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last resort? Teaching Resources Homepage
Teaching Notes and Activities:
- B-D-A: Reading A last resort?
- the Summary Guide to the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention - Getting to know the Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Useful Links and Resources
- Download the Resources
Getting to know the Convention on the Rights of the Child
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, health and freedom from persecution and discrimination.
Through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the governments of the world have 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 sets out these rights - and Australia, along with nearly every other country in the world, has agreed to protect these rights.
In this series of activities, students will work individually and collaboratively 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 facing children in Australian immigration detention centres.
Resources:
- Convention of the Child worksheet - available for download in
Word and 
PDF formats. - A last resort? A Summary Guide to the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
- Child-friendly version of the Convention on
the Rights of the Child
- available for download inWord and PDF formats. - Access to the internet for research purposes
Teaching Strategy:
Step 1: Rights and wants
Students work in pairs to discuss the following statements and decide whether each statement is a RIGHT or a WANT of children and young people. Students are given a short period of time to complete the activity.
Statement |
RIGHT |
WANT |
| I have a right to a good education | ||
| I have a right to vote in government elections | ||
| I have a right to rest and play | ||
| I have a right to health care | ||
| I have a right to new clothes | ||
| I have a right to be cared for by my parents | ||
| I have a right to my own bedroom | ||
| I have a right to speak my own language | ||
| I have a right to be safe in the place where I live | ||
| I have a right to have my views taken seriously by adults | ||
| I have a right to choose whether or not I go
to school |
||
| I have a right to choose my own friends and the
groups I belong to |
||
| I have a right to special care if my parents can’t look after me | ||
| I have a right to drink alcohol | ||
| I have a right to legal help so my rights can be protected |
The goal is to encourage students to give their immediate responses to the statements. These responses will be explored in greater detail later in the unit and matched against the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
After completing this list, students share their answers with the class and explain why they think each statement is either a RIGHT or a WANT.
Students then brainstorm ideas about what other RIGHTS children have.
Step 2: Getting to know the Convention on the Rights of the Child
Students work in small groups to complete a web-search for information on the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Students work cooperatively to answer the following questions.
You may choose to use a ‘Jigsaw’ method to run this activity- where participants within a cooperative group each become an ‘expert’ on different aspects of The Convention.
Before presenting and teaching to the cooperative group, students form Expert Groups, comprised of individuals from different cooperative groups who have the same research question.
Together, expert partners research their question and then return to their cooperative groups and teach the others in their group about their particular research question.
For further information on implementing the Jigsaw strategy in your classroom visit: http://www.myread.org/organisation.htm#jigsaw
Research questions
- What is the Convention on the Rights of the Child? Who does it cover?
- Who decided what rights should be included in the Convention?
- How many countries have ratified the Convention? Who hasn’t ratified the Convention – and why not?
- Is there any monitoring of whether or not countries are doing their job to protect the rights of children?
- What is Australia’s record on protecting children’s rights?
- Does the Convention take away from parents the right to raise their children in the way they think best?
- Article 3 says that any decisions that adults make that affect you have to take into account your ‘best interests’. What sort of decisions or situations might this cover?
Groups share their answers with the rest of the class and discuss any issues that came up whilst doing the research.
Step 3: What’s in the Convention on the Rights of the Child?
Distribute a copy of the child-friendly Convention on the Rights of the Child. As a class, read through the Convention and then discuss the following questions:
- What rights are included in the Convention which weren’t mentioned in the class discussion on Rights and Wants?
- Do all children have their rights met?
- Which children might not have their rights protected? Why?
- If not explicitly mentioned, ask students to consider the situation of asylum seeker children held in Australian immigration detention centres. Are their basic rights protected? Why or why not?
Step 4: What rights are important to you?
Working in pairs, students analyse the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Each student selects the FIVE rights that are the most important to him/her and explains why to their partner. Each pair then works together to complete a list of their shared TOP THREE rights.
Each pair then shares their list with the class, and these lists are recorded on the board. From this, construct a top three list for the class.
How do the students feel about this list? During the drafting process for the Convention on the Rights of the Child – what was put in and what was left out?
Discussion questions:
- Was it difficult to choose some rights over others?
- How did you decide which rights were more important than others?
- How much difference was there between students?
- What are some reasons for those differences?
Step 5: Zarah’s Situation
Case Study
Zarah is a 12 year old Iraqi girl being held in one of Australia’s immigration detention centres. She fled Iraq with her parents and younger brother because the family had received death threats and were afraid of political persecution. After a long and dangerous journey, the family arrived in Australia hoping to be accepted as refugees and to begin a new life. However, under Australian immigration policy, they have been placed in an immigration detention centre while their application for refugee status is finalised. Zarah and her family have been in detention for almost 18 months.
Lead the students in a discussion about Zarah’s situation and how it impacts on her rights:
- Who has the responsibility to protect Zarah’s rights while she is held in immigration detention?
- What do you think Zarah might list as her top three rights?
- Do you think that she would be able to enjoy those rights? Why or why not?
- What impact do you think it would have on Zarah if she can’t enjoy those important rights?
Step 6: Evidence from the National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention
Read through the quotes included in the worksheet. These are things that asylum seeker children told the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission about their time in Australian immigration detention centres. These interviews were part of the Commission’s National Inquiry into Children in Immigration Detention.
Working in pairs, ask students to examine each quote and identify:
- the right/rights that have been denied to the young person
- what could be done to ensure that their rights were protected
- who could be involved in protecting those rights.
A grid is included in the worksheet to assist students to record their answers.