HUMAN RIGHTS EXERCISE
Background: In some places, human rights are not respected. People in many countries have stories of bad things happening that violate their human rights.
Instructions: Read each story. Use the handout “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” to decide which rights are not being respected in each story. Write your answers in the space provided.
EXAMPLE
My name is Jane. One day when I was selling fish at the market, a man told me he knew a way to make a lot of money. I was poor and very hungry, so I followed him. I was sold to a man and forced to become his wife.
Rights:
#25 - food and shelter for all
#16 - marriage and family
STORY 1
My name is Shin. I was born in a prison and lived there until I escaped at age 23. When I was 14, my mother tried to run away, but she was caught. The guards killed her and hit me. I worked all day and didn’t go to school. No one told me about the rest of the world. I didn’t know about America, South Korea, China, or any other country.
Rights:
STORY 2
My name is Lim. One day, when I was young, we stopped having enough food to eat. My mother tried to get some food from the government, but it wasn’t enough to feed our family. Because there was no food, she got sick. The hospital had no medicine and it was too expensive to buy at the market.
Rights:
STORY 3
My name is Jin. I am a poet and I like to make art. My government hurts people and I want to write about it, but if I do, I will be punished. My husband’s family does not want me to write poetry, so I want to get a divorce. The government tells me that we are not allowed to get divorced and I must stay married to him.
Rights:
STORY 4
My name is Min. My country has a leader that no one chose and that I do not like. We learn that he is wonderful, but I do not agree. He cares only about himself. I want to tell this to everyone, but if I do, my family and I will be in danger. I would like to leave this country, but it is against the law.
Rights:
STORY 5
My name is Joseph. When I was a boy, my father died because he was too hungry, and my mother and sister disappeared. I decided to break the law and run away to a different country, but when I did, I had nowhere to live. I was always afraid of being caught by the police.
Rights:
STORY 6
My name is Ms. Lee. I had a good job working for the government, until someone lied and said that I stole some money. For over a year, I was badly tortured and hurt by the police. Even though I didn’t steal any money, I finally told them that I did so they would stop hurting me. The police sent me to a court, but they didn’t care about finding out the real truth.
Rights:
STORY 7
My name is Grace. I am a Christian and I believe in God. After I talked to my neighbor about my religion and told her about the Bible, I was arrested. The government told me that I had to divorce my husband and move into a prison camp with my daughters.
Rights:
STORY 8
My name is Kim. I was arrested for stealing some corn from a farm when my children were starving. During the trial, the judge told me that stealing is bad. I said in a low voice, “Of course, I know stealing is bad. I would not steal if they government could give us food. How awful this country is!” The judge heard me and put me in jail for 5 years because of my ideas about the government.
Rights:
NOTES FOR TEACHERS
Possible Answers
Please keep in mind that these are suggestions; all answers are encouraged, as long as students can provide an explanation.
Story 1: #3 no torture, #9 no unfair detainment, #24 right to play, #26 right to
education
Story 2: #25 food and shelter for all, #22 social security
Story 3: #8 human rights are protected by law, #19 freedom of expression, #16
marriage and family
Story 4: #21 right to democracy, #19 freedom of expression, #13 freedom to
move
Story 5: #25 food and shelter for all, #14 right to seek a safe place to live
Story 6: #11 innocent until proven guilty, #5 no torture, #10 right to a fair trial
Story 7: #18 freedom of thought, #16 marriage and family, #9 no unfair
detainment
Story 8: #25 food and shelter for all, #19 freedom of expression
Adaptations:
à For lower-level classes, show videos of stories of human rights abuse. Shin and another defector, Danny, tell their stories in Korean, with English subtitles, at this website: http://vimeo.com/8297110. Shin’s story goes into greater detail about his experiences in North Korea, so instruct students to focus on him, and supplement his story with additional facts provided in this document from STORY 1. This video was part of a campaign for funding, so it is recommended that teachers skip the introduction and conclusion of the video, watching only the segment between 01:00 and 06:07.
Because the dialogue is in Korean, students should have a good understanding of what happened to each of these victims, so they can write simple English sentences describing the abuses and information described on the video.
Examples – Shin was born in prison. He ran away because he was hungry.
à For a higher-level class that focuses on speaking and listening skills, you may show a video of each defector telling their stories and orally discuss the violated rights after each clip. Shin (story 1), Joseph (story 5), and Jane (example story) tell their stories in Korean-accented English, with English subtitles, on this webpage. On the right-hand menu, chose videos 6, 7, and 9: http://vimeo.com/linkglobal/videos/page:2/sort:newest
à NOTE: These videos come from an organization called LiNK, which provides shelter in China and assistance requesting asylum for North Korean refugees.