Human Rights Education: The 4th R,
Working for Children's Rights, vol. 7 No. 2, Fall 1996.

Lessons/Activities: Children's Rights Here and Now

Age/grade level: Middle School-High School

Goal: To examine the current situation regarding children's rights.

Materials: Copies of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Procedure:

  1. Participants are divided into small groups. Using the CRC, half of the groups make a list of the articles of the Convention that they believe children in their country currently enjoy. The other groups make a list of those articles children in their country do not enjoy.
  2. Once groups have generated their lists, a group with a negative list is paired off with a group with a positive list. The two groups discuss discrepancies between their lists and try to make a list of rights enjoyed and rights denied that they can all agree upon.
  3. Each pair of groups presents its lists to the whole group, including those articles they could not agree upon. The group tries to resolve some of the points of difference about what rights are available or not. Based on all the groups' lists, create a summary of rights enjoyed by and denied or unavailable to children, with unresolved points of contention listed separately.

Going Further:

  1. Discussion: The group explores the rights underlying its findings - why certain rights are enjoyed and why others are not.
  2. Discussion: The group discusses ways in which individuals can take action so that some of the rights denied become rights enjoyed for the country's children. Which rights could be easily obtainable? Which seem more difficult to attain? Which rights should receive highest priority for implementation?
  3. Dramatization: Each small group selects one article to dramatize. First, the group paraphrases the article in everyday language. The group then develops a skit or mime that illustrates this article, either enjoyed, denied, or protected, or all three. Each group then presents its article, with one participant reading the paraphrase and others acting out the skit or mime.

This lesson contributed by AIUSA Curriculum Coordinator Nancy Flowers and can be adapted for use in classroom and non-classroom settings in your community.