Introduction

You are members of an interest group that works to combat human rights violations around the world.  Many people in the United States are not aware of how other countries routinely kill, torture, and otherwise oppress their citizens.  To gather more support for your cause, you are going to create a pamphlet outlining the courses of action that people should take to fight against human rights abuses.  Specifically, you will be working to answer the following question:    

What actions should United States citizens, the United States government, and the United Nations take to combat human rights violations around the world?  
 

Your interest group will use MS Publisher to produce a pamphlet persuading people to take action against human rights abuses.  This pamphlet will include several sections, as follows:

• Description of one human rights violation currently taking   place in the world
  

• Actions your group recommends each of the following groups should take to combat human rights violations.

       --United States Citizens
          --United States Government
       --United Nations

• Description of one human rights violation in the past that has been effectively resolved using one of the courses of action your group suggests.

You will be working as a part of a design team to produce this pamphlet.  Your team needs to decide who will assume each of the following roles.

• Manager
  --coordinates between group members
  --keeps group members on task
  --monitors time and speed of work
  --ensures continuity between the different parts of the
     pamphlet to produce a polished final product
  

• Chief Researcher
  --locates, reads, and records pertinent information from
     websites 
  

• Chief Writer
  --composes and types the words for the pamphlet
  

• Graphic Artist
  --locates, modifies, and inserts graphic images
     (pictures, charts, maps, etc.) into the pamphlet
  --creates a visually pleasing layout for the entire pamphlet

Follow the steps below to produce your pamphlet:

1) Think of a name for your interest group.  Remember the purpose of your interest group is to combat human rights.

2) Research the following websites to find an example of a situation in which human rights are currently being violated.  Write a narrative description of this situation for the introduction of your pamphlet.  Try to "hook" your reader with this story.  Your goal is to make your reader so concerned about the issue of human rights that they will be motivated to take action against human rights abuses.  Also, create or copy pictures, charts, or maps to accompany this story.  For example, you could include photographs of victims of this violation of human rights, charts listing statistics of how many people have suffered from this violation of human rights, and/or maps of the region in the the world where this violation of human rights is taking place.

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights
  
• Amnesty International
  
• Human Rights Watch
  
• Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
  
• Human Rights Web

3) Brainstorm actions your interest group suggests each of the following groups should take to combat human rights abuses:

• United States Citizens

• United States Government

• United Nations

Use the information you learned from the above websites to help develop your recommendations.  You may also find it helpful to review your old class notes, handouts, and textbook for information about interest groups, foreign policy tools, and international networks. 

Create a separate section in your brochure for each of the three groups listed above.  In each section, list the actions that particular group should take to fight against human rights abuses.

4) Research a situation in which people successfully ended or improved human rights abuses by carrying out one of your suggested actions.  The final section of your pamphlet should include a description of this positive outcome.  As with the introduction, you should include pictures, charts, or maps to accompany this description.  These visuals should clearly contrast with the visuals from the introduction in order to show how people's actions have successfully combated violations of human rights.   

Each group will be evaluated according to the following rubric.

Please note:  This lesson aligns with the US Government Core Learning Goal Indicator 2.1.2.  The student will evaluate the effectiveness of international alliances from the perspective of the United States.

Students will be aware of current examples of human rights violations.  They will also understand the actions that individual citizens, governments, and international organizations may take to combat human rights violations.  Students will also improve their ability to work together as part of a team.

• What social, economic, and political conditions characterize countries with the most severe human rights violations?
  

• Do international organizations have the right to violate a country's sovereignty in order to protect human rights?
  

• What role will technological advances in communication play in combating human rights violations?

Brooks, Kate. http://www.hrw.org. Image of orphans in "lying-down" room, Spring 1998.

Thanks to Jan Weller and Lisa Kissinger for all of their advice.