FIGHTING PREJUDICE
EXERCISE 15, CONFRONTING PREJUDICE &
DISCRIMINATION
Overview:
An understanding of prejudice, discrimination, racism, sexism, ethnocentrism is an important part of human rights education. These forms of moral exclusion are fundamentally manifestations of the central problem of the denial of human dignity that makes possible various types of discrimination. Groups suffering from discrimination include ethnic and language minorities, refugees and displaced persons, religious and other minorities. Women constitute the largest social group suffering from systematic discrimination and the failure to understand that women's rights are human rights. That is, rights to which women are entitled simply because they are human. This might seem obvious, but many people fail to place women's demands for equality in the context of human rights. It is prejudice and ignorance that promotes the dehumanization of women and minorities and which in turn fosters and supports many forms of discrimination.Objectives:
Participants should:Procedures:
The facilitator must use creativity to explain the distinction between prejudice and discrimination and to ensure the participants understand the connections involved. As this can be a very sensitive topic for many, it will be important to allow adequate time for diverse views to be expressed. The facilitator should not try to "correct" views that sound prejudiced, but allow others to comment on them. Step 4 is rather complex, so the facilitator should plan to "float" among various groups to ensure that they understand their tasks.Materials: UDHR, EFDR Constitution.
Sequence:
Step 1. Facilitator input: Explain that prejudice and discrimination are closely related.Prejudice
involves beliefs, feelings and attitudes. Feelings of prejudice stem from the belief and attitude that certain people are inferior and should be treated in an undignified way or even with contempt. Prejudice is the fertile ground in which custom, habit and attitudes take root and grow into systematic oppression. Prejudice and ill-feeling are often directed at women, as well as other groups in society: refugees and displaced persons, members of various religions, ethnic groups and language groups, etc. Prejudice tends to be strongest in persons and societies where reasoned judgment is weak and where ignorance explains prejudicial processes of moral exclusion of others and the process of denial of the right to equal and fair treatment. It is ignorance that says that exclusion and denial are "natural."
Discrimination
involves action, often based on unfair rules. Acts of discrimination are based on the prejudice that one group, considering itself better than others deserves to deny the other group basic human rights and access to the benefits of society. Thus discrimination is a denial of human dignity and equal rights for those discriminated against. The actions involved deny human equality and impose a life of problems and struggles upon some, while endowing others with privileges and benefits. Just as prejudice gives birth to discrimination, so discrimination gives birth to exploitation and oppression, and when exploitation and oppression are reinforced by custom and tradition, they are difficult but not impossible to uproot and change. The subservience of women involves both exploitation and oppression, and in the Ethiopian context, it is reinforced by custom and tradition.
Ask the participants if they understand these distinctions and ideas and urge them to ask questions.
Step 2.
Ask participants to share their feelings about various groups, and whether such feelings may be based on prejudice: people with a different language accent? street vendors? people who beg on the streets and scavenge for garbage? Do they feel these people are crazy? Sub-human? Inferior?Step 3.
Ask the participants if they think social prejudices are also generally directed against women? What explains prejudice that makes life more difficult for women than for men?Step 4.
Divide the participants into small groups. Each group should have (1) a chairperson. In addition, each groups should have: (2) a reporter who reports on problems of prejudice and attitudes that people have about the category of people discussed; and (3) a reporter to report on problems of discrimination or acts of exclusion, exploitation and oppression, directed against the category of people being discussed. The two reporters present the discussion and conclusions of the group to the plenary sessions. There should be one group on each of five categories and each such group should consider certain questions:(1) women: should they be given equal opportunities in the family, villages,
community gatherings, administrative responsibilities in the kebele/woreda?
(2) refugees and displaced persons: should they be kept out of the community and
separated into tent cities, and otherwise excluded from the community?
(3) people with a different language accent: should they be sent back where they
came from? Are some people less civilized based on their language, dialect or accent?
(4) street vendors: Should they be allowed to sell cigarettes, candy, chewing gum,
newspapers undisturbed? Do the police have positive attitudes toward them, or do they seem
to harbor prejudice?
(5) people who beg on the streets and scavenge for garbage: Are they mentally
unstable and volatile persons? vagabonds? unethical? criminal?
Step 5.
Ask the participants to reconvene in groups to examine the situation of the five groups from the point of view of the equality and non-discrimination provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Constitution of the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic. In light of these laws, how should the people discussed be treated?Appendix for Exercise 15.
UDHR(1948); Constitution of the EFDR (1994)Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Article 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set for the in the Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
Article 7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law.
Article 13. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.
Article 14. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.
Article 21. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his[her] country.
Constitution of The Ethiopian Federal Democratic Republic
Article 25. All persons are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to the equal protection of the law. The law shall guarantee to all persons equal and effective protection without discrimination on grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, wealth, birth or other status.
EXERCISE 16, "BRINGING CEDAW HOME"
Overview:
There is no doubt that women's struggles for dignity and against injustice can bring about the desired long-term transformation. Every woman can become an agent for social change. The time has come to open daring new perspectives that not only dream of, but work for a world where all men and women are equally empowered and work together to break the old curse of domination by one gender over the other and to take action to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women. We need to recognize and act as if we understand that women's rights are human rights.Objectives:
Participants will choose a project or course of action that:Procedures:
The facilitator must take sufficient time in introducing specific provisions of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, calling for comment to ensure understanding. Emphasize that the Convention calls for action, both in terms of the States that have ratified, and in terms of women on their own and in combination with others. The final step involving the development of a plan of action is most important and plenty of time should be allotted for its completion.Materials:
Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Selected Articles (Appendix)Sequence:
Step 1. Facilitator input: inform the participants that the CEDAW requires their government to report to the UN on what measures it has taken to implement womens' human rights, including programs for womens' human rights education. Is this a good idea? Why?Step 2.
Raise some questions about the government's duty to inform people of their rights.Step 3.
Review several provisions from CEDAW, raising questions about: (a) whether each article is understood, and, (b) if any participant could speak from experience about the provision. The facilitator may be selective from among Articles given in the Appendix, but select at least five for discussion regarding the content and intent of each article.Step 4.
Now that you have reviewed several specific provisions of the Convention, ask the participants: How important is it to have rights proclaimed by the Convention widely known to both women and men? Try to encourage the expression of as many opinions as possible.Step 5.
Remind the participants that everyone needs to know their rights. Ask: Whose responsibility is it to make the rights widely known? Here, help participants mention as many potential agents as possible for the fulfillment of the women human rights. Ask: Is this something in which you can play a significant role?Step 6.
Use the "Problem-Solving" method (see Sample Methods) to draw up at least two or more plans of action in which participants will participant to help others know about their human rights under the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Appendix for Exercise 16, CEDAW (1981), Selected ProvisionsELIMINATING DISCRIMINATION. Article 2. States Parties [meaning governments such as that of Ethiopia which has ratified CEDAW] condemn discrimination against women in all forms, agree to: (c) establish legal protection of the rights of women on an equal basis with men.... (d) refrain from engaging in any act or practice of discrimination.... (f) take all appropriate measures including legislation, to modify or abolish existing laws, regulations, customs and practices which constitute discrimination against women...
MODIFY CUSTOMS. Article 5. States... shall ...modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of men and women, with a view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either of the sexes or on stereotype roles for men and women.
STOP TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN. Article 6. States... shall ... suppress all forms of traffic in women and exploitation of prostitution of women.
POLITICAL PARTICIPATION. Article 7. States.... shall... eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country...[ensuring their voting rights, rights to hold public office, and] ...to participate in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country.
EMPLOYMENT. Article 11. States... shall ... ensure... (c) the right to free choice of profession and employment, the right to promotion, job security and all benefits and conditions of service and the right to receive vocational training and retraining.... [and] (e) the right to social security particularly in cases o f retirement, employment, sickness, invalidity and old age and other incapacity to work as well as the right to paid leave; (f) the right to protection of health and to safety in working conditions, including the safeguarding of the function of reproduction.
HEALTH CARE. Article 12. States ... shall eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on the basis of equality of men and women, access to health care services, including those related to family planning.
LEGAL CAPACITY. Article 15. States... shall accord to women in civil matters a legal capacity identical to that of men ...[including] equal rights to conclude contracts and to administer property.
MARRIAGE. Article 16. States ... shall ...eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relating to marriage and family relations, and in particular shall ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, (a) the same right to enter into marriage, (b) the same right freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent, (c) the same rights and responsibilities during marriage and at its dissolution., (d) the same rights and responsibilities as parents, irrespective of the marital status in matters relating to their children,... (e) the same rights to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to have access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights....
MORAL VALUE 9; SEEKING JUSTICE
EXERCISE 17, LEARNING AND ACTION:
CHILDREN'S RIGHTS
Overview:
It is important that human rights education not only emphasize the responsibilities connected to rights, but also offer opportunities to carry out those responsibilities and take action on behalf of human rights. Participants must not be left feeling that the problems are too great to be addressed by ordinary citizens. It must be stressed that most of the great steps toward the acceptance and advancement of human rights have been initiated by individuals and small groups. Everyone can do something for human rights. In fact, it is our duty to do so.Objectives:
Participants will choose a project or course of action that:Procedures:
Facilitator input: Introduce several provisions of the Convention on the Rights of the Child to participants, calling for comment to ensure understanding. Emphasize that the Convention calls for action, both in terms of the States that have ratified, and in terms of children and everybody responsible for children. The final step involving the development of a plan of action is most important and plenty of time should be allotted for its completion.Materials:
Convention on the Rights of the Child, Selected Articles (Appendix)Sequence:
Step 1. Facilitator input: inform the participants that the Convention on the Rights of The Child proclaims that "States [that is the governments of the member nations of the UN] should make the Convention's rights widely known to both adults and children."Step 2.
Ask the participants to comment on this statement by a Latin American activist on behalf of children's rights. Gabriela Mistral said: "We are guilty of many errors and many faults but our worst crime is abandoning the children, neglecting the fountain of life. Many things can wait, the children cannot. Right now is the time their bones are being formed, their senses are being developed. To them we cannot answer 'tomorrow,' their name is 'today.'"Step 3.
Raise some questions about the government's duty to inform people of their rights.Step 4.
Review several provisions from the Convention on the Rights of the Child, raising questions about whether each one is understood and if any participant could speak from experience about the provision. The facilitator may be selective from among Articles given in the Appendix, but select at least five for discussion regarding the content and intent of each article.Step 5.
Now that you have reviewed several specific provisions of the Convention, ask the participants: How important is it to have rights proclaimed by the Convention widely know to both adults and children? Try to encourage the expression of as many opinions as possible.Step 6.
Remind the participants that everyone needs to know their rights. Ask: Whose responsibility is it to make the rights widely known? Here, help participants mention as many potential agents as possible for the fulfillment of the Rights of the Child. Ask: Is this something in which you can play a significant role?Step 7.
Use the "Problem-Solving" method (see sample methods) to draw up at least two or more plans of action in which participants will participant to help others know about their human rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child.Appendix for Exercise 17.
Convention on the Rights of the Child, Selected ProvisionsFREE EXPRESSION Article 13. The child shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of al kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing, or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of the child's choice.
PRIVACY Article 16. No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his or her honor and reputation.
HOMELESS CHILDREN Article 20. A child temporarily or permanently deprived of his or her family environment, or in whose own best interest cannot be allowed to remain in that environment, shall be entitled to special protection and assistance provided by the State...[who should] ensure alternative care for such a child. Such care could include, among others, foster placement, Kafala of Islamic law, adoption, or if necessary placement in suitable institutions for the care of children.
DISABLED CHILDREN Article 23. A mentally or physically disabled child should enjoy a full and decent life, in conditions which ensure dignity, promote self-reliance, and facilitate the child's active participation in the community.
HEALTH CARE Article 24. States ... recognize the right of the child to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health...[nor should any child be] deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.
EDUCATION. Article 29. States agree that education of the child shall be directed to: (a) the development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential; (b) the development of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms....(c) the development of respect for the child's parents, his or her own cultural identity, language and values, for the national values of the country in which the child is living.... (d) preparation of the child for responsible life in a free society; and (e)... respect for the natural environment.
RELIGION AND CULTURE. Article 30. ...A child belonging to a minority... shall not be denied the right, in community with others members of his or her community,... to enjoy [their] culture, to profess and practice [their] religion, or to use [their] own language.
PROTECTION FROM HARM. Article 32. States ...recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.
PROTECTION FROM SEXUAL EXPLOITATION. Article 34. States... undertake to protect the child from all forms of sexual exploitation and sexual abuse.
PENAL LAW. Article 40. States... recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child's sense of dignity and worth, which reinforces the child's respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of others, and which takes into account the child's age and the desirability of promoting the child's re-integration and the child's assuming a constructive role in society.
HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION; Article 42. States Parties undertake to make the principles and provisions of the Convention widely known, by appropriate and active means, to adults and children alike.
EXERCISE 18, INFORMATION FOR
EMPOWERMENT
Overview:
In 1972, the Brazilian scholar Paulo Friere developed a way of learning and teaching based on local resistance to repressive actions and regimes. Freire's "pedagogy of the oppressed" emphasized community participation in the identification of community needs, collective action to promote social change, and the use of information to support community voiced goals and objectives by those who are disempowered or marginalized. Such planning requires accurate information. This places a special responsibility on the press and on radio and television media. For journalists, systematic collection of information and reporting on community problems and activities increases the prospects for empowerment, because accurate information is an essential component for effective community action in pursuit of justice.Objectives:
The participants should finish this exercise with:Procedures:
The facilitator must take into account that the scenario presented has two parts, with separate debate after each part. Be sure that the exercise is completed with a full briefing of participants on the provisions of Article 19 of the Convention on Civil and Political Rights. Make clear that the Tadesse's Case is hypothetical and not a true story.Materials:
Convention on Civil and Political Rights, Article 19.Sequence:
Step 1. Begin the exercise by asking how participants get information about what is going on in the community. Do they get it from: listening to others talking? the radio? newspapers? television? Ask them which they think is the most reliable and which is not so likely to tell the truth.?Step 2.
Explain that newspaper reporters who are well trained as journalist have a duty to tell the truth so that people can form opinions that are based on facts. Sometimes, if a newspaper story is false, a terrible injustice can be done by unfairly ruining someone's reputation. For example, say a newspaper reporter has had an argument with Berhanu, a street vendor on Arat Kilo, and the reporter tries to "get back" at Berhanu by publishing a story falsely saying that Berhanu has been secretly taking money from the collection at St. Mary's Church. Has the reporter violated the law by telling a lie? Do participants think that the reporter has also violated Berhanu's human rights? Which one? Is there something Berhanu can do about this wrong?Step 3.
A newspaper reporter must not only avoid telling lies, he/she also has a responsibility to tell the truth, even when people in high places will be made angry by the truth. Here is an example of a radio reporter named Tadesse who has a problem about telling the truth.TADESSE'S CASE
Addis Ababa is looking forward to having a big meeting of African and European business people. More than 1000 people are planning to attend, and it is very likely that this will help to bring a lot of money into the city and will help Addis Ababa business people in many ways. They are looking forward with great excitement to the meeting in November. Even the street beggars are making plans about where they will locate during the meeting in the hopes of doing well with the wealthy visitors.
Tadesse is a 30 year-old experienced reporter who collects news stories for the Ethiopian radio. In early October, a physician calls him to tell that there has been a terrible outbreak of cholera in the slum district, it is spreading quickly; and there may not be enough medicine available to help people if the numbers of the affected increase. The doctor tells Tadesse to broadcast this important news so people will know that, in certain areas, they must take health precautions, including boiling their water before drinking it or using it in the preparation of food. Tadesse goes to the slum garbage site with the doctor and sees multiple sick people and also confirms the fact that the problem is spreading further into the city.
Tadesse has prepared his story and is ready to broadcast the news, but decides to interview some business people about whether they think the November meeting might be affected adversely. All the business people interviewed say the news story will scare off the expected foreign visitors. Three business people tell him he must not broadcast this story because they will lose a great deal of money, and even the street people will suffer because they have been hoping for the arrival of many tourists. Moreover, one business man says that if Tadesse' broadcasts his story, he will never again buy advertising time from that radio management again. Now Tadesse must decide what to do.
Step 4.
Use the "Listening exercise" (see Sample Methods) to set up a two-sided debate between those who say: (1) Tadesse must tell the truth about the health threat to the community, and those who say (2) Tadesse must not broadcast the story because it will do more harm than good.Step 5.
After the discussion in Step 4, ask all the participants to consider some new information.In early October, a number of slum dwellers have recognized the serious health threat that has already killed some of their community. They organized a community meeting and began to try to get the facts on just how bad the situation is. They then turn to the question of what to do. They agree on a plan of action. The first priority in the plan of action is to get publicity on the problem so: (1) the government is more likely to take action; (2) health professionals will mobilize their forces to treat the sick; and (3) civil engineers and sanitation engineers will find the cause of the outbreak and deal with it effectively.
Ask the participants to reconsider their debate and conclusions in light of this new information. Have any changed their minds? Does it make a difference to the slum dwellers in this case if Tadesse does his job and reports the story?
Step 6.
Ask respondents about the human rights of members of the free press? Do their human rights include duties to tell the truth about community conditions, even when bad news is involved? Even when bad news might be embarrassing to the community? Which community is embarrassed or hurt in Tadesse' case: the business community or the slum community? What do you think of the slum action plan to seek justice by spreading the truth?Appendix to Exercise 18,
The Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1989), Article 19Back to Index Bells of Freedom1. Everyone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference.
2. Everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or thought any other media of his choice.
3. The exercise of the rights provided for in paragraph 2 of this article carries with it special duties and responsibilities. It may therefore by subject to certain restriction, but these shall only be such as are provided by law and are necessary:
(a) For respect of the rights or reputations of others;
(b) For the protection of national security or of public order, or of public health or morals.
HREA
Electronic Resource Centre for Human Rights Education:
The Bells of Freedom