Excerpted Articles from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights [1]
Article 3: You have the right to live, and to live in freedom and safety.
Article 9: Nobody has the right to put you in prison, to keep you there, or to send you away from your country unjustly, or without a good reason.
Article 13: You have the right to come and go as you wish within your country. You have the right to leave your country to go to another one; and you should be able to return to your country if you want.
Article 14: If someone hurts you, you have the right to go to another country and ask it to protect you. You lose this right if you have killed someone and if you yourself do not respect what is written here.
Article 15: You have the right to belong to a country and nobody can prevent you, without a good reason, from belonging to another country if you wish.
Overview
Through exploration of the MVP’s work, students now have a foundational understanding of human rights. This lesson provides activities for students to build a tangible understanding of what it means to step into the role of a human rights activist/upstander. They will now be able to synthesize what they have learned to personally address human rights issues they care about on a local, national, or international level.
Essential Questions
● Do we have the choice to become a human rights activist/upstander?
● What are the three main roles a person can choose from when responding to an event involving human rights?
● Why is it important to acknowledge one’s role when responding to an event?
● What is the potential outcome if the majority of people in a society continually choose to be bystanders?
Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to:
● Utilize their critical thinking skills to determine specific ways to personally respond to a human rights issue
● Articulate the following MVP Glossary Words: Perpetrator, Activist/Upstander, and Bystander
● Self-reflect on choices they have made in the past when in a situation where a person or people were being discriminated against for unjust reasons
● Assess the potential personal outcomes of choosing to be a bystander, perpetrator, or human rights activist/upstander
● Analyze what can happen in a situation when there is a breakdown of human rights and there are no human rights activists/upstanders present
Common Core State Standards
MVP Glossary
● Human Rights: the basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled, including the right to life, liberty, freedom of thought and expression, and equality before the law.
● Universal Declaration of Human Rights: On December 10, 1948, forty-eight countries came together at the United Nations in Paris to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Motivated by the preceding World Wars, the UDHR was the first time that countries agreed on a comprehensive statement of inalienable human rights.
● Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.
● Bystander: an onlooker, passerby, eyewitness, or spectator; a bystander does not directly engage in an event.
● Perpetrator: the doer, the executor, the person responsible for or behind the event.
● Human Rights Activist/Upstander: an advocate who defends against the actions of a perpetrator to protect the person or people targeted; a person or organization who advocates for people experiencing human rights abuses and takes action against their perpetrators.
Materials for Instructor
Materials for Students
● MVP Journals
I. Opening Discussion (5 min.)
This opening discussion is a chance to share with students that throughout these modules we have learned about people who came together to support the Millennium Villages Project. In this class, students will have a chance to reflect on times when they have chosen to step into the role of an activist/upstander and support others, or to remain on the sidelines, or even in some cases, to become a perpetrator of human rights abuses.
Entry-point questions may include:
● If you were to respond to an issue that you care about as an advocate, what do you think that would entail?
● What would it mean if you did nothing?
II. MVP Glossary Board (7 min.)
Emphasize to students that all of us have chosen each of these roles––activist/upstander, bystander, and even perpetrator––at one or more times in our lives.
Go to the MVP Glossary board and define the following vocabulary:
● Bystander: an onlooker, passerby, eyewitness or spectator; the bystander does not directly engage in the event.
● Perpetrator: the doer, the executor, the person responsible for or behind the event.
● Human Rights Activist/Upstander: an advocate who defends against the actions of a perpetrator to protect the person or people targeted; a person or organization who advocates for people experiencing human rights abuses and takes action against their perpetrators.
III. Writing Activity: Self-Reflection on Choice (7-10 min.)
Have students write a reflection piece in their journals about a time they personally took on the role of bystander, perpetrator, or activist/upstander. Let them know that we have all taken on each of these roles at different points in our lives, and that there is no judgment. Emphasize to students the importance of being honest in their reflections, and tell them they can keep their writings private if they choose.
When students have completed their writings, invite them to share examples from their personal experiences of the different roles they have chosen in difficult situations.
IV. Choice Role-Playing (15 Min.)
Tell students that we are now going to act out a scene with three different endings. Each time the scene is played out, the main character will make a different choice about how to react to the situation. He or she will choose to take on the role of a bystander, perpetrator, or human rights activist/upstander.
The chosen scene can be based on a shared student reflection or using the sample scenarios provided. Each scene should not be more than three minutes long.
Step One
Set the rules of engagement for the activity:
Students cannot touch each other or throw any objects, etc.
Voices need to be kept at normal volume. Students may use tone of voice for emphasis.
If you are an audience member, raise your hand when the ‘director’ asks a question instead of shouting out a reply.
Step Two
Choose three students to act out the chosen scene. The scene can be based on one of the scenarios provided in the Scenario Worksheet or on one of the students’ self-reflection pieces.
Step Three
Explain to the student actors that they will repeat the scene three times. Each time, the main character will choose to be either a bystander, perpetrator, or activist/upstander, therefore each scene will have a different ending.
When the scene reaches the pivotal moment where the student’s ‘choice’ is clear, say ‘freeze’. At this point ask the class to identify which choice the main character has made: perpetrator, bystander, or human rights activist/upstander.
Sample scenarios
A homeless person is asking for food or money outside of a local restaurant. Someone is yelling at the homeless person and telling them to go away. The homeless person says he/she is willing to work for the food or money, but the perpetrator will not listen. A third person walks onto the scene. How will he or she choose to react?
A new student has just arrived at your school. The student is a newly arrived immigrant from the Middle East. As the new student attempts to find a seat in the cafeteria, another student tells him or her to go back to their country, that he or she is not welcome at the school. A third person walks into the scene. How will he or she choose to react?
V. Reflection and Sharing (7 Min.)
Lead a discussion with students about their observations of the different choices and outcomes they observed. If a student’s reflection piece was used as the scene, ask him or her what it was like to see their scene end in three different ways.
Focus the closing discussion on students’ experiences, both as participants in and observers of the scenes.
Entry-point questions may include:
● Were any of the scenes familiar to you?
● What was it like to see the main character make three different choices?
● Do you feel that you have the choice to step into the role of a human rights activist/upstander?
[1] Amnesty International USA. “Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” Amnestyusa.org. https://www.amnestyusa.org/training-materials/universal-declaration-of-human-rights/ (accessed September 28, 2018).