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Do you need more help understanding more about human rights? The following
information may be useful to you.
- What rights do you have?
- New Zealand's human rights record
- Does everyone have rights?
- What is social justice?
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Declaration of Human Rights in Plain Language
- Children's Rights
- People who speak out
- How to take action
- Letter Writing
- Cases of human rights abuse
- Organisations campaigning for human rights
- Information about countries involved in the abuse of human rights
- Glossary
- Make a puzzle
- Useful Links
What rights do you have?
As a student and young person what are your rights and how can you expect to
be treated?
In New Zealand there are laws protecting young people from mistreatment
exploitation and there are different government bodies (
Ministry of Youth
Affairs; Child, Youth and Family Services;
Commissioner for Children, and the
New Zealand
Police) which all have a
responsibilities from looking after the rights of young people.
Young people do not share all the rights that adults have because of their
age (ie. drinking and driving laws, the right to vote), although they do
also have some rights and protection that adults do not have (ie. from
prosecution and imprisonment in some cases).
The rights of everybody in New Zealand are protected by our laws including
The Human Rights Act
1993.
New Zealand's Human Rights Record
New Zealand's positive record in human rights is widely recognised.
In the
1998 Amnesty International Report
recording the detention of prisoners of conscience, unfair political trials,
torture, "disappearances" and killings throughout the world, New Zealand was
not mentioned. Amnesty International views New Zealand as being mercifully
free of political imprisonment, torture and killings.
Does everyone have rights?
Not all children or adults in all countries have the protection of the law
and authorities that New Zealander's enjoy.
Different countries have different laws, some laws allow breaches of the
Declaration of Human Rights to occur, and this can have an impact on human
rights.
Some countries do not apply the principles of social justice.
Citizens may be victimised or discriminated against by their government and
by the countries laws. Some people have their rights abused. Even the most
basic of human rights,
food and shelter, may
not be available.
What is social justice?
Social justice is where all members of a society are treated fairly and
equally.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
There are universal human rights that all people should be entitled to
enjoy. They are in the form of a declaration by the United Nations which
have been agreed upon and signed by most countries in the world.
The General Assembly of the United Nations passed the
Declaration of Human
Rights on
10 December 1948. The Declaration sets out the fundamental rights that
primarily deal with the fair and just treatment of people.
They are rights that all human beings should be entitled to enjoy regardless
of their race, creed, skin colour, sex, language, thoughts, religion,
wealth, social group or place of birth.
Most countries in the world have agreed upon the rights described in the
Declaration. As signatories to the Declaration, those countries have agreed
to the principles and ideas enshrined or contained in the document.
The language used in the Declaration is quite complicated and exact in what
it says. It uses a kind of language that we would not use everyday, but
would you find in legal documents and laws passed in Parliament.
Declaration of Human Rights in Plain Language
To help people understand the Declaration the United Nations have written a
Plain Language Version
in simpler less-complicated language.
You can even choose what language you wish to read the Declaration in.
Why do you think that might be important?
Read the
plain language version
and
then compare it to the official document.
Is the language easier understand now?
Although most countries are signatories to the Declaration, and may agree in
principle,
some countries do not
necessarily respect the human rights enshrined in the Declaration.
Children's Rights
Children, because of their age, do not always have the same rights as
adults, but they do also have additional protection. There is even a special
declaration of rights for children it is simply called the
Declaration of the Rights of the Child
and it deals specifically with the rights that children can expect to have.
There are also two versions of this document: the Official Document in
legal language
and the Plain Language Version.
People Who Speak Out
Many organisations work hard to defend the rights of people and to stop the
abuse of human rights. They publicise breaches of human rights as a way of
stopping the abuse of those rights. They hope that international pressure
and publicity will stop the abuse of human rights occurring.
Amnesty International and
Human Rights WatchDog are voluntary non-government
organisations that work to protect the rights of people and to stop human
rights abuse.
Other organisations publish information about human rights and social
justice like
New Internationalist Magazine.
Taking Action
Human Rights Watchdog: What can you do
Letter Writing
198 methods of non-violent action
Derechos Actions
Derechos Campaigns
Amnesty International Campaigns
There are many ways to defend and protect human rights, but the most
effective ways are those that do not involve breaking any laws or human
rights in doing so.
One of the most effective ways of taking positive and assertive action is to
you will need to know something about the
situation and people involved: the victims, the organisations working on
their behalf, and the government accused of human rights abuse.
Some organisations like Amnesty International,
Human Rights WatchDog
make information about human rights abuse available so
that others can take action and help stop the abuse of Human Rights.
Letter Writing
Writing a letter is a simple and very effective way of stopping the abuse of
human rights. It is a way of publicising the abuse of human rights; it makes
the perpetrators of the abuse aware of the fact that what the doing is wrong
and that many other people know about it.
A formal letter to an
appropriate government, embassy or Member of Parliament explaining what is
happening is a violation of the victim's human rights and what needs to be
done to respect that person's human rights. Your teacher will tell you how
to write an appropriate formal letter
Have your letter
checked by your teacher: Make sure it is appropriate and accurate. You may
decide to send one copy your letter
to the appropriate
person and keep another copy for your chart or report. Remember it could be
the letter that you send that tips the balance in releasing a person who is
wrongly imprisoned.
See these letter writing guides from
CyberSchoolBus and
Amnesty International.
Human Rights Abuse
Human rights abuse is occur in
many countries
around the world.
Organisations campaigning for Human Rights
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch Dog
Human Right Internet
Human Rights Internet: Youth Center
Derechos
A key objective of these organisations is to obtain human rights for all.
Glossary
See Human Rights Vocabulary.
Human Rights WatchDog Country Summaries
Human Rights Watch Dog: Short Country Reports
Make a Puzzle
Using the ideas and knowledge you have gained write one or two paragraphs
about the Human Rights Case Study or Issue you have examined and create a
puzzle that relates to your case study.
You can use
Puzzlemaker to create your own
crossword or wordfind.
Useful Links
Derechos frontpage
Amnesty International Country Reports
New Internationalist Magazine
United Nations
Human Rights Cyberschool
This material has been produced by UNITEC Institute of Technology
under contract to the Ministry of Education.
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