Bring Human Rights to School

A great way of making a difference is by bringing human rights to your own school. There are a number of ways that you can do this as a student, and you can even encourage your own teachers to do it as well!

For Students

Celebrate

or hold a

at your local school.

Human Rights Day - 10 December

To help your school celebrate International Human Rights Day, here are some suggestions that you could consider taking to the person or group responsible for planning the occasion – or you could volunteer to be part of the group and help:

• Have a human rights award for people who have contributed to human rights in your school or community.
• Create or take over part of a notice board for human rights activities, news and issues.
• Develop a multicultural charter setting out some key principles that apply in your school and community.
• Develop a human rights pledge which all students and staff can be asked to recite on the day.
• Invite human rights speakers to your school.
• Prepare a ‘what to see' list for forthcoming film or television programs which have a human rights interest.
• Support a human rights project.
• Create a list of human rights websites (start with the Commission website, and use these to develop a trivia quiz on human rights for your school.
• Contact a group such as Amnesty International and consider setting up a school chapter of such a group
• Start a human rights group in your school
• Access the UN's page about Human Rights Day for more information and resources

Start thinking and planning now. Make 10 December a ceremony that really creates awareness of human rights issues, which inspires people to appreciate what they have, and to strive to make sure that all people enjoy human rights equally.

Harmony Day - 21 March

Harmony Week recognises diversity and inclusion activities that take place during the entire week. Harmony Week is celebrated during the week (Monday to Sunday) that ​includes 21 March, which is the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Since 1999, more than 80,000 Harmony Week events have been held in childcare centres, schools, community groups, churches, businesses and federal, state and local government agencies across Australia.

Check out the Harmony Day website

for resources and some ideas on how to celebrate Harmony Day:

• online
• at home with your family
• with friends

For Teachers

Access the Teachers section of our site for resources on a broad range of human rights issues.

Further reading

• A Brief Human Rights Timeline
• Human Rights Explained factsheets
• Face the Facts: Human Rights factsheets
• What are human rights?