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Teaching and learning about child rights
All people – no matter their age, sex, colour, religion or where they live – have the same basic needs to live a healthy life. These needs include food, shelter, education, healthcare and freedom from persecution and discrimination.
Through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the governments of the world agreed that people have a right to have these basic needs met.
Denying people their basic rights not only leads to the personal suffering of individuals – it can result in conflict and unrest in societies.
In addition to the rights in the UDHR, children have additional rights that recognise those things that they need to help them survive and develop to their full potential.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) sets out these rights – and Australia, along with nearly every other country in the world, has agreed to protect these rights.
This series of activities will help students to:
- understand the difference between rights and wants
- research important aspects of the Convention on the Rights of the Child
- appreciate the important rights in their life
- consider the rights issues that children in Australian immigration detention centres faced prior to policy change.
There are 3 separate activities:
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Note: Teachers should familiarize themselves with the rights covered in both the UDHR and the CRC prior to the lesson.
For further teaching activities relating to the UDHR refer to the Human Rights Day activities
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