Human Rights - The Basics
There's lots of ways to start learning about what Human Rights really are - and that's the key phrase, what Human Rights really are, because if there's one thing we know, there's more opportunity out there to learn what they are not than what they are. Misinformation is rife - a quick read through the UK's tabloid press would give the impression that Human Rights are only there to protect foreign criminals from extradtion from the UK a To learn about Human Rights find out more on this page.
We are building up the resources and links on these pages to include our our publications and also links to Human Rights and Values sites that will support your journey. What we won't do is give you only one view of a particular issue, because in many cases, there are many different interpretations.
Human Rights are simple.
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Human rights are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever our nationality, place of residence, sex, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any other status.
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We are all equally entitled to our human rights without discrimination.
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Human Rights are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.
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Universal human rights are often expressed and guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary international law , general principles and other sources of international law.
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International human rights law lays down obligations of Governments to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts, in order to promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.
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Adapted from website the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/WhatareHumanRights.aspx
Here's a quick introduction to our thinking and about who we are and what we do:
Human Rights as Global Values | |
Human Rights Education and Human Rights Based Approaches | |
Human Rights for Global Learning |
Human Rights - Declarations and Conventions
Eleanor Roosevelt and the UDHR in 1948
While there are many Human Rights Declarations and Conventions*, the key Human Rights documents are:
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Human Rights Action Centre)
What are Fundamental Human Rights? (TED-Ed)
Some useful web links about Human Rights
About Human Rights:
Human Rights Education Association: a short video providing an introduction to Human Rights Education: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahE0tJbvl78
A short history of the evolution of Human Rights from Medieval times: http://rightsinfo.org/infographics/human-rights-101/
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR):
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Documents/UDHR_Translations/eng.pdf
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
UN Business Compact:
https://www.unglobalcompact.org/what-is-gc/mission/principles
For futher consideration of the UN Business Compact, this is a panel discussion of book about its development led by John Ruggie for UN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UjdBGg0Fd0
Human Rights Glossary: https://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/hreduseries/hereandnow/Part-5/6_glossary.htm
The Rights Respecting Use of the Internet Schools Project
(Click on each link to download)
Appendix 1: The Introductory Script
Appendix 2: Internet Safety Activity Cards (You will need to download each of these sets of cards):
Appendix 3: A Guide to writing a School Charter for the Rights Respecting use of the Internet
Appendix 4: Example of a School Charter for the Rights Respecting use of the Internet
Appendix 5: A Rights Respecting Learning Walk
EU Kids online: http://www.lse.ac.uk/media@lse/research/EUKidsOnline/Home.aspx
Evaluating impact of Human Rights based interventions in Healthcare (2012).
Alice Donald London Metropolitan University and references. http://www.humanrightsinhealthcare.nhs.uk/Library/a-z/Evaluatingtheimpactofhumanrightsinterventions.pdf
Human Rights in a Health Care Setting: Making it Work for Everyone (2012)
Scottish Human Rights Commission
http://www.scottishhumanrights.com/application/resources/documents/SHRCHealthCare.pdf
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime
http://www.unodc.org/ropan/en/unodc-and-the-protection-of-human-rights.html