Lessons in American History Using Primary Sources
A Series of Webquests
By Laura Thompson
UPS 13: Human Rights
Historical Context – In 1984, the United Nations
Commission on Human Rights drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
It defined basic human rights for people around the world. Not withstanding the
efforts of the United Nations and groups like Amnesty International basic human
rights are still continually violated.
Driving
Question: How have the human rights of three specific groups of people around
the world been violated? What actions have been taken to stop each of these
abuses? How effective have these actions been?
Part A |
The following documents address various human
rights. Examine each document carefully. In the space provided, answer the
question or questions that follow each document. |
Document
1 - David Hawk, "The Killing of
Cambodia," The New Republic, 1982, (adapted). This excerpt
describes the violation of human rights in Cambodia.
From the middle of 1975 to the end of 1978, between
one million and three million Cambodians, out of a population of about seven
million, died at the hands of Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. Former government
employees, army personnel, and "intellectuals" were executed in the
hundreds of thousands. Others were killed by disease, exhaustion, and
malnutrition during forced urban evacuations, migrations, and compulsory
labor. Families were broken apart and communal living established; men and
women were compelled to marry partners selected by the state. Education and
religious practices were forbidden. |
What human
rights were violated during the Cambodian genocide?
Document
2 - Brian Williams, MSNBC interview with Dith
Pran, 1998, (adapted).This excerpt is from an
interview with Cambodian genocide survivor, Dith Pran.
And my mission as a survivor; I must do something to
tell the world what happened to the millions of Cambodian people that got
killed during the Khmer Rouge. |
How did Mr.
Pran hope to help end genocide?
Document
3 - Mark C. Carnes, The American Nation: A
History of the United States, Combined Volume (13th Edition), Longman, 2007. This is the text
from a sign from South Africa
FOR USE BY WHITE
PERSONS THESE PUBLIC PREMISES
AND AMENITIES HAVE BEEN RESERVED FOR THE EXCLUSIVE USE OF WHITE PERSONS By Order Provincial
Secretary |
How did this
sign violate human rights in South Africa?
Document
4 - Mark C. Carnes, The American Nation: A
History of the United States, Combined Volume (13th Edition), Longman, 2007. Below is a
timeline of apartheid-related events in South Africa
1964
– Anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela is sentenced to life in jail 1973
– UN General Assembly declares apartheid a crime against humanity 1977
– US Security Council embargoes arms exports to South Africa 1983
– New constitution gives limited political rights to colored and Asian
minorities 1986
– US imposes broad economic sanctions against South Africa 1990
– Mandela is released from prison. Legal end of segregation 1992
– Apartheid is dismantled; black majority allowed to vote 1994
– First all-races election is held |
According to
the timeline, what actions were taken to end apartheid? List and explain three.
Document
5 - Mark C. Carnes, The American Nation: A
History of the United States, Combined Volume (13th Edition), Longman, 2007. Below is a
simulated newspaper headline from June 1989 in Beijing.
CHINESE ARMY CRUSHES
PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTORS Thousands face army
tanks after protestors assemble in Tiananmen Square |
According to
this newspaper headline, what human rights abuses occurred at Tiananmen Square?
Document
6 - Human Rights Watch, "Survivors Describe Taliban—Human
Rights Watch urges UN Investigation of Massacre," (available at: http://www.hrw.org/English/docs/1998/11/01/afghan1424.htm).
This excerpt is adapted from a Human Rights Watch report on the Taliban.
[New York, November 1, 1998]—An August massacre of
civilians by Taliban troops in Mazar-i-Sharif is one of the worst atrocities
of Afghanistan's long civil war, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released
today…According to eyewitnesses quoted in the report, Taliban troops taking
control of Mazar-i-Sharif sought out and executed members of the Hazara
ethnic group, who are Shi'a Muslims. The Taliban are believers in a strict
version of Sunni Islam. "In a very brutal war, this is a particularly
brutal episode," said Patricia Gossman, senior researcher of Human
Rights Watch's Asia Division. "We are talking about the systematic
execution of perhaps 2000 civilians, in large part because of their ethnic and
religious identity. |
According the
HRW, what group's human rights were violated by the Taliban government and why?
Document
7 - Roger B. Bech, World History:
Patterns of Interaction, McDougal-Littell, 2002,
(adapted). The following excerpt includes a description of the war in
Afghanistan.
In October 2001, the US began bombing Taliban air
defenses, airfields and command centers…In December, the Taliban were driven
from power, but the fight to destroy al-Qaeda continued. Meanwhile, the UN
worked with…Afghan groups to establish an interim government to replace the
Taliban. |
What actions
were taken against the Taliban, and by whom?
Document 8 -
http://www.amnesty.org/. This excerpt is
adapted from the statutes of Amnesty International
Vision and Mission Amnesty International's vision is of a world in
which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the UN's
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights
standards… Methods …Amnesty International seeks to disclose human
rights abuses accurately, quickly, and persistently. It systematically and
impartially researches the facts of individual cases… These findings are
publicized, and members…mobilize public pressure on governments and others to
stop the abuses. |
What does
Amnesty International do to stop human rights abuses?
Part B |
How have the human rights of three specific groups
of people around the world been violated? What actions have been taken to stop
each of these abuses? How effective have these actions been? |