3 TQE GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP

2023-2024

Activity 1: What does it mean TO BE HUMAN?

Day 2-3-4

What are the characteristics of HUMAN RIGHTS?

Human rights belong to all people regardless of their sex, race, colour,
language, national origin, age, class, religion, or political beliefs.
Hence, they are natural, inherent, universal, inalienable, indivisible and
inter-dependent.

1. Look up the following terms in the dictionary and explain their meaning
to the classmates:

natural inherent universal inalienable indivisible inter-dependent

2. Match these definitions with the words you have learned:

A person cannot be denied a right because it is ‘less important’ or ‘non-

essential’. To live in dignity, all human beings are entitled to enjoy all the
rights of freedom, security and decent standards of living concurrently. A
government cannot say that economic and political rights are very essential
for its citizens and, therefore, cultural and religious rights can be suspended.
All the rights for all people are simultaneously important and applicable.

Human rights are _______________________________

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2023-2024

Human rights do not have to be bought or earned. Nor are they something
that a person acquires through her/his efforts, because of his/her status in
life, riches, caste, creed or education. Rather, these are something
fundamental to human beings. They belong to people simply because they
are human beings - human rights are ‘inherent’ to each individual.

Human rights are _______________________

Nobody can take them away from us by force. Other possessions can be
taken away from us, but not our rights. No one has the right to deprive
another person of her/his right for any reason. People still have human rights
even when the laws of their countries do not recognize them or when they
violate them, as for example, when slavery was practised, slaves still had the
rights inherent in them even though these rights were violated.

Human rights are _______________________

As we are born with all human organs to live in this world, we are also born
with human rights. We get our rights by birth. A farmer ploughs the field,
sows the seeds and nurtures them daily. After a few days the seeds begin to
germinate. They break through the earth above and show themselves. They
tell us that they have the right to live, right to germinate, right to break
through the ground, right to sprout leaves, right to grow freely, right to
express what they are, etc.
Take an eight-month-old baby girl. She cannot even stand up and walk. But
she freely shakes her hands and feet all the time. She smiles, communicates
in her own way, wants to move around and explore the world through her
eyes and hands. This shows that she expresses her right to live, her right to
be free, her right to communicate without fear, her right to move around etc.
Even if you were to obstruct her, she will continue to express her rights!

Human rights are _______________________

All human rights are part of a complementary and inter-linked rights

framework. For example, in order to exercise freedom of speech and
expression fully, you need the right to information. To access the right to
information and knowledge adequately, one requires the right to education.
 3 TQE GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
2023-2024

For one to exercise the right to food, it is necessary to enjoy the right to just
wage.

Human rights are _______________________

Human rights are common to all people - whether they are Indians, Africans,
Americans, or Europeans; whether they are male or female, children or
elders, short or tall, dark or bright, thin or fat, speak Tamil language or Hindi,
Muslims or Christians etc. They belong to every person regardless of
ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, age, religion etc. We are all born free and
equal in dignity and rights. It is these human rights that make all people in
the world equal.

Human rights are _______________________

Reflections: Rol playing

Human rights are duty-oriented: Rights and duties are two sides of the
same coin. Everyone has a right to exercise her/his rights; at the same
time she/he has a duty to protect the rights of others. In this manner,
rights are other-person-oriented, duty towards-others-oriented. When
we say that each person has human rights, we are also saying that each person
has responsibilities to respect the human rights of others.

Human rights have limits: Human rights are not license for any person
to do or speak whatever she/he wants. Rather, human rights make us
sensitive to the existence and operation of other person’s dignity and
rights. This means that our rights are not unlimited One’s rights are
limited by the presence and functioning of the rights of the other. Our rights
end where our neighbour’s rights begin. In other words, human rights should
be exercised in such a way that they do not violate the rights of our
neighbours.

SITE
 3 TQE GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP
2023-2024

Look for information about Human Rights. Choose five of them and prepare
some information to share with your classmates.