What is right? What should be one’s human right?
| Learning objectives | The students learn about the internationally recognised human rights. |
| Student tasks | The students answer multiple choice questions and discuss the implications of their answers. |
| Resources | Cards for each student, with the solutions on the back (see student handout 5.5). |
| Methods | Multiple choice questions. |
Information boxThough human rights is a dynamic concept, and one which is therefore constantly evolving, international law defines the content and scope of human rights. The human rights quiz that follows, which should not be used as a test of knowledge, helps to show the students at what stage we are now in the elaboration of human rights. It also helps to avoid misinterpretations of the human rights framework. Before this lesson, the teacher should note all the questions related to agreements made within the UN or within the Council of Europe. It might also be useful to start with a short explanation of the terms or concepts used, such as UN, Council of Europe (not to be confused with the European Council in the European Union), human rights, nation/state, discrimination, judge or trial. |
The lesson
First of all, the teacher explains that the purpose of the quiz is not to test their knowledge, but to enhance their understanding of human rights in an active way.
The students prepare the cards themselves by cutting out the strips with the questions and answers. They then glue them back to back in order to have questions and answers on the same card.
In small groups (or in pairs) the students now sit together and ask each other questions. Each group of students is then given the set of cards. Every question has three possible answers, namely A, B or C. The students choose what they believe to be the correct answer to each question. It should be pointed out that there is sometimes more than one possible correct answer, as human rights is a dynamic concept that is constantly evolving and this leaves room for interpretation.
It makes sense to discuss the answers in class every once in a while. In this way, this lesson will not become a simple knowledge-based question and answer quiz. But it is important to be ready for a discussion in public by preparing the knowledge element too.
Questions and answers
See also student handout 5.5. The teacher or a group of students prepares enough sets of cards by cutting out the slips with questions and answers on them, folding them and gluing them together.
| Child labour by 17 year olds: A. Is always a violation of the rights of the child. B. Is a violation of the rights of the child if the task is harmful. C. Can be acceptable if the government has fixed the minimum working age to be under 17. |
Child labour by 17 year olds: C is correct. The Children’s Rights Convention bans child labour if it is dangerous or a form of exploitation, but allows governments to fix the age under which the ban is valid. There is much pressure to reach more stringent restrictions on child labour. |
| According to international agreements relating to the right to water: A. Governments are obliged to provide their citizens with clean and healthy water. B. Governments are not allowed to discriminate against some citizens in provision of water. C. Governments are not allowed to deny their citizens access to a water supply. |
According to international agreements which relate to the right to water: According to the interpretation by the UN Committee on Economic and Social Rights, B and C are correct, A is not. The fulfilment of the right to water is something that governments have to strive towards, but this right cannot be claimed as such by the citizens. |
| The death penalty: A. Is in general forbidden all over the world. B. Is abolished in law or practice by more than 50% of all countries. C. Is not allowed in the case of young people under 18. |
The death penalty: B and C are correct, A is not. The death penalty is not totally banned in UN treaties, nor by the ECHR, though in both cases it is banned by an optional protocol. Protocol 6 (abolition of the death penalty in peacetime) and Protocol 13 (abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances) to the ECHR have both been signed and/or ratified by many states. |
| Economic and social rights: A. Are not real human rights. B. The immediate fulfilment of these rights for all individuals is not expected from states. C. Can be claimed by every European individual. |
Economic and social rights: B is correct. Officially, economic and social rights are real human rights, though it is true that the obligation to recognise them is much weaker than for many of the civil and political rights. The International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights expects states to strive for their fulfilment but there is no European mechanism allowing individuals to file a complaint (though under certain restrictions an optional protocol allows organisations to do so). |
| According to the clauses of the right to education: A. Individuals and groups are allowed to open a school, as long as they fulfil the minimum legal conditions. B. There are no obligations concerning the contents of educational programmes. C. Governments are bound to provide compulsory education for all young people under 18. |
According to the clauses of the right to education: A is correct, B and C not. International conventions, such as the Children’s Rights Convention, stipulate that education has to inform children about human rights. |
| The right of being recognised as a refugee: A. Is defined for people who have a well-founded fear of being persecuted on the basis of their race, religion or political opinion and have fled their country as a result. B. Also exists for people who have fled their country as a result of civil war or hunger. C. Can be automatically refused by a government to all applicants who come from a country which is considered as being safe. |
The right of being recognised as a refugee: A is correct, B is not (although in some countries, people who fled their country as a result of civil war or hunger can be granted protection, without being considered as refugees under the international conventions). C does not apply to refugees under the Geneva Convention, but is widely applied within the EU in dealing with asylum seekers. |
| The freedom of religion: A. Cannot be denied to people on the ground that they belong to a minority religion. B. Obliges nations to recognise and subsidise religions. C. Cannot be restricted in any way by a state. |
The freedom of religion: A is correct. Nations are obliged to respect the freedom of religion, but don’t have the legal obligation for any system of recognition or subsidisation. States can restrict the freedom of religion, for example, where the religion would be in opposition to fundamental human rights. |
| The right to property: A. Doesn’t mean that governments cannot take a possession from someone if this is in the public interest. B. Is violated if an entire village is evacuated without due compensation in order to build a hydroelectric power station. C. Allows a person to consider goods that they have stolen as his/her property. |
The right to property: A and B are correct. C is obviously wrong. |
| Elections: A. All citizens are allowed to vote, even if they have lost their civil rights due to criminal activity. B.Two votes for each person are allowed if the voter is an employer. C. The balloting must be performed secretly. |
Elections: Only C is correct. A state can prevent persons who have lost their civil rights from voting. Equal rights for everyone who is entitled to vote is an international rule. |
| Freedom of expression: A. May be restricted in order to protect against defamation. B. Cannot be restricted for reasons of public morality. C. Can be restricted to prevent religious intolerance. |
Freedom of expression: A and C are correct. Freedom of expression can, under certain conditions, be restricted for reasons of public morality, for the prevention of crime, for the protection of health or for protection against defamation, if this is foreseen by law. |
| The right to work: A. Obliges states to provide jobs for all their citizens. B. Means that no one can be fired arbitrarily. C. Doesn’t mean a government has to make efforts to realise full employment. |
The right to work: Only B is correct. In Europe, states are obliged to undertake efforts to realise full employment but this is not included in UN treaties. |
| The right to a healthy environment: A. Forbids states to dump toxic waste that spoils the soil irreversibly. B. Aims at protecting human beings, animals and plants. C. Is not yet fixed as a universal right. |
The right to a healthy environment: C is correct, although the right to health protects human beings from harm resulting directly from pollution. In those cases, only human beings are universally protected, animals or plants are not. The African Charter and the European Union Charter, which are not universally valid, do establish to a certain extent a right to a healthy environment. |
| According to the right to education: A. For primary school children no school fees may be charged, only the cost of school trips and school textbooks may be requested. B. It is the obligation of the state to strive to help as many students as possible to succeed in their studies. C. States have to give all students equal opportunities in education. |
According to the right to education: B and C are correct (these obligations are included in the Children’s Rights Convention). In principle, primary education must be free, and this not only includes a school fee, but also other indirect costs related to essential school activities. |
| Punishment of children in schools: A. Is not allowed in the form of corporal punishment. B. Is not forbidden if the punishment is mentally cruel. C. May only be used if parents agree. |
Punishment of children in schools: A is considered as correct, since the European Court of Human Rights has repeatedly considered corporal punishment as a violation of the ECHR (and this complies with the interpretation which is given by the Children’s Rights Committee to the Children’s Rights Convention). B is incorrect, as the ban relates to all cruel punishments. As for C, there is no clause that makes punishment directly dependent on the parents’ agreement. |
| At school: A. There shouldn’t be any attention given to environmental issues. B. Young children should be taught to respect their parents. C. Young children should learn about human rights and experience human rights. |
At school: B and C are correct. The Children’s Rights Convention contains such clauses. The convention also determines that education should aim at respect for the environment. |
| In court: A. Every criminal has the right to a lawyer. B. People can only be convicted if they have made a confession. C. The suspect has the right to an interpreter free of charge if the trial takes place in a language unknown to him/her. |
In court: A and C are correct. |
| Torture: A. Is allowed if used to prevent terrorist attacks. B. Is only allowed after the decision of a judge. C. Is never allowed. |
Torture: C is correct (torture is not allowed even in cases of national emergency). |
| The right to life is violated if: A. Someone dies by accident due to a police force preventing an attack on someone else’s life. B. Someone dies due to an act of war, even if this was legal. C. Someone dies due to unnecessary force by the police. |
The right to life is violated if: C is correct. In the case of A, the right to life could be violated if the force used by the police was more than absolutely necessary. |
| According to the right to housing: A. All states are obliged to ensure that nobody is homeless. B. Foreigners should be offered the same access to social housing as the country’s citizens. C. The state should make efforts to reduce the number of homeless people. |
According to the right to housing: B and C are correct. |
| According to the right to health care: A. Governments are not obliged to prevent labour accidents. B. Everybody should have access to health care. C. Medicines should be free of charge. |
According to the right to health care: B is correct. Prevention of labour accidents is considered as an obligation. Medicines can be sold. |
| According to the right to freedom of movement: A. A person can be forbidden to choose a certain residence for reasons of public security. B. The denial of a visa to a person who has not been convicted of a crime is a violation of human rights. C. A criminal may be imprisoned. |
According to the right to freedom of movement: A and C are correct. A visa can be denied to anyone, not only to criminals. Restrictions on the freedom of movement can also be imposed for reasons of public health, public order or national security, if provided for by law. |
