| The purpose of Module 2 is to provide
trainees with a brief history of the struggles for recognition of ESC rights
at the international level. The module also introduces some fundamental
principles, such as equality and nondiscrimination as well as the universality
and indivisibility of human rights.
This module should help trainees understand/clarify for themselves:
- the history of ESC rights at the international level, including struggles
that contributed to their recognition;
- principles such as equality, nondiscrimination, universality and indivisibility
of human rights; and
- the importance of taking the contemporary context into account.
A trainer may consider supplementing the information provided in the
manual with his/her own research or by inviting an expert on the subject
to introduce the module.
- Using the information shared in the previous session on Module
1: A trainer could introduce the module by summarizing the information
shared by the participants in the previous session. Information that
was shared, for example, about workers’ or peasant movements that have
contributed to the recognition of ESC rights could be used as an introduction
to the module. The purpose is to convey that ESC rights are won as
the result of struggles, by individuals and by groups of people, and
that activism of today builds on and continues the struggles-organized
and unorganized, successful and unsuccessful-of earlier decades and
- Using visual aids for a lecture and discussion on the history
of the development of human rights: A trainer could summarize the
information provided in the manual (if necessary, supplementing it)
and present it in the form of a lecture accompanied by visual aids (transparencies
or flip charts). The presentation should cover the developments before
and after the establishment of the United Nations in 1945. It should
also include clarifications on basic concepts such as equality, nondiscrimination,
universality and indivisibility of human rights.
- Using a game and/or case study for introducing the basic concepts:
In addition to the lecture presentation, a trainer could use games
and/or case studies for introducing basic principles. The following
are some suggested methods:
Potato game for introducing principles
equality and nondiscrimination
A potato is distributed to each participant. All are asked to write
a description of their potato. They can imagine it to be a human being
and describe it. For example, they can give it a name and describe some
physical and emotional characteristics. In the next step, each reads
the description of their potato. After this, everyone drops their potato
into a box. Finally, participants are asked to find in the box the potato
described by them. Clearly, identifying the individual potatoes has become
difficult, if not impossible, once they have been mixed together.
At this stage, participants are asked to reflect on the message of the
exercise. One message is that we often ignore the individuality of a
person and associate that person with the group to which he or she belongs.
Stereotyping is common and leads to prejudice and discrimination. Discrimination
is a negation of equality and human dignity. The discussion then leads
on to the question of the equality of everyone based on the inherent dignity
of all human beings. This provides a means for introducing human rights
norms that are based on the fundamental principles of equality and nondiscrimination.
Case study for introducing the concept of the indivisibility of human
Trainees can be asked to enact a role play based on the following case
study. After the role play, the trainer should ask the participants to
share their views and facilitate a discussion on the question of the
indivisibility of human rights.
Kampong Reap is a village of some seventy-five households in country
C. The nearest school is five to seven kilometers away. The few children
who are sent to school are sent when they are old enough to walk the
distance. Those who go to school pay money to the teachers, who demand
it since they are not paid regularly by the government. Most parents
find it economically difficult to send their children to school. Only
a handful of people in the village can read and write.
People in the village have to travel a long distance for medical treatment,
which is itself an expensive and difficult undertaking, since the village
is several kilometers from a motorable road. A significant amount of
money is spent on health care by the villagers. With poor nutrition
and nonexistent sanitation, disease flourishes. Illness is the most
important reason that poor villagers sell their land.
Fishing has traditionally been a very important occupation. Recently,
the government reintroduced auctioning of fishing lots for private
owners. The area claimed by the lot owners has expanded and areas previously
reserved for public fishing have shrunk. Villagers have been told that
wherever the water reaches, the lot reaches. This is a powerful assertion
in an area where the water floods up to the edge of the houses for six
months of the year. Lot owners or their subcontractors threaten and
use violence against people for fishing in front of their houses.
Lack of access to fishing lots particularly affects those who do not
have land. The landless households are completely dependent on the
rapidly declining fish population. Lacking access to fishing and without
alternative employment, some families face starvation.
The right to freedom of association and assembly is not guaranteed
in the country. The government does not tolerate any form of protests
by the people. Impunity is a major problem in the country.
Faced with a dire situation, some villagers broke the barriers marking
fishing lots and began to fish. The lot owners brought in the police
and during the ensuing skirmish several villagers were shot and killed
by the police. Many were arrested, kept in illegal detention and tortured.
An international human rights organization conducted a fact-finding
mission and concluded that it was a case of arbitrary killing. The
international group also severely criticized the government for illegal
detention and torture of villagers.