Unit 5: Human Rights

Unit 5: Human Rights

WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS?

• What are basic human rights?

• What are some examples in history you know or that we have studied so far that relate to human rights or human rights violations?

• What are some responses by governments to human rights violations?

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• A document drafted by the United Nations in response to the events of WWII and Holocaust and adopted by the UN in 1946

• First global expression of rights that all people are inherently entitled to and cannot be violated by any one

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Read the handout titled “Universal Declaration of Human Rights” and answer subsequent questions on the question handout sheet.

GENOCIDE

• What is your definition of genocide?

• What are some examples of genocides?

• Is genocide a problem of the past? Why or why not?

• Why do genocides happen?

• Why do “normal people” support regimes that inflict genocide?

8 Stages of Genocide• Genocide: The deliberate killing of a large

group of people, esp. those of a particular ethnic group or nation.

• Ethnic Cleansing: The mass expulsion or killing of members of an ethnic or religious group in a society.

• Genocide develops in 8 stages. These 8 stages explain how governments go about the process of genocide and how citizens end up supporting these acts.

Examples of Genocides• Holocaust

• Armenian

• Rwandan

• Darfur

• Bosnian

• Cambodian

Armenian Genocide

Holocaust• Kristallnacht: “Night of Broken Glass” -

November 9-10, 1938 - a series of attacks one night against Jews in Germany targeting Jewish owned business and homes.

• Significance: Shows an increase in violence and persecution against the Jews in Germany

• Hitler’s “Final Solution” - the ultimate plan to rid Germany of all Jews using death camps

Symbolization Dehumanization

Organization Polarization

* Nuremberg Laws*

Preparation

Extermination

Denial

But what happens

after?

Holocaust

• Nuremberg Trials: a series of trials trying Nazi’s of war crimes after WWII in the city of Nuremberg

• Between November 1945 - October 1946

• Include Nazi leading officials, generals, and doctors involved in human experimentation under Nazi regime.

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWR2I5Q9d9U

• “First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a communist;Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist;Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist;Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out —because I was not a Jew;Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak out for me.”

• - MARTIN NIEMÖLLER

Reflection• How does the previous quote from Martin

Neimoller relate to the “Who is the Blame?” questions?

• Based on this quote, would you change any of your answers on the UDHR - why or why not?

• What does this quote tell us about the dangers of violating human rights outlined in the UDHR?

Rwandan Genocide

Conclusion

• Examine the following quote by Enlightenment thinker John Locke “No one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions … there cannot be supposed any such subordination among us, that may authorize us to destroy one another”

• How have global leaders succeeded in protecting these rights? How haven’t they?

• Agree or disagree? Write your response after the questions about “Ghosts of Rwanda”

• Anti-Semitism and ethnic hatred remain powerful forces in the 20th and 21st centuries