Humanrights

aroundthe world

This discussionactivitygivesyour students the chancetoexplore different levels of humanrightsaroundtheworldand the UK Parliament’s role indebating human rights issues.

Pre-workforstudents

Askyourstudents tolookat the ForeignAffairs Committeereport onthe Foreign and CommonwealthOffice’shumanrights workin2011.This report providesanassessment of theUK’sactivities overseas concerninghumanrights. Thereportdetails someof theissues that can arisewhen dealingwith countries that havedifferent levelsof human rights.

FAC report onForeign andCommonwealthOffice’s human rights work

in2011–Summary

FACreport onForeign andCommonwealthOffice’s human rights work

in2011– Fullreport

Classroomactivity

Print outthetablebelowforyourstudents. Providestudents withaccess totheinternetandgive them thelinks provided in thesource materials belowor chooseaselectionof thelinks toprintout.

Divide theclass into smallergroupsandgive themacopyofthe table belowand assignthem acountryfromtheoptions shownin thesource materials. Providethelinkstothesourcematerials (orprintouts forthe chosencountries)andask yourstudents toresearchthehumanrights recordof theirgiven country.Theremaybeother source materialsyou wish toguidethemtoas well.

UsingthetableofUKhumanrights (below)asabenchmark, students should considerthecountrytheyhavebeen askedtolook atinthelight of theSelectCommittee Report. How dotheissues that thecommittee examined relatetothecountryinquestion?

Questionsforstudentsto consider

Whatwereyourexpectations aboutyourgiven countrybeforeyou didtheexercise?

 Doyou feelthateveryone inthe UKenjoysall thehumanrights in

Table 1?

Howare thecountriesyoulookedatsimilar/ differentto theUKon humanrights?

PlenarySession

Bringtheclassback togetherandconsiderthefollowingquestion: Whatarethechallenges fortheUKwhen conductingcultural, political

and traderelationships with countriesthat havepoor standards of humanrights?

Tableof UK Human Rights / Right tolife
You have therightto haveyour life protectedbylaw.
Prohibitionoftorture
You have anabsoluteright nottobe tortured. / Prohibitionofslavery
andforcedlabour
A personhas theabsoluterightnotto be treated asaslaveor forcedtodo compulsorylabour.
Right toliberty and security
A personhas therightnottobe
deprivedoftheirlibertyunlessthereis a proper legal basis / Right toa fairtrial
A personhas therighttoa fairand public hearing,withrepresentation, withinareasonableperiodoftime.They are innocentuntil provedguilty.
No punishmentwithout
law
Youcannotretrospectivelybefound guiltyofan offencethat doesn’t yet exist. / Freedom ofexpression
A personhas therighttoholdopinions andexpresstheirviews ontheirown or inagroup.
Freedom ofthought, conscienceandreligion
A personisfree toholda broadrangeof views, beliefsand thoughts, and to
followareligious faith. / Right torespect for private andfamilylife
A personhas therighttorespectfor theirprivate andfamilylife,their home andtheircorrespondence.
Freedom ofassembly
andassociation
A personhas therightto assemblewith otherpeopleina peaceful wayand associatewith others. / Right tomarry
Men andwomenhave therighttomarry andstart afamily.
Prohibitionof
discrimination
Everyoneshouldbe treated equally irrespective ofrace,religion,gender, political view,sexual orientationetc. / Right toeducation
A personhas therightnottobedenied access to theeducational system.
Abolition ofthe death penalty
The acthasabolishedthedeath penalty intheUK. / Protectionof property
A personhas therightto thepeaceful enjoymentoftheirpossessions.

Sourcematerials

Belowarelinksto some source materials containingsummaries and humanrightsreports forcountries including Bahrain,Jordan,China, Burma, the UK,the USAandthe Ukraine.ReadtheUKreport and compareit toyourselectedcountry.Youshouldalsoevaluate the

sourceyouareusingandconsider findingsomeofyourown.Parliament isnot responsible forthecontentofexternallinks.

HumanRights Watch2012
report /
UnitedKingdom /
eport-2011

Ukraine /
ine/report-2011

2012/world-report-2012-ukraine-
0
Bahrain /
ain/report-2011

Burma /

18529727
Jordan /
an/report-2011

USA /
report-2011

2012/world-report-2012-united-states

Russia /
asia/russia

China /
a/report-2011

china-19875389