Exploitation: Activities

Those who exploit are wrong. What they do is indefensible. However, if you do not act upon your knowledge of the problems can you condemn these people out of hand?

You can act in many ways to help solve the problems. Your action could be to join a human rights group or to educate others about what you know.

In this section we will look at how you can use the Internet as part of the solution. The use of the Internet is important in the field of human rights as it can:

• raise awareness of the problems and solutions in a large audience
• allow a greater number of people to share information about the problems and solutions
• organise and present material effectively
• be a powerful tool to educate.

The activities below are designed to raise awareness, share information, organise and present material and educate. The last of these, education, is the most powerful tool humans have to effect lasting change. For once a person learns, his or her behaviour changes.

Activity: Using the Internet

Surfing the Internet

Surfing the Internet allows you to find sites. These sites can be either human rights sites that provide information about the issues and abuses or those that perpetuate human rights abuses.

Surf the net to locate:

1. sites that have information about the exploitation of children
2. current affairs and newspaper sites with articles about exploitation of children.

When you search the Internet search both "the web" and "news sections" which are provided in your preferred search engine. Use a variety of search strings e.g. "children's rights" or "Geneva convention + rights".

Select appropriate sites and information that support your work on the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Organise the sites and information into the most appropriate format, either as part of your work to validate your interpretations or as part of your resource section.

Present the information you have found from the sites on your own Internet site about the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Send any relevant sites, including your own, to the project officer to add to the resource section.

You may also join the Derechos Human Rights campaign "Surf the Web, make a difference".

Campaigning using the Internet

1. If you find an Internet site that perpetrates and supports human rights abuses, what should you do?

Contact one or more of the following:

• the police

• members of parliament or congress

• human rights organisations.

Do not act by yourself, it is not worth risking yourself. Make sure of your facts. If you contact any of the above, have details such as URL, contact details and date located.

2. Letter writing

Letter writing is an effective method of campaigning. Define the problem you wish to speak out against and write an e-mail to the government or non-government organisations or a magazine or newspaper so the public can become aware of the problem.

Before you write your letter, decide:

• do you want to get information? e.g. a letter to a politician to get information about relevant national or state laws and policies
• do you want to give information? e.g. a letter to newspapers or a human rights organisation to inform them about the issues and what you have found out.

The Amnesty International South Devon Group 115, UK. has produced a letter-writing guide for political prisoners. The following is adapted from that guide:

There are a few simple rules.

Always be polite. This rule is essential and invariable. Your aims are to stop exploitation and help victims, not to relieve your own feelings. Governments or non-government organisations or the public don't respond to abusive or condemnatory letters (however well deserved).

Always operate on the basis that the government or non-government organisations or the public are concerned and are open to reason and discussion.

If you write to a government, it is important where possible to stress a country's reputation for moderation and justice, to show respect for its constitution (if it has one), laws designed to prevent exploitation and judicial procedures, and an understanding of current difficulties. This will give more scope to point out ways in which the human rights situation can be improved.

Be focused in your requests for information or giving of information. For instance if you are asking about medical treatment for a victim, make sure that you request this, and not request the arrest of the perpetrator(s), which might be appropriate but is not the main focus of your concern.

Never use political jargon. Don't give the impression that you are writing because you are ideologically or politically opposed to the government in question. It is far more effective to stress the fact that your concern for human rights is not politically based in any way, but is in keeping with basic principles of international law, conventions or treaties.

It is preferable to give an indication of who and what you are. This indicates that the letter is genuine, and also shows that people from varying walks of life are following events in the country or countries concerned.

If you have any special interest or link with the country or countries, it is a good idea to mention this in your letter. For instance, you may have visited it, studied its history, or have a school-based exchange program with a school in that country.

BE BRIEF. A simple, one-line letter is adequate and is certainly better than no letter at all. A good rule is not to write more than one page (i.e. one side). Long letters are less likely to be read. Only in exceptional cases are long letters effective.

Linking schools

Design your own web site about the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Your own web site will help raise awareness, share information and educate.

Schools, once they have a web site, can then form their own "web rings" or join an existing ring such as the Amnesty International ring.

To form your own web ring or join an existing one, create an Internet site which focuses on the Convention of the Rights of the Child. If you wish to join the One World ring, send the URL of your Internet site to the project officer to place in the schools section.

By creating a human rights web ring or joining an existing one you are taking a stand against the cruel treatment that millions of children are enduring daily.

Internet sites

News on line

Australian 

• ABC News Online
• Sydney Morning Herald
• News Limited papers
• The Melbourne Age
• The Canberra Times

• The Koori Mail
• Index of Australian newspapers

• The Express
• The Guardian
• The Independent
• The Mirror
• The Morning Star
• The Times
• CNN 
• The Washington Post
• The New York Times
• Time Magazine
• ABC news (US)

• World Wide News
• 3600 newspapers

These are only some of the news services available online. Students may opt to use other on-line news services.

Search engines

The bighub
Dogpile
Google
Mamma
Ozsearch
Blackstump
Yahoo Australia
Anzwers

Based on the activities create a home page called STOP EXPLOITING CHILDREN.

Completed material should be posted on your school's web site. 

Please supply the project officer with: 

• URL 
• school name 
• country 
• e-mail address 
• contact person 
• 1-2 sentences about the work.

 Project officer E-mail: One.World@det.nsw.edu.au

Back to exploitation page

Click here to register for the Convention on the Rights of the Child unit.

Other One World projects:

Other Human Rights Sites:

One world,
many democracies:
Human Rights

Explore your human rights
through Internet activities

International Human Rights Day
on ABC Online

Universal Rights Network

This unit of work is a joint venture between UNICEF Australia and the Curriculum Support Directorate, NSW Department of Education and Training.

All images used in navigation © UNICEF, used with permission.