Lesson 1: What it means to be human Rights in conflict
Learning outcome 1.3
Learning outcome 1.9 Students should be able to explain a hierarchy of human needs and how this relates to human rights.
Exercise 23A Identifying how rights can come into conflict Key Skills
Success criteria
Students should be able to outline different perspectives in situations where there is an apparent confl ict of rights or an abuse of rights.
I can give reasons for rights being in confl ict and suggest solutions.
Rights are sometimes in confl ict. This happens when one person or group claims that they cannot enjoy their rights because they clash with the rights of another person or group. An example would be in a school where year groups have diff erent breaktimes. Group 1 is not allowed to play football in the yard during the break because it would disturb group 2 who are in class at the time. Two rights are involved in this case: the right to leisure and the right to education. One group is prevented from enjoying their right whereas the other group is not. If one side in a confl ict of rights is more powerful or is more likely to be listened to, their right usually gets priority over the other right.
1. Working in pairs, look at cartoon A and cartoon B in Q2 on the next page. Then discuss the questions and write your answers.
Cartoon A
(a) What confl icting rights are involved here?
(b) How do you think this situation could be resolved?
(c) Why do you think this situation has not been resolved?
(d) What do you think is the most likely solution? Why?