POPULATION – Human Rights
Learning objectives:
- Provide an introduction to Human Rights;
- Differentiate between different rights and how they affect lives worldwide;
- Identify key issues and challenges for national and international Human Rights.
Overview:
The aim of this section is to provide students with a contextual background to modern human
rights and a basic working knowledge of fundamental rights in a national and international
setting. It will examine the evolution of Human Rights since 1945. Looking at some key
documents, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Human Rights Act, it
will identify some fundamental rights and how they are protected. The section will conclude by
highlighting some contemporary Human Rights situations and challenges for the future.
Lesson:
1. Introduction
We often hear talk of Human Rights in the media, whether it is about a crisis in remote
countries or people demanding more rights right here in the UK. Many people find it difficult,
however, to answer the question “What are Human Rights?”
ACTIVITY : Here you could ask the class for their definitions of Human Rights and compare the
elements they name to those below.
Human rights are fundamental rights that belong to every person, simply by being a human
being. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are from, what colour your skin is or what
language you speak, you have human rights. The most important principles behind Human
Rights are that they apply to everyone, everywhere (universality) and that they apply to all
people equally (equality), without discriminating on any ground (non-discrimination). Human
Rights are important because they protect our right to live in dignity. They provide a minimum
standard that every human being deserves to have.
2. History
Some of the Human Rights we know now have been around for a long time, but they weren’t
always protected very well, or they only applied to certain people, usually those with money
and power. The big turnaround was World War 2 (1939-1945) in which the German Nazi party,
led by Adolf Hitler, made up a ruthless regime that was responsible for the persecution and
deaths of millions. They targeted people of specific groups that they saw as lesser, such as
Jews, Romani, people with disabilities and homosexuals.
After the war the leaders of the world came together and created an organisation that aimed
to prevent such atrocities in the future, the United Nations. The purpose of the United Nations
was, among other things, to maintain peace and to help promote and encourage respect for
1
Human Rights. Since the creation in 1945 the United Nations has been a very important
influence in the struggle for global Human Rights. They helped to create the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and a lot of other treaties, they created the Human Rights Council
which seeks solutions to Human Rights crises around the world, and they appointed a High
Commissioner for Human Rights, who evaluates the Human Rights status of all countries and
advises them on how to make improvements.
But Human Rights do not just come into play in wars and global crises, they affect our daily
lives right here and now. Even though we might think we are quite well off as regards rights in
the UK, there is always room for improvement. As part of Europe we have other laws and
organisations that help us promote and improve Human Rights, for example the European
Convention on Human Rights and the linked European Court for Human Rights. In England and
Wales these rights are guaranteed through the Human Rights Act 1998.
Note: Check that this is still the case, as the 2015 Election platform for the Conservative Party
did include repealing some of this legislation.
3. The Rights and How They Work
ACTIVITY : Here you could start by asking the class if they know any Human Rights and
compare them to those below.
In the Universal Declaration of Human Rights we find 30 Human Rights that are all equally
important. Because we cannot go through all of them, we will pick a few to examine a bit
closer to see what they say and how they work.
Note: The full list is found in the text of the convention:
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ The BBC World Service has simplified the text and
the articles link to case studies:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/all_rights.shtml
Freedom of Speech – article 19:
Note: Here you could ask the class if they know what Freedom of Speech is.
It is commonly thought that the freedom of speech means that you can say whatever you like.
In part this is true, but there is a little more to it. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights tell us that:
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to
hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas
through any media and regardless of frontiers”
This tells us a few things. First, it lets us know that we have freedom of opinion, which means
that you are entitled to your own opinions and no one can tell you what to think. This includes
2
the right to find information through any media to form that opinion. Secondly, it says that you
have the right to express that opinion.
So at first sight, you might think that you CAN say whatever you like, but it is a little more
complicated. Most students will have heard of laws such as slander, which says that you
cannot publish things about people that aren’t true, because it can hurt their reputation, their
business and even go against their own Human Rights. The negative effects of expressing
opinions can be much worse still, as we saw earlier. It was the opinion of the Nazis that some
groups were inferior that led to millions of deaths in the 1930s/ 1940s. Opinions, therefore,
can be extremely dangerous. For this reason governments have to place some restrictions on
free speech by prohibiting hate speech or speech that “incites violence”.
The other side of the coin, however, is that freedom of speech can also protect us from
governments. In some countries, you can be thrown in prison for having an opinion that may
go against the government.
This generally happens in countries that already very low Human Rights standards. As a result,
people can be imprisoned for complaining that their Human Rights are not respected. This
brings us to the second right we will discuss, which is:
Freedom from Torture – Article 5:
Torture is considered one of the worst crimes that can ever happen to a person. The United
Nations has written a whole separate law prohibiting torture, which shows how important this
right is. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, however, sums it up like this:
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.”
As we can see, this Human Right goes a bit further than just prohibiting torture, it also
prohibits cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Torture includes the inflicting
of severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental. Often victims are tortured to get
information from them or to punish them for something they did. We also call it torture when
it is carried out to a family member or friend (a third party) in order to punish or get
information from a person. There is no clear line between “torture” and “cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment”, but having that category helps make sure that people don’t do other
things that are just as terrible.
In December 2014 a report came out that indicated that the American CIA had used torture on
a large scale over the previous decades. In the Guantanamo Bay Prison, where the Unites
States of America hold people suspected of terrorism, the treatment of the prisoners was
shocking. Without going into gruesome details, we know that practices like waterboarding,
where the prisoner is made to feel like they are drowning, being subjected to continuous loud
music, or hanging from handcuffs for 22 hours a day, are just three examples of many. And if
you might think that this only happens in other places, the report even revealed that Britain
was thought to be working on this programme.
3
Note: More information on this report can be found on the Amnesty International website:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/exposed-torture-and-cia
What this example also shows us is that Human Rights are closely linked, and when one is
breached, there are often others. As said before, many the prisoners at Guantanamo prison
were suspects of terrorism, but they had never been in court, and hadn’t been charged and /
or convicted of a crime. This is in breach of other Human Rights, such as the Right to a Fair Trial
which we find in article 10 and Right to be Considered Innocent until Proven Guilty in article 11.
Some More Rights:
Some well-known rights are
 the right to life and liberty,
 freedom from slavery, and
 the right to privacy.
Some Human Rights that we hear about less are, for example,
 the right to education,
 the right to work, but also
 the right to leisure.
An equality right that we encounter every day in Wales is of course the Freedom of Language,
which we find in a few different forms. Article 2 on discrimination says that you cannot
discriminate on the basis of a language; Article 10 says that your fair trial must be translated
into your language; Article 19 allows your freedom of speech in any language you choose; and
finally, the Right to Education, in Article 26, entitles you to education in your language.
Note: The full list is found in the text of the convention:
http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ The BBC World Service has simplified the text and
the articles link to case studies:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/all_rights.shtml
How Human Rights work:
Having a right does not mean that you can do whatever you want. As we have seen before,
your Freedom of Speech can be limited by the government to protect the freedoms of others.
Some Human Rights, however, must always be obeyed. There are three categories of Human
Rights: absolute rights, limited rights and qualified rights.
4
Absolute rights are those that no one can ever limit. These rights are considered to be too
important for a free and equal society, so they have to be respected. Examples of absolute
rights are freedom from torture, freedom from slavery or freedom from discrimination.
Limited rights are those rights that a government can limit by law, as long as it is done
proportionately. These rights are still important (remember that they are equal) but there are
some cases where they should not apply strictly. A good example of a limited right is the Right
to Liberty (article 3), which means that people have the right to be free. If this right was
absolute, then every criminal in prison would have to be set free. The limitation on this Human
Right is that if someone is convicted of a crime, it is permissible to take away their Right to
Freedom.
Qualified rights are rights that can be restricted under certain circumstances. These
circumstances could be a state of emergency or war. During a war, for example, the
government may be too busy, to poor, to be able to run schools upholding the Right to
Education. The freedom of expression, as we have seen before, is also a qualified right.
4. Human Rights at Home
How your Rights are Protected
Although Human Rights are found in a large number of international treaties, in England and
Wales we have specific law that helps protect rights: The Human Rights Act 1998. The Human
Rights Act is based on the European Convention for Human Rights, but was created to make it
easier to protect these rights.
As we have seen earlier, Human Rights are rules that help the government protect people, but
it also protects people from a bad government. To do this we need impartial judges to look at
cases where people think their rights were violated or not properly protected. With the Human
Rights Act, if a UK citizen feels that their Human Rights are not properly protected, they can
take it to a court and a judge will decide if they are right.
For Britain, the highest court to go to is the European Court of Human Rights, where judges
hear cases between citizens and European countries. If a citizen is still not happy after having
been to the highest court in the UK, they can “bring their case to Europe”.
ACTIVITY : Here you could ask the class how many cases are brought against the UK each year.
The answer is: approximately 1500.
The European Court of Human Rights receives about 20,000 cases every year from 47
European countries, but only about 5% are heard. The others can be declined because they
don’t concern Human Rights or they haven’t yet been to the highest national court. Of the
1500 cases brought against the UK every year, only around 10 cases are upheld.
5
Human Rights Conflicts in the UK
ACTIVITY : These topics could be used for a group discussion, focusing on the pros and cons of
both sides.
A good example of a Human Rights debate that we hear regularly in the UK is the conflict
between security and privacy. To help the government catch potential terrorists, they can
listen in on telephone conversations and see what people do on the internet and email. To do
this, however, they use mass surveillance, which means they can intercept telephone and
internet traffic from everyone.
On the one hand the government is trying to protect Article 3, the Right to Life and Security, by
trying to stop terrorists from hurting anyone in the country.
On the other hand the government is breaching Article 12, which says that they cannot
interfere with your privacy, your home or your correspondence.
There is no easy answer to this debate. The Freedom of Privacy is a limited right, so they are
allowed to create some limitations, but they also have to be proportionate. The Right to Life is
obviously important, but is the chance of a terrorist attack big enough to allow the government
to read everybody’s email? The conflict is clear. The government is in a difficult position here.
We expect them to protect us, but we also don’t want to give up all our rights to do that.
Note: this could be extended by a discussion on the Right to Freedom from Torture against the
Right to Life and Security. Are there any situations where torture could be justified to get
information to prevent an attack? (the so-called “24 hours” dilemma)
5. Future Challenges
ACTIVITY : These points can be delivered as food for thought, more small group disucssions.
- The right to asylum for refugees: This topic has 2 aspects, namely that you could focus on
making their home countries safe so they don’t have to flee, and that in wealthier countries
some people want to limit this right.
- LGBT Rights: Although this is slowly getting better entrenched in European Law, many
homosexuals and transsexuals are still discriminated against in some European countries.
- Gender discrimination: Men and women are equal before the law, but in reality they do not
always get treated the same. It is sometimes harder for women (or men) to get into certain
jobs, and when they do they often get paid differently (Gender Pay gap).
6
Sources as at June 2015
BBC: Your rights made simple:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/all_rights.shtml
Amnesty International:
http://amnesty.org.uk/
A source for Human Rights issues, with backgrounds and campaigns.
They also have a special Free Speech Resource pack in Welsh:
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/resource-pack-speak-free-welsh#.VT_26tJViko
The website of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has lists by topic and by country:
Human Rights by topic:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/ListofIssues.aspx
Human Rights by State:
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/Pages/HumanRightsintheWorld.aspx
The British Equality and Human Rights Commission:
http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/
A helpful website with explanations and videos of your rights in the UK.
7