Human Rights USA
Resource Center
by Martha Malinski
Many Americans view human rights as something only of concern in other countries, unaware that the United States supported and significantly contributed to the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which guarantees the rights of all people and encompasses a broad specturm of political, civil, social, economic and cultural rights. The Human Rights USA Resource Center offers a collection of human rights education resources for educators, students and activists to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the UDHR, foster human rights awareness and to build a human rights community in the United States of America.
As activities are planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the UDHR in December 1998, the Human Rights USA Resource Center will serve as a clearinghouse of events, conferences and materials. The Human Rights USA Resource Center offers:
Human Rights Education Resource Kits for educators who are interested in implementing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in their classrooms. The Resource Kit includes: Amnesty International USA’s 1998 calendar, the Amnesty Interactive CD-ROM, Amnesty International’s UDHR Animated Video, a UDHR poster, a classroom set of UDHR passports, a copy of The Fourth R newsletter, the book Educating for Human Dignity by Betty Reardon, Human Rights for All (student text and teacher’s manual), and a bibliography. The Resource Kit is available for $50.00.
Additional human rights curricula, books and reference materials are available for purchase through the Resource Center. Examples of the materials offered include: Human Rights Here and Now, an introduction to human rights education and to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Amnesty International USA Human Rights Education Resource Notebooks, including elementary, middle, and high school introductory packets.
A community of experienced human rights educators who will be on call to answer questions and give advice about appropriate curricula and materials for activities and action, as well as a bureau of speakers and trainers who can present on various human rights topics.
An interactive Web site (www.hrusa.org) which includes fact sheets, sample lessons and activities, discussion groups and links to other human rights sites.
For more information, contact the Human Rights USA Resource Center at: 1-888-HREDUC8.
Martha Malinski is coordinator of the Human Rights USA Resource Center.
