Who has rights?
Violations of human rights are sometimes in the news, for example, when someone is imprisoned just for criticising their government.
What are human rights? In 1948 the United Nations issued its Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It begins with basic rights like:
3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and the security of person.
4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude.
5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.
So, no one shall be killed, intimidated, or imprisoned for no good reason. In other words, everyone has the right to feel safe. No one shall be made a slave or treated cruelly. Most people would agree with these rights.
Question 1
In small groups, make a list of the rights you think you should have as a teenager. Some examples could include:
I have a right to privacy in my bedroom.
I have a right to choose my own friends and to mix with them. And so on ...
To focus on examples, it might help if you think of situations where you feel annoyed or hurt because you think someone hasn't respected your rights.
Question 2
Why should you or anyone else have rights? Do children and babies have rights? What about brain damaged or mentally ill people? What is it that gives someone rights? What happens when someone's rights aren't respected?
Question 3
Should animals have rights? Why or why not? Do the 3 points from the UN Declaration of Human Rights apply to animals? What rights, if any, should animals have? Write your own Declaration of Animal Rights.
Question 4
In what ways do humans violate the rights in your Declaration? You may have to do a bit of research on how animals are treated by humans to answer this question. What happens when the animals' rights are not respected?
In a class discussion, compare the responses of different groups to these questions.