Service Learning for Human Rights
Ideas for Taking Action

Addressing Needs and Issues

• Assess community needs, identify group that work on those issues, and join their efforts.
  
• Research community issues and develop reports about them for local government, policy makers, and the press.
  
• Write letters to the editor on social issues, putting them in a human rights context.
  
• Write letters for Amnesty International and other human rights groups.
  
• Provide child care or eldercare for people who are looking for work, attending school. or going to medical appointments, etc.
  
• Register voters.
  
• Work to inform voters about the human rights aspects of election issues.
  
• Support candidates who take a stand on human rights issues.
  
• Work with organizations advocating for a clean and healthy environment, including community clean-ups and environmental monitoring.
  
• Work with organizations that advocate human rights locally and internationally.

Researching and Writing

• Study current issues and write stories to convey information to others.
  
• After performing service, write stories, poems, and plays based on the experience.
  
• Write articles for school and community publications.
  
• Help people with disabilities to write letters.
  
• Produce community newsletters.
  
• Interview refugees and recent immigrants or people from another culture and write about their perspectives.
  
• Research local issues from a human rights perspective and write up your finding, citing articles in specific human rights documents.
  
• Learn about the human rights history of your community. Are there people, places, and events that have a significance to human rights?
  
• Survey youth or other marginalized groups about their needs or opinions, help interpret these from a human rights perspective, and convey this to policy makers.
  
• Research literature on human rights and organize a performance or reading.

Teaching Others

• Teach others about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and other human rights documents.
  
• Work with organizations that seek to educate about human rights such as Amnesty International, the Street Law Project, and the United Nations Association.
  
• Tutor recent immigrants and refugees and help them with basic tasks such as using the telephone and using public transport.
  
• Help others improve their literacy skills, especially through programs in public libraries.
  
• Prepare immigrants for citizenship examinations.
  
• Develop games and activities for teaching young children about their rights. Try them out in after-school program, youth groups, etc.
  
• Train senior citizens and other groups in computer skills.
  
• Teach others about the relationship between human rights and a healthy environment.

Creating, Celebrating, and Performing

• Make December 10, International Human Rights Day, important in your community.
  
• Create a celebration for the 50th anniversary of the UDHR.
  
• Collect oral histories related to human rights.
  
• Invite local "human rights heroes" and activists to speak.
  
• Establish a "human rights defenders" award for members of the community who contribute to human rights.
  
• Invent ways to educate the public about the UDHR through artistic expression, including music, drama, and murals.
  
• Research literature or music on human rights and organize a performance, reading, or concert.

Source: Adapted from "Youth Service Connections to the Curriculum," National Youth Leadership Council, 1991.