Unpacking the UDHR The Universal Declaration of Human

Unpacking the UDHR The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Activity 1

Creating a Word Cloud… What do you think are the FIVE most important words in the UDHR?

Creating a Word Cloud… Create a word cloud with 20 words from the UDHR…the larger the word, the more it is used…the more important it is!

As you can see… The FIVE most used words are: • Everyone • Right (s) • Any (but I’m not counting this!) • Human • All • One And next… • Nations • Equal • Freedom

What does this suggest about the meaning and intention of the document?

Are these the words you predicted? What are the words you chose and why?

Unpacking the UDHR The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Activity 2

What RIGHTS does the UDHR seek to protect? • Group of 3 or 4 • Closely examine the 30 articles of the UDHR and consider ways to categorize the rights in the document (your group will get “strips” with each of the 30 rights to work with) • Create three to six categories for the rights…Think: what TYPE or KIND of rights does the document want protected?

Discussion… • What categories did you create? • Did ideas converge? • Where is there disagreement? • Based on this exercise, what do you imagine were some of the points of contention as the document was being negotiated? • Does this document REALLY protect human rights? What do you need to ask in order to determine the answer?

Unpacking the UDHR The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Activity 3

Always, Usually, or Never… • In 1947, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) wrote a "Statement on Human Rights" in response to the drafting of the UDHR. The statement asks, • "How can the proposed Declaration be applicable to all human beings, and not be a statement of rights conceived only in terms of the values prevalent in countries of Western Europe and America? "

• Human Rights scholar Mary Ann Glendon explains: • [The idea of universality of human rights] is an idea that comes out of Western traditions, but even though that idea and the form and style can be said to be Western, it is impressive that in 1947 and 1948 representatives of Asian cultures, nine countries with predominantly Muslim populations, along with Latin America, Europe and the United States - all those representatives were able to sign on to those principles as universals.

• Is there such a thing as a "universal" right or are all rights inherently culturally relative? • Philosophers have long debated whether any rights are universal, across time, geography, language, and culture. • Let’s look at the 30 rights in the UDHR again…refer to your “strips”

1. Determine whether the rights are: "always, " "usually, " or "never" considered universal for all people. 2. Read each article, clarify its meaning and discuss where that right belongs: • Is it ALWAYS a universal right for all people? • Is it USUALLY a universal right for all people? • Or, is it NEVER a universal right for all people? 3. Make three piles of your “strips”

Discussion… 1. Were there any rights that a group decided would “usually" or "never" be universal? 2. What were the reasons for this? 3. What do these decisions say about the universality of the UDHR?