HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION IN AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CZECH REPUBLIC

Amnesty International Czech Republic has been educating about human rights for over 10 years in order to create a society in which people respect, protect and fight for equal human rights. We consider human rights education a necessary part of our work. We educate young people about current topics and we encourage them to actively stand up for human rights. Through interactive workshops at schools, we deepen students' knowledge about human rights, we help them form their opinions about important topics and we teach them how to improve their skills needed to protect human rights.

Currently, we offer these workshops to Czech schools:

THE INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN RIGHTS

By participating in different activities and experiences, students learn more about basic terms tied to human rights and they learn about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For a moment, they will also get in the shoes of people whose rights are being denied, and they will have the opportunity to discuss about human rights in our country and in the world. At the workshop, students will also work with three real cases of human rights violation from three different countries, which will lead them to better understand the problems of non-democratic regimes and compare them to the situation in our country.

90 minutes (2 lessons)

HUMAN LIBRARY

In the human library, students get to meet people coming from minorities living in the Czech republic. Those people share their life story with the students - who can ask them about anything they might be interested in. Human libraries help students to overcome their fear from the unknown, to get their own personal experience with minorities and to revise their own stereotypes. If the school applies for a whole project day, the students will also go through multiple other activities that deepen their knowledge about human rights and understanding of the minorities.

163 minutes (3 lessons and breaks)

We are also offering a whole Human Library Project Day (5 lessons)

MIGRATION AND HUMAN RIGHTS

This workshop is focusing on the topic of migration and refugees from the human rights' point of view. Students deepen their knowledge about this very actual topic, they get to learn more about the most common myths (and also to learn more facts) tied to migration. During a role play game, they will try the whole process of applying for asylum and they will find out what such process entails. They will also get the opportunity to openly discuss the topic of migration in a moderated discussion. The discussion teaches the students to not only form their opinions, but also to respect the opinions of others.

90 minutes (2 lessons)

HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

This workshop introduces stories of real people that stood up against human rights violation, such as violations of free speech, privacy etc, to students. Students get to learn more about stories of real people that stood up against human rights violation. Using creative means, the students get to understand how a human rights defender feels and will learn more about the situation of human rights in regions with non-democratic regimes. This workshop is built on a real case that Amnesty International is dealing with, and the students will get the opportunity to plan their own activity to support those brave human rights defenders. This workshop helps students realize the importance of fighting for human rights and democracy.

90 minutes (2 lessons)

LETTER WRITING MARATHON 

The biggest human rights campaing in the world with the goal to write as many letters as possible. The letters are calling out to governments to make them address human rights violation of real people. One can also send solidarity letters to victims, whose human rights have been violated. The Letter Writing Marathon happens every year around 10th December on the Human Rights Day. Everyone who is interested in organizing their own marathon can sign up at www.amnesty.cz/maraton. We also offer a workshop for schools in which students get to learn more about current cases and then they plan their own event. 

START THE CHANGE

An international project with 17 partners that concentrates on SDGs with the emphasis on human rights and migration. We are using innovative methods in this project such as storytelling, service learning, peer to peer education and ICT in education. Students can meet interesting people from different minorities including refugees and migrants and they can cooperate with them on different activities and help the local communities via service learning. Students and teachers are working in the project both locally (with local NGOs) and globally (with international partners).