1. HUMAN RIGHTS What are they?

2. What do human beings need to live?
Imagine you are speaking to an alien (a being that has never been to Earth or met a human being), describe what human beings need to live and grow to.
For example:
What do human beings need to survive?
What things help us to grow physically?
What things help us to succeed in life?

3. All human beings, have similar basic needs: nutritious food, health care, shelter, education, protection from harm and more.

4. Human Rights
Human rights are basic entitlements we all have simply because we are human.
They are fundamental things that humans need in order to flourish and participate fully in society, in order to live and grow and to be human.
Needs are different to wants. Wants are not necessary for a person to survive, grow and develop.

5. Human rights belong to everyone
Everyone of us has the right and is entitled to have our needs fulfilled.
Human rights belong to everybody, regardless of circumstance.

6. Your rights, my rights
Human rights support all areas of our lives, for example:
Right to education
Right to have your own thoughts, beliefs and religion
Right to vote in elections once you reach the voting age
Right not to be required to do forced labour and not to be treated as a slave
You can think of human rights as a set of rules that state what we all need to live and grow, and how we should treat each other.

7. Human rights don’t only protect individuals from each other, they are also there to protect people from government and institutions.

8. The Human Rights Story
The ideas and principles behind human rights can be traced far back in our history.
Religions preach values and principles that underpin human rights. For example:
Jesus Christ preaches morality, tolerance, justice, forgiveness and love.
Prophet Mohammed teaches the principles of equality, justice and compassion revealed in the Qur’an.

9. Many communities and cultures have taught similar concepts throughout history e.g. Ubuntu in South Africa.

10. But…
The modern concept of human rights, and human rights as we know them today was created after World War 2.
Why do you think this was?

11. About six million European Jews were killed - about two-thirds of the population of European Jews.
Millions more murdered included Romani gypsy, homosexuals, people with disabilities and other political and religious opponents.
Total number of Holocaust victims - between 11 million and 17 million people killed!
The international community came together to discuss ways to make sure events like the Holocaust never happened again.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was developed.

12. South Africa
We know that it took a lot longer before South Africa’s Constitution was developed and the New South Africa was recognised with the first free and fair election in 1994.
Does this mean that we did not have human rights before 1994?

13. All human beings all over the world have human rights but sometimes these are denied. Human rights abuses continue to occur all over the world.
South Africa has one of the best constitutions in the world but we know that things do not always happen the way the constitution says they should.

14. Activity:
Look at the summary of the Bill of Rights that your teacher has given you. Answer these questions in your book:
Choose which three human rights you think are the most important. Explain why.
Are there any rights that you would be willing to live without? Explain.

15. Key characteristics of human rights:
Human rights are universal – they belong to everyone in the world
Human rights are inalienable – they cannot be taken away from people
Human rights are indivisible and independent – all the human rights are important for human beings to flourish and participate in society