LESSON PLAN

COURSE : Fire Basic Recruit Course (FBRC)

MODULE : I – General Information Subjects

SUBJECT : Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law

METHODOLOGY : Lecture – Discussion, Role Playing

NUMBER OF HOURS : Eight (8)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES : At the end of the lesson, the trainees should be able to:

1. define human rights and its basic characteristics

2. discuss the basic concepts /classifications of human rights;
3. explain and discuss the foundation of human rights;
4. identify and describe the state obligation on human rights –
obligation to respect, to protect & to fulfill.

5. analyze the brief history of the Universal Declaration of

Human Rights (UDHR) and support the thirty (30) rights
contained in a document..

LEARNING AIDS: Multi-Media Projector / Screen, Laptop

Reading Materials

REFERENCES: Human Rights Education Teaching Exemplar

Booklet on Youth for Human Rights International

PPSC/NFTI-SLP1-2016-01
I. INTRODUCTION:

Preparatory Activities

 Opening Prayer
 Introduction of the instructor
 Checking of attendance
 Introduce the lesson and present the lesson objectives.

Developmental Activities

 Film viewing on Human Rights and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

 Inform the students / trainees about the importance of human rights education and the Legal
Bases of Human Rights Education in the Philippines.

II. PRESENTATION (Lesson Proper)

 Introduce and discuss the following specific subject areas, give examples to clarify
energy point when necessary.

 Definition of Human Rights

 Characteristics of Human Rights
 Different Foundations of Human Rights
 Classifications of Human Rights according to: sources, recipient, aspect of life, struggle
for recognition, derogability

 Emphasize the following Key Points

 Levels of State Obligation

 Thirty rights contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 Summarize the Lesson / Important Points Discussed.

 Respect to human rights is the foundation of universal peace, justice and freedom
while disrespect to human rights may cause social unrest, conflict between nations and
societies and underdevelopment.
 The positive effect of respect to human rights and the negative effect of disrespect to
human rights including the obligations and limitations related with human rights.

III. APPLICATION (Workshop)

 Students / Trainees will be grouped into five (5) to dramatize the civil, political, economic,
social and cultural rights.

IV. TEST
- As firefighters, discuss how you protect yourself from human rights violation.
- Closing Prayer
 LESSON TIMETABLE

MODULE : I - General Information Subjects

SUBJECT : Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law
METHODOLOGY : Lecture – Discussion and Role Playing
DURATION : Eight (8) Hours
DURATION CONTENT / TOPIC STRATEGY / REFERENCE / EVALUATION /
ACTIVITY TOOLS OUTPUT
15 mins Introduction  Opening Prayer The trainees /
 Importance of human Film showing students display
rights education and (Human Rights and Laptop eagerness in
the legal bases of Universal Multi-Media studying human
Human Rights Declaration of Speaker rights and its legal
Education in the Human Rights) Microphone basis.
Philippines.
1 hr1 & Introduce and discuss Lecture – HRE Teaching The students /
30 mins the following topics: Discussion an Exemplar trainees display
 Human Rights and Recitation knowledge and
its basic understanding of
characteristics; foundations and
 Different Foundations characteristics of
of Human Rights; human rights.
15 mins Break
2 hrs Classifications of Lecture-Discussion The students can
Human Rights; identify classification
of human rights.
Lunch Break
1 hr and State Obligation on Lecture - HRE Teaching The students /
45 mins Human Rights: Discussion Exemplar trainees are able to
 Obligation to Respect correctly identify the
 Obligation to Protect obligations of the
 Obligation to Fulfill state in relation to
human rights.
15 mins Break
1 hr & Universal Declaration of Lecture - Booklet on The students /
50 mins Human Rights (UDHR) Discussion Youth for trainees display the
and the thirty (30) rights Human Rights ability to identify and
contained therof. International discuss the UDHR
and the rights
contained thereof
10 mins  Application Role-playing - The students /
(Classification of trainees display the
Human Rights ability to apply
According to knowledge on
Aspect of Life) Human Rights into
Closing Prayer their life as well as
personal judgment.
LESSON MANUSCRIPT
(Human Rights)
A Look at the Background of Human Rights

The Clay Cylinder of Cyrus the Great, first king of ancient Persia (585-529 B.C.) is hailed as
the first document of human rights when he freed all slaves to return home. He declared that the
people should choose their own religion. He abolished slavery, so all the palaces of the kings of
Persia were built by paid workers in an era where slaves typically did such work. Citizens of all
religions and ethnic groups were also given the same rights while women had the same rights as
men. The protection of the rights to liberty and security; freedom of movement; the right to property;
and, economic and social rights were documented during his reign. The cylinder was discovered in
March 1879 by Hormuzd Rassan during a lengthy program of excavations in Mesopotamia. The
cylinder now lies in the British Museum where replica is kept at the United Nations Headquarters.

1215: The Magna Carta – giving people new rights and making the kind subject to the law.

1628: The Petition of Right – setting out the rights of the people

Meaning of Human Right

Human Rights – those rights which are inherent in our nature and without which we cannot
live as human beings. (UN Definition)

Human Rights are the supreme, inherent and inalienable rights to life, to dignity and to self-
development. It is the essence of these rights that makes man human. (CHR
Definition)

Seven (7) Characteristics of Human Rights:

1. Inherent – innate or naturally born with the individual. It is not granted to people by
any authority. It does not need any event for its existence.

2. Fundamental –basic, essential, primary without which the life and the dignity of man
will be meaningless.
3. Inalienable –cannot be separated, transferred or taken away from an individual.

4. Universal – possessed by all people regardless of their sex, race, color, language,
national origin, age, class, religion or political beliefs.

5. Indivisible –cannot be divided and cannot be denied even when other rights have
already enjoyed.
6. Inter-related and Inter-dependent – can be sources of other rights (e.g. from our right to
life springs our right to clean air, right to food, right to work, right to clothing, etc.
7. Imprescriptible - has no time limit.

Different Foundations of Human Rights:

a) Philosophical
  Rationality – the process of deliberating on the merits o choices, and
consequently reasoning out for one’s choice or action or decision.
- It involved reasoning and rationalizing of everything or every
action.
- It is one of the two basic philosophical foundations of human
rights.
 Freedom – It involve the decision to chose one option in exercise of freedom.
- the use of free will in decision making.
- It is our second basic philosophical foundation of human rights
- Therefore, RATIONALITY and FREEDOM are two basic
philosophical foundations of human rights.
b) Theological:

 The rights to due process;

 The right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty;
 The right to be heard; and
 The right to meet one’s accusers and witnesses against him face-to-face.

“The only right that is not exercised here is the right to legal counsel”.

1. Honor your father and your
mother.
2. You shall not murder
3. You shall not murder
4. You shall not steal.
5. You shall not give false
testimony against your
neighbor.
6. You shall not covet your
neighbor’s wife.
7. Respect the rights of your parents.
8. Respect the rights to life.
9. Respect the right to found a family,
respect the right to marry.
10. Respect the right to property (in
deed).
11. Respect the right to honor and
reputation.
12. Respect the right to property (in
thought).

According to Struggle for Recognition:

1. First Generation of Human Rights – covers civil and political rights. It

conceives human rights more in negative (freedom from) as it favors the
abstention / non-interference rather that intervention of government in the
exercise of freedom in the quest of human dignity.

2. Second Generation of Human Rights – Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Conceives human rights in positive term (right to…) it forwards fundamental
claims to social equality.

3. Third Generation of Human Rights – Collective Rights (i.e. right to

development, right to a healthy environment).

c) Historical:
 Historical Period Recognized Law

Pre-Hispanic Period Codes of Sumakwel and Kalantiaw

Hispanic Malolos Constitution
American Philippine Bill of 1902 (Cooper Act)
1935 Constitution
Japanese Period UN Charter
International Bill of Human Rights
Martial Law 1973 Constitution
New Democracy 1987 Constitution

d) Legal
 International Instruments / Law
 Treaties:
- Covenant
- Convention

 International Customary law

 Local / Domestic Laws

Classifications of Human Rights: Rights may be classified according to the following:

A. According to Sources:

1. Natural rights –God given rights.

2. Constitutional rights – rights enshrined in the Constitution;
3. Statutory rights – rights which are provided by law, promulgated by a law making body and
therefore, may be abolished by the same body.

B. According to Recipient:

1. Individual Rights or Rights of Man – rights accorded to individuals. These include the
following:
a) Right to life
b) Right to dignity
c) Right to self-development

2. Collective Rights – also know n as People’s Rights / Solidarity Rights and Rights of
Society. These rights can be enjoyed only in the company of others such as the following:
 a) Rights of People as People to Survive – springs the people’s right to peace, to non-
aggression and to share in international trade, receiving a just price for our products and
paying not more than what is fair for the products of other countries.

b) Right of People to Self-Determination - It is the source of people’s right to sovereign

equality in international affairs and international organization to freedom from all forms
of racial discrimination; to political independence and freedom from colonialism, neo-
colonialism, alien domination and intervention in our national affairs, to sovereignty over
our national resources and overall economic activities; to control the activities of foreign
investors and transnational corporations; and, to nationalize and expropriate their assets
and freely choose and change our political, social cultural and economic system.

c) Right to develop as a people – It implies the right to freely choose the goals and means
of development; to implement social and economic reforms that ensure the participation
of all the people in the process and benefits of development; to share in scientific and
technological advances of the world; and, as a former colony, to reparations and
retribution for the exploitation to which one have been subjected.

C. According to Aspect of Life:

a) Civil Rights - rights which the law will enforce at the instance of private individuals for
the purpose of securing to them the enjoyment of their means and happiness. (i.e.,
right to life, freedom of expression and right to religion, etc.).

b) Political Rights – rights which enable us to participate in running the affairs of the
government either directly or indirectly. (i.e., right to vote, right to information on
matters of public concerns and right to initiative and referendum.)

c) Economic and Social Rights – are those rights which the law confers upon people to
enable them to achieve, social and economic development, thereby, ensuring them
their well-being, happiness and financial security (i.e., right to property, education and
promotion of social justice).

d) Cultural Rights –rights that ensure the well-being of an individual and foster the
preservation, enrichment and dynamic evolution of national culture based on the
principle of unity in diversity in a climate of free artistic and intellectual expressions.

D. According to Struggle for Recognition:

 First Generation of Human Rights (covers civil and political rights)

 Second Generation of Human Rights (economic, social and cultural rights)
 Third Generation of Human Rights ( collective rights- right to development, right to a
healthy environment).

E. According to its Derogability

 1. Non-Derogable or Absolute Rights – rights that cannot be suspended nor taken away nor
restricted / limited even in extreme emergency (i.e., right to be deprived of life
arbitrarily, freedom from torture, right to be recognized as a person, freedom of
conscience or thought).

2. Derogable / Relative / Not Absolute Rights – those rights that may be suspended or
restricted (i.e. right to religion, right to move or travel). It has to satisfy three (3)
conditions in order to be suspended / limited:
a) it is provided by law, which is made known to every citizen;
b) there is a state of emergency, which necessitates the urgent preservation of the
public good, public safety, and public moral;
c) it does not exceed what is strictly necessary to achieve the purpose.

Human rights entail both rights and obligation

 Obligation to Respect – the estate must refrain from interfering with or curtailing the enjoyment
of human rights.

 Obligation to Protect – requires the estates to protect individuals and groups against human
rights abuses.

 Obligation to Fulfill – the estate must take positive action to facilitate the enjoyment basic
human rights.

Right to Food
Obligation to Respect Obligation to Protect Obligation to Fulfill
 Ensuring access to food  Obligation to protect  Strengthening access to food
and planning for individuals from by ensuring that people have
shortages and interference with their the resources for food security
distribution problems. right to food from through stimulating
other actors. employment, engaging in land
 No violation on the right reform, and developing
to food through  Requires the state to transport and storage facilities.
unjustified destruction of guarantee that title to  The state may have to provide
crops or evictions from land is ensured to food or social security to fulfill
land. those who have close basic needs in the situations in
cultural link to the which the individual is subject
 No discrimination with land. to unemployment, sickness,
regard to access to food. disability, widowhood, old age
or other lack of livelihood in
circumstances beyond his
control.

Gross Human Rights Violations:

  GENOCIDE – acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic,
racial or religious group.

 TORTURE – any act committed with intent to cause severe pain or suffering, mental or
physical, for the purpose of: a) obtaining information or a confession; and, b) punishing,
intimidating or coercing.

 ARBITRARY ARREST AND DETENTION – Deprivation of liberty without lawful reason or due
process by an act of the government of its agents, or with their complicity, tolerance or
acquiescence.

 ENFORCED OR INVOLUNTARY DISAPPEARANCE – Arrest, detention, abduction or other

deprivation of liberty by the Government or its agents, or with their complicity, tolerance of
acquiescence, where the fate or whereabouts of the victim is not disclosed or when custody is
not confirmed.

 EXTRA LEGAL, ARBITRARY OR SUMMARY EXECUTIONS – Deprivation of life without full

judicial and legal process, and with the involvement, complicity, tolerance or acquiescence of
the Government or its agents. It includes death throught he excessive use of force by police
or security forces.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Adopted and proclaimed by the General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III) on December 10,
1948. On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the full text of which appears in the following pages.
Following the historic act,the Assembly called upon all member countries to publicize the text of the
Declaration and “to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools
and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or
territories”.

The following are the thirty (30) rights contained in a document called the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.

1. We are all born free and equal. We are all born free. We all have our own thoughts and
ideas. We should all be treated in the same way.

2. Don’t Discriminate. These rights belong to everybody whatever our differences maybe.

3. The Right to Life. We all have the right to life and to live in freedom and safety.

4. No Slavery. Nobody has any right to make us a slave. We cannot make anyone our slave.

5. No Torture. Nobody has any right to hurt or to torture us.

6. You have rights no matter where you go. I am a person just like you!

7. We’re all equal before the law. The law is the same for everyone. It must treat us fairly.
8. Your Human Rights are protected by law. We can all ask for the law to help us when we
are not treated fairly.

9. No unfair detainment. Nobody has the right to put us in prison without good reason and
keep us there, or to send us away from our country.

10. The right to trial. If we are put on trial this should be in public. The people who try us
should not let anyone tell them what to do.

11. We’re always innocent till proven guilty. Nobody should be blamed for doing something
until it is proven. When people say we did the
wrong thing, we have the right to show it is not
true.

12. The right to privacy. Nobody should try to harm our good name. Nobody has the right to
come into our home, open our letters, or bother us or our family
without a good reason.

13. Freedom to move. We all have the right to go where we want in our own country and
travel as we wish.

14. The right to seek a safe place to live. If we are frightened of being badly treated in our
own country, we all have the right to run away to
another country to be safe.

15. Right to a nationality. We all have the right to belong to a country.

16. Marriage and Family. Every grown-up has the right to marry and have a family if he or
she wants to. Men and women have the same right when they are
married, and when they are separated.

17. To right to your own things. Everyone has the right to own things or to share these.
Nobody should take our things from us without a good
reason.

18. Freedom of Thought. We all have the right to believe in what we want to believe, to have
a religion, or to change it if we want to.

19. Freedom of Expression. We all have the right to make up our own minds, to think about
what we like, to say what we think, and to share our ideas with
other people.

20. The right to public assembly. We all have the right to meet our friends and to work
together in peace to defend our rights. Nobody can make
us join a group if we don’t want to.

21. The right to democracy. We all have the right to take part in the government of our
country. Every grown-up should be allowed to choose their own
leader.
 22. Social Security. We all have the right to affordable housing, medicine, education, and
child care, enough money to live with and medical help if we are ill or old.

23. Worker’s right. Every grown-up has the right to do a job, to a fair wage for his or her
work, and to join a trade union.

24. The right to play. We all have the right to rest from work and to relax.

25. Food and shelter for all. We all have the right to a good life. Mothers and children, people
who are aged, unemployed or disabled, and all people have the
right to be cared for.

26. The right to education. Education is a right. Primary school should be free. We should
learn about the United Nation as and how to get on with others.
Our parents can choose what we learn.

27. Copyright. Copyright is a special law that protects one’s own artistic creations and
writings; others cannot make copies without permission. We all have the right
to our own way of life and to enjoy the good things that art, science and
learning brings.

28. A fair and free world. There must be a proper order so we can all enjoy our right and
freedom in our own country and all over the world.

29. Responsibility. We have a duty to other people and we should protect their right and
freedom.

30. No one can take away your Human Rights.

Levels of State Obligation:

1. Obligation to Respect – requires the state to abstain from doing anything that violates the
integrity of the individual or infringes on the individuals freedom. it forbids the State to act in
any way that directly encroaches upon recognized rights and freedom. In essence the State
practices non-interference. However, the State has a corresponding duty to create and
facilitate an economic, social and political environment conducive to the enjoyment, exercise
and realization of human rights. Obligation to respect human rights is immediate. It is
unconditional, meaning the states must not destroy people’s livelihood people’s personal
security or health, people’s home and people's identity, etc.

2. Obligation to Protect – compels the State top take steps to prohibit others from violating
recognized rights and freedoms. Binds the state from taking any measures that would erode
the legal and practical status of human rights, and imposes upon states the duty to act to
preclude further deprivation. Places sufficient legal and policy emphasis on the full realization
of human rights through a series of active measures, including the guarantee of access to
legal remedies for any infringement caused by third party.

3. Obligation of Fulfill – (Facilitate/Promote and Provide) – the State is called upon as the
ultimate provider of productive resources and, if necessary goods and services. It means the
state should take the necessary measures to ensure that each individual has to opportunity to
obtain the entitlements of human rights that cannot be secured by personal or individual efforts
alone. Implies a long term view that requires financial inputs which cannot be accomplished by
individuals and that involve issue of public expenditures, state regulation of the economy,
basic services, taxation and related re-distributive measures. It requires from the state not only
legislation but also to take measures that actually promote the realization of human rights.
Require state to take appropriate legislative administrative, budgetary judicial and other
measures towards the full realization of human rights. When the individuals or group are
unable to realize their rights by the means at their disposal, for reasons beyond their control,
the state has the obligation to fulfill/provide) the right in question.