You have already met the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) on the rights timeline, and looked inside one of its articles. Today you put that document beside two others.
Each one protects rights, but they were written for different reasons and they work in different ways. By the end of this period you should be able to say what each is for, in your own words, not just recite three sets of initials.
Three documents come up again and again when people talk about human rights. Meet each one by its full name first, because the short forms only help once you know them.
- Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
- United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)
- European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
They were written by different bodies, at different times, for different people. The next activity puts those differences on cards so you can read them side by side.
Open the comparison and work through it with your teacher, noticing where the three documents match and where they split.
When the rows are done, match each situation to the document that speaks to it best. Be ready to say why in one sentence.
Situation A: Maya is 14. She wants the document written specifically about people under 18.
Situation B: A person in Ireland wants to take a human rights case to a real court outside the country.
Situation C: A class is making a poster about the idea that every human being, anywhere, has rights. Which document first set that idea out for the whole world?
Situation D: A state has to report regularly on how it treats children. Which document requires those reports?
The UDHR, the UNCRC and the ECHR
Talk these through as a class. Say your answers out loud; you do not type or save them.
- Which of the three would matter most to somebody your age, and why that one?
- If a right in the UDHR is breached, what can a person actually do, compared with a right in the ECHR?
Today you can:
- name the UDHR, the UNCRC and the ECHR in full
- say who each covers and whether it is a declaration or a treaty
- explain what a person can do if a right in each one is breached
- match a real situation to the document that speaks to it
Three documents, three jobs: a worldwide standard, a treaty for children, and a European court you can reach.
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