Participants work cooperatively to create
a map of their community and identify the rights associated
with each major institution.
Time: |
1 hour
(but could extend over several days) |
Materials: |
Art supplies,
chart paper
Copies of the UDHR, complete
or simplified
version |
Setting: |
Elementary
school - Adult groups |
1. Divide participants into small groups
and ask them to draw a map of their town (or neighborhood
in the case of larger communities). They should include
their homes, major public buildings (e.g., parks, post office,
city hall, schools, places of worship) and public services
(e.g., hospitals, fire department, police station) and any
other places that are important to the community (e.g.,
grocery stores, cemetery, cinemas, gas stations).
2. When the maps are complete, ask participants
to analyze their maps from a human rights perspective. What
human rights do they associate with different places on
their maps? For example, a place of worship with freedom
of thought, conscience, and religion; the school with the
right to education; the post office with the right to information,
to privacy, and to self-expression. As they identify these
rights, they should look up the relevant article(s) in the
UDHR and write the article number(s) next to that place
on the map.
3 Ask each group to present its map
to the whole group and summarize its analysis of human rights
exercised in the community.
- Did any parts of your map have a
high concentration of rights? How do you explain this?
- Did any parts have few or no rights
associations? How do you explain this?
- Are there any articles of the UDHR
that seem to be especially exercised in this community?
How can this be explained?
- Are there any articles of the UDHR
that no group included on their map? How can this be explained?
- Which of the rights identified are
civil and political rights? Which are social, economic,
and cultural rights? See Part V, A Human Rights Glossary.
Did one kind of right predominate on the map? Did one
kind of right predominate in certain areas (e.g., more
civil and political rights associated with the court house,
city hall, or police station)?
- After discussion can anyone see new
ways to add rights to their map, especially those that
were not included in the first version?
4. Discuss:
- Are there any places in this community
where peoples rights are violated?
- Are there any people in this community
whose rights are violated?
- What happens in this community when
someones human rights are violated?
- Are there any places in this community
where people take action to protect human rights or prevent
violations from occurring?
1. For Young Children
a. Create a three-dimensional map.
b. Combine this activity with a walk
around the neighborhood to observe rights in action.
c. Focus just on the school or the
home
d. Divide into small groups and give
each group separate parts of one common map to analyze
for human rights.
2. Extending the Activity
Each step of the activity might be done on different days,
allowing participants time to reconsider the layout and
make-up of the neighborhood and the rights associated with
each component.
3. Guest Speaker The discussion
in Step 4 provides an excellent opportunity to invite a
lawyer or human rights advocate to speak to the group.
4. Focus on Childrens Rights
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
might be substituted for the UDHR, especially for school
use. A representative of the child-protection service or
a childrens advocacy group could be invited to speak
to the class.
5. A Math or Geography Activity
This lesson could be developed as a math activity, drawing
the area to scale. It could also serve as a geography activity,
including topography, directions, and special relationships.
Source: Adapted from a demonstration
by Anette Faye Jacobsen, Danish Centre for Human Rights.