- Author:
- Katherine Michel
- Subject:
- Political Science
- Material Type:
- Module
- Level:
- Community College / Lower Division
- Tags:
- License:
- Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial
- Language:
- English
- Media Formats:
- Downloadable docs
lesson plan, human rights
optional worksheet 3, On Our Watch documentary
Reading #1: Bellamy (2017), "Protecting People"
Reading #3: Glanville (2014); Carment and Landry (2014); Aaronson (2014); excerpts from "Into the Eleventh Hour"
worksheet 1, R2P, comparing Libya and Syria
worksheet 2, human rights, evaluating UN peacekeeping
Human Rights
Overview
Module on human rights in international relations. Intended for community college students and aligned with the requirements for POLS 140: Introduction to International Relations within the California Community College system. Includes lesson plan, required readings, and ancillary materials (lecture slides and worksheets).
Lesson Plan: Human Rights
Lesson Plan: Human Rights
Topic: Key Topics and Contemporary Issues: Human Rights | |
Week #: 11 | Estimated Time: 150-180 minutes |
Assigned Readings:
Total page count: 28 plus 1 online text (36 pages if all printed) Online documentary, option a: approximately 55 minutes Online documentary, option b or option c: approximately 1 hour, 55 minutes
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Learning Objectives: By the end of this lesson plan, students will be able to:
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Misconceptions of Topic:
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Lesson Component | Ancillary(ies) |
Lecture: Review learning objectives | Lecture slides |
Lecture and discussion: What are human rights? How has the international community sought to protect human rights legally? | Readings 1 and 2 Lecture slides
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Think-Pair-Share: UDHR | Reading 2 Lecture slides |
Lecture and discussion: How has the international community sought to protect human rights institutionally?
| Reading 1 Lecture slides |
Activity: Responsibility to Protect (R2P)--comparing Libya and Syria | Readings 1 and 3 Worksheet 1
The full resolution used in worksheet 1 is available online at https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_RES_60_1.pdf
Optional documentary about Syria:
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Lecture and discussion: Given that human rights violations continue to occur, what tools does the international community use in response?
| Reading 1 Documentary (resource 4) Lecture slides
Current data on UN peacekeeping operations is available online at |
Lecture, online video, and discussion: Evaluating UN operations--Why is protecting people so difficult? | Readings 1 and 3 Worksheet 2 Lecture slides
Online video resource (approximately 5 minutes, from 7:27-12:33): Frontline. 2018. “UN Sex Abuse Scandal.” PBS documentary. Available online at https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/un-sex-abuse-scandal/. |
Lecture and discussion: Given that human rights violations continue to occur, what tools does the international community use in response?
| Reading 1 Lecture slides |
Conclude and wrap-up | Lecture slides |
Required Readings: Human Rights
Contents:
- Reading #1: Bellamy 2017
- Reading #2: United Nations (available at https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html)
- Reading #3: Glanville 2014; Carment and Landry 2014; Aaronson 2014
- Documentary (instructor choice)
Introducing the readings:
This unit's readings provide an introduction to human rights. The Bellamy (2017) core reading (adapted by Katherine Michel) offers a broad overview. Among other things, the chapter defines human rights, plots key positions in the debate about protecting human rights, discusses norms of human protection, and provides examples of initiatives related to human rights (e.g., peacekeeping, transitional justice measures). The second reading, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations), connects this unit to the previous unit on international law and provides a basis for students to answer this question (posed in lecture slides): How has the international community sought to protect human rights legally?
The three short pieces by Glanville (2014), Carment and Landry (2014), and Aaronson (2014) introduce questions surrounding humanitarian intervention in the cases of Libya and Syria. These readings review the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and provide an opportunity for students to assess the applicability of R2P in two cases (see worksheet #1).
This required "reading" in this unit also includes a documentary (instructor choice), which will provide an in-depth look at an additional case. If the instructor chooses either "On Our Watch," a documentary produced in 2007 about Darfur (see optional worksheet #3), or "Ghosts of Rwanda," the documentary will facilitate discussion of peacekeeping failures. If the instructor chooses "The Trial of Ratko Mladic," the documentary will facilitate discussion of transitional justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Ancillary Materials: Human Rights
Contents:
- lecture slides
- worksheet 1
- worksheet 2
- worksheet 3 (optional)