Human Rights - Social Studies

Hi guys, for the past few terms, we have been working on human rights and our rights as humans. We had to make a blog post showing all the things we have learned throughout this topic. We learnt about our human rights, referencing, the dot-jot method in taking notes, and more. I found it exciting learning about the Native Americans during the lockdown and learning about the Dawn Raids.   

We have learnt about The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR is an international treaty that has 30 articles of what rights a human being has. This was established in 1945 after both world wars. These aren't laws but more like values, even these articles emphasising the rights of a human some places around the world don't respect and recognize its importance.      

What are human rights? 
Human rights have the basic right to freedom that belongs to every person from birth until death.

Who do you think to have human rights? 
Every person had the right regardless of where you live, what you believe and how you choose to live.

Why do you think human rights are important? 
Most importantly, these rights give us the power and speak up and challenge poor treatment from a public authority. 

Can you think of a time when you or someone you know wasn't shown human rights? Personally, I don't remember or know anyone that has been mistreated or wasn't shown human rights.  

Rank These Rights
Most Important 
To live 
To live freely
To have clean water and food 
To have free speech 
To not be tort5ured 
To have education 
To have a fair trial
To get married 
To have religious beliefs 
Least Important

Our task was to make a poster summarising all 30 articles of the Universal Declaration Of Human Rights (UDHR). This poster needed to be presented to a high standard and needed to include images or illustrations I made this poster using Piktochart. I also added a small paragraph talking about Eleanor Roosevelt because I personally think she was an important part of the UDHR.

 

Vocabulary Task 
Research the meanings of the following vocabulary. Use the word in a sentence that you have written in your own words. You can add any words that you are unfamiliar with.

1. Impassioned	2. Malnourished	3. Inspired	4. Campaign	5. Bonded Labour
6. Lobbied	7. Dedication	8. Suspicious	9. Collusion	10. Initial

1. Impassioned - Filled or showing intense emotion 
    Example - She was impassioned by the work she presented.

2. Malnourished - Affects of improper nutrition or poor diet 
    Example - People around the world are malnourished which lead to a weak immune system.

3. Inspired - Motivation influenced by something outstanding or brilliant 
    Example - He was inspired by the speech given today.

4. Campaign - To encourage an operation planned to achieve a certain goal
    Example - The campaign lasted several weeks.

5. Bonded Labour - A system when a person provides labour to pay off their debts 
    Example - For many years bonded labour has been a way to pay off debts for the less fortunate. 

6. Lobbied - To attempt to influence someone towards a desire
    Example - We lobbied new restriction at school.

7. Dedication - Being committed to someone or something
    Example - He showed great dedication when doing it.

8. Suspicious - Someone or something questionable or doubtful
Example - They were all acting suspicious as I walked into the room.

9. Collusion - A secret or illegal agreement to trap others
Example - A smuggler acted in collusion when transporting illegal substances across the border.

10. Initial - Something that comes first
Example - My initial thought was that we lost it.

Native American Inquiry

I will also be sharing what I have been doing in social studies while in lockdown. We are learning about social justice, our task was to pick a topic for example Child Labour, Jew in Nazi Germany, the Death Penalty, and etc. I chose to do Native American because it seems like a very interesting topic. Going into the topic the only thing I knew about Native Americans they were indigenous people of America. I researched who they were, where they are, and how they were discovered? When learning about how they were discovered and how their name came to be American Indians I was very fascinated so I added an extra slide taking about it. I have also added an extra slide showing connection with Māori and Native Americans and there are a lot of similarities between the two. Here is my presentation about Native American Reservations.

Dot-Jot Method

While learning about human rights we learnt how to take notes using the dot-jot method. When using the dot-jot method you need to write down key information, keyword, important dates and important events from the video or website you're getting your information from. I personally found this very quick and easy and used it a lot. This also helped me put my notes in my own words when it came to writing. This is an example of myself using the dot-jot method was when I did my Holocaust work. 

 

Referencing 

While also learning about the dot-jot method we learnt how to reference sites, videos or anything that needs to be credited by the author. Referencing gives the author credit for their work. I think that is really important we reference because if you don't, it counts as plagiarism (copyright). We used APA (American Psychological Association) which is a style of referencing. The website we used to help us reference sites, articles, images, or videos was ReferenCite. Here are some referencing I did for my work.  

Invasion Of Parihaka

After learning about the referencing and the dot-jot method we had to learn about the Invasion of Parihaka. I found Parihaka an interesting part of New Zealand history and I think every New Zealander should know the history behind it. Here is another presentation I have made. Enjoy!  

Dawn Raids

We have been working on a case study. I am doing Dawn Raids because I found it interesting. We had to answer questions and make a presentation showing our answers. The Dawn Raids began in the 1970s and is when the government targeted the pacific communities in New Zealand. I won't tell you everything but if you would like to know read my presentation. Here is my work on the Dawn Raids. 

We are DONE! 

Our final task was to write paragraphs about a chosen topic. My topic is the Final Solution. I found this an interesting topic because Adolf Hitler was the leader of the Nazi Party in Germany during the Holocaust. He is known for being one of the most powerful and notorious political leaders. Here are my paragraphs about the final solution. 

The “Final Solution Of The Jewish Question” is the term used by many German Nazi leaders, it referred to the Holocaust or the genocide (mass death of a single ethnicity) of European Jews. The Holocaust was systematic and state-sponsored by Germany who targeted European Jews. It began in 1941 and lasted until May 1945. The German Nazi Party murdered six million European Jews; the party's leader, Adolf Hitler, was Germany's ruler from 1933 to 1945. Germany killed six million Jews because Jews were supposedly a threat to the German community. Germany referred to itself as "racially superior," which implies that one group is superior to another and believed that Jews were “inferior” meaning they were below Germany. The Nazi Party envisioned killing eleven million Jew but succeeded in killing six million. Germany also targeted groups with political, ideological, and behavioural grounds. Alongside Germany, allies and collaborators also targeted communists, socialists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, disabled people and homosexuals. European Jews lived in countries Nazi influenced during world war ||; Nazi excluded Jews from German economic, social, cultural life and pressured them to migrate. 

In 1939, the anti-Jewish policy escalated to imprisonment and murder. The Nazi Party established ghettos (confined areas designed to isolate and control the Jews). Jews were deported to other ghettos all around Europe; ghettos were very unsanitary, overcrowded and had inadequate food. Nazi leaders also established three killing centres in Poland—Belzec, Sobibor, and Treblinka to murder Jews. Police and German SS (paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler) murdered nearly 2,700,000 Jews in the killing centres. This was by asphyxiation with poison gas or by shooting. By 1941, the SS and Police introduced mobile gas vans. They were specially designed for ongoing shooting operations. In these trucks there would be exhaust pipes with poisonous carbon monoxide gas, killing those who were inside. In the 1940s many Jews and many other victims were forced into labour by the Nazi Party. Nazi established concentration camps which were detaining centres. There were pointless, humiliating and had no proper equipment, clothing, food or rest. Prisoners worked to death! Camp prisoners were forced to work in conditions deliberately that led to illnesses, injuries and death. For instance, in many camps, prisoners would run up and down steps carrying heavy boulders daily.

In article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it states that “No one has the right to inflict torture, or to subject anyone else to cruel or inhuman treatment.” Two out of three Jewish were killed during the holocaust, therefore did not uphold this human right.  

     

Holocaust Encyclopedia. (2021). Introduction to the holocaust. Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/introduction-to-the-holocaust 

Holocaust Encyclopedia (2020). “Final Solution”: Overview. Holocaust Encyclopedia

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/final-solution-overview 

Holocaust Encyclopedia. (2019) Ghettos. Holocaust Encyclopedia 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ghettos?series=97 

Holocaust Encyclopedia. (n.d.) Forced Labour. Holocaust Encyclopedia 

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/forced-labor-an-overview?series=97

In conclusion, I really enjoyed this topic because I learnt about so many problems we faced through time around the world and the problems we are still facing. During this topic, I learnt about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Native Americans, the dot-jot method, referencing, the Invasion of Parihaka, Dawn Raids, the final solution and the list goes on. I found all of the things I learnt useful and will help me in my future studies. If you are still reading this very long blog post, thank you. Bye!