USE:FUL - Promoting and protecting human rights

Have you ever heard the phrase „United in diversity”? It is the EU’s motto and it represents what the EU’s values are all about. While each EU country has its own culture, language and traditions, they all share the same common values and must respect them if they want to be part of the European Union.

One fundamental value that unites all the member states is democracy. The other values of the EU that are common to all member states are human dignity, freedom, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of people belonging to minority groups. 

The EU Charter of Fundamental Rights guarantees EU citizens’ rights. The Charter lays down the fundamental rights that are binding upon EU institutions and bodies. It also applies to national governments when they are implementing EU law.

In this webquest we will learn about:

• Fundamental rights for EU citizens

• What does the EU policy include?

• What are the EU human rights actions?

• Human rights and democracy

Your task for this webquest is to find out exactly which are the fundamental rights for EU citizens, how EU protects and promotes human rights.

You and your group (six students in total) will become "experts" on fundamental rights for EU citizens issues.

At the end of the webquest, each team will create a poster that will reflect the way a human right should be promoted:

• team 1: Solidarity,
• team 2: Dignity,
• team 3: Equality,
• team 4: Freedoms,
• team 5: Citizens rights,
• team 6: Justice.

Follow the steps below for the first process in your project. 

1. In groups, you will work together to learn about human rights in the EU by using the link and filling out the worksheet below. 

Fundamental rights for EU citizens:

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/summary/chapter/human_rights/1301.html?root=1301

Human rights in the EU – worksheet:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FJIcdTkmeyWLczK-P88_T6ZTlOgymgC1tdk9-BrGeJ4/edit?usp=sharing

2. Each team will look for information about what the EU does for its citizens, by accessing the links provided, and then fill in the worksheet:

What does the EU do for its citizens?

https://europa.eu › european-union › about-eu › what-the-eu-does-for-its-c...

What does the EU do for its citizens? – worksheet:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19ocDBBa8NyKHdG1DJO7H5V3fErBQwASc8ax_LTaik1M/edit?usp=sharing

Now that you have completed all the components of process one, proceed to process two!

Great work! You are now at the last part of your project!! 

Each team will create a poster that will reflect the way a human right should be promoted, as follows: 

• team 1: Solidarity

• team 2: Dignity 

• team 3: Equality

• team 4: Freedoms

• team 5: Citizens rights

• team 6: Justice.

This webquest is designed to teach students about the two main streams of human rights policy and action within the European Union. One is to protect the fundamental human rights for EU citizens, and the other is to promote human rights worldwide.

This webquest was created by a team of teachers, within the co-funded Erasmus plus KA2  partnership “UNITED STATES OF EUROPE: FRATERNITY, UNITY, LIBERTY” (USE:FUL), project no: 2018-1-PT01-KA229-047349, KA2 - Cooperation for Innovation and the Exchange of Good Practices, KA229 School Exchange Partnerships.

The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsi­ble for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.