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This activity starts with participants’ personal ideas about rights as expressed
in an imaginary bill of rights. They then find correspondences between their
ideas and specific articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
(UDHR).
Time: 1 hour
Materials: Blackboard and chalk
Chart paper and marking pens
for each group
Copies of the
UDHR, complete or simplified
version
Setting: Middle school - Adult groups
Links: Fits well with Activity 6, Human
Rights in the News.
See Part IV, Taking Action for
Human Rights, for action ideas.
Procedure
A small new planet has been discovered that has everything needed to
sustain human life. No one has ever lived there. There are no laws, no
rules, and no history. You will all be settlers here and in preparation
your group has been appointed to draw up the bill of rights for this all-
new planet. You do not know what position you will have in this country.
b. Decide on ten rights that the whole group can agree upon and list them on
the blackboard or chart paper.
3. Each group presents its list to the class. As they do so, make a "master list"
that includes all the rights the groups mention, combining similar rights.
4. When all the groups have reported their lists, examine the master list:
Do some of the rights overlap? Can they be combined?
5. Discussion questions:
Did your ideas about which rights were most important change during
the activity?
How would life be on this planet if some of these rights were excluded?
Are there any rights you would still like to add to the final list?
1. When the master list is complete, participants return to their small group
and try to match the rights listed with articles of the UDHR. Some rights may
include several articles. Others may not be in the UDHR at all. Alternative: To
save time, assign each group specific rights from the master list to investigate.
4. Discuss
Were some of the rights on the list not included in the UDHR? How can
you explain this omission?
Were some rights in the UDHR not included on the group’s list? How
can you explain this omission?
Going Further
1. Personal Preferences – At this point, especially if a natural break occurs,
ask participants to mark on the list the three rights that mean the most to them
personally. The facilitator can then tally up the marks to see how many each
right received. When the group continues, remind participants about the
interdependency and indivisibility of rights. See Part V, Appendices.
Discuss:
Why do you think certain rights received so many marks from this
group?