The Human Rights Internet unit designed by the Curriculum Support Directorate can be used to support the new Stage 6 Legal Studies syllabus, with topic 2, Human Rights, in the HSC course.

The Human Rights project is part of a broader international civics project: One world, many democracies: Citizens of the world. As part of this project, schools are asked to register; however, for the Higher School Certificate, the materials are a resource, and it is not necessary to register.

The Internet address for the project is: http://www.abc.net.au/civics/rights. This site provides an
extensive source of information and links to other sites.

The example provided here has been designed to meet the outcomes and content of the HSC course and specifically addresses the key questions and issues of the Human Rights topic:

• What are human rights?
• How are human rights recognised and enforced?
• How effective are legal measures, both domestic and international, in addressing human rights issues?
• How effective are non-legal measures?

Introduction

Outcome:

The term human rights is a relatively new one in history, yet human rights abuses and issues have been around for many centuries. History is littered with examples. For many reasons the United
Nations adopted and proclaimed resolution 217 A (III) on the 10th of December 1948. This resolution was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a product of its time. There are notable omissions, such as indigenous peoples and children, and the language used is full of gender bias.
Notwithstanding, the Declaration is one of the most important international documents because it has influenced law making, how organisations and institutions operate, personal and collective actions, values, attitudes and beliefs about human rights.

Through exposure to human rights documents, organisations and institutions, through a series of Internet and class-based activities, the students learn about the complexities that answer the key questions opposite.

• Organisations

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 was the beginning of change. Initially it was
brought in with great fanfare and hope. However, people had to embrace it and learn how to implement it against a background of ongoing hostilities around the world.

Declaring something and expecting people to act upon it are two different things. There are many
issues which impact on the way in which individuals, organisations and governments act upon the Declaration. In essence the world had to learn how to implement the spirit and meaning of the Declaration.

In the fifty plus years since the resolution was adopted and carried, individuals, organisations and institutions have explored, adapted, added to and refined the Declaration.

• Contemporary issues

In the fifty plus years since the Declaration, the understanding of what a human rights issue is has
grown. These issues include: equal opportunity, health, freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and education, to name a few.

Identify why and how change and continuity of societal values and beliefs have led to changes in law and justice. Identifying and evaluating different cultural values and beliefs, as well as personal values and beliefs, are essential to an understanding of human rights.

• National responses

We acknowledge this land was colonised without the consent of the original inhabitants. Our nation must have the courage to own the truth, to heal the wounds of its past so that we can move on together at peace with ourselves.

And so we take this step: as one part of the nation expresses its sorrow and profoundly regrets the injustices of the past, so the other part accepts the apology and forgives.
Draft Document for Reconciliation

Our nation must have the courage to own the truth: This statement is important in the field of human rights. The majority of nations have a past that includes what, by today’s standards, are human rights abuses. Some examples are the rights of women, the treatment of the disabled and the mentally ill and the practice of religious intolerance.

• Historical developments

The fight for human rights, in many ways, is the history of all peoples. Some fights have been against horrific abuses, for example the killing fields of Cambodia in the 1970s or the concentration camps of Germany (1930s and 1940s) and the Gulags in the USSR (1930s to 1950s). Others are fights for basic rights, such as to stop the economic and sexual exploitation of women and children, or to achieve universal suffrage.

Inherent in the fight for rights are personal and cultural values, attitudes and beliefs. Our values and beliefs have changed in the last 150 years. For example, in the 1990s the protection of children’s rights in the U.K. and Australia is embedded in laws, yet in the 19th century children were exploited as cheap labour in the mills and mines.

• Human rights: What and when

The horror of land mines—the silent, indiscriminate, remnants from a flare up of man’s inhumanity to
man, do not recognize uniforms or cause, age or sex, intent or happenstance, innocence or guilt, nor do they know when the hostilities are over. They wait silent and lethal for the chance to cause pain, anguish and death year after year after year after year after year after ...

Warring groups callously leave these “devices” of destruction behind long after the conflict is over
because it is too hard, dangerous and “expensive” to remove them. The toll on innocent human lives is incalculable and unconscionable.
Landmines International

Human rights are a modern concept, yet they are an integral part of human history. Finding
examples of human rights abuses is easy throughout history, from the ancient world to the modern one.

Characteristics of human rights
Human rights do not have to be bought, earned or inherited; they belong to people simply because they are human. Human rights are inherent to each individual.

• Human rights: Why and how

We are not the first people to have had to face an uncompromising, brutal power in the quest for freedom and basic human rights. I think we have to depend chiefly on the will of our own people
for democracy. In Buddhism we are taught the four basic ingredients for success: first you must have the will to want it; then you must have the right kind of attitude; then you must have perseverance; and then you must have wisdom.

So we hope to combine these four. The will of the people for democracy is there and many of us have the right kind of spirit or attitude. A number of our people have shown tremendous perseverance; and I hope we’ll acquire wisdom as we go along the way... But it still comes down to the fact that on one side there is a power that has all the guns... I think it is getting more difficult in this world to resolve things through military means. The fact that the authorities are so keen on attacking us in their newspapers indicates that they themselves are not depending on guns alone...
Aung San Suu Kyi in an interview by John Pilger for The New Internationalist (June 1996)

To bring about change there has to be what Aung San Suu Kyi talks about from people like you and
me:

• the will,
• attitude,
• perseverance, and
• wisdom.

For the change to be permanent the state also needs to provide mechanisms and processes. These mechanisms and processes can include courts of law, policies, education, public relations and freedoms.

Chris Dorbis