“Human rights education is much more than a lesson in schools or a theme for a day; it is a process to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity”

Kofi Annan
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Even basic knowledge of rights and duties that, as human beings, we should observe, will help make a considerable difference to the way many approach every day social situations. This is why it is so important to realize from an early age that living in a bubble of ignorance, does not mean that you will go unaffected by the changes around you. Human rights are your rights. We cannot afford to be complacent in the struggle to protect our rights.

So… we build the foundations, we listen, we argue, we discuss in order to spread the word, one youngster at a time, with the aim of inspiring an attitude of respect for one another and our common humanity...

The new Grassroots Initiative, organized by members of the UCL Student Human Rights Programme, will serve to do just that! Our unique workshops and project classes will see volunteers from UCL leading weekly discussions with children from the ages of 12-16 at schools all around London with the objective of using education to ingrain the culture of defending Human Rights into classrooms and homes across the UK.

Making a Human Rights Comic? Want to become an Editor for a New Human Rights Magazine for Kids? Thinking of launching a Human Rights campaign? Participating in a ‘Debate your Right Night’ at your school? The Grass Root’s Volunteers will work in collaboration with your school to help inspire and animate the imagination of children across London. Let’s kindle young minds into airing their views on what needs to be done, what has to be done to ensure that all our rights and those of future generations are protected.

We want to start at the roots. Children are the future!

For more information please email:

Grassroots coordinators: Andrew Eaton, Jenny Pullicino Orlando and Alice Cole Roberts.

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Updates message from Alice to Andrew:

“Yesterday went great. The kids were very smart! And keen to learn about human rights. We got good feedback from them and the teachers. The kids thought human rights should be taught to everyone, not just them (gifted and talented). They were unaware of the Convention on the Rights of the Child which they seemed to be interested in. Topics of youth discrimination came up quite a lot in the projects. So I think that is something that should be continued next year. The section on history (an image quiz) is great since it links what they already know about world history to human rights. The section on responsibilities and moral v legal section, may be too demanding at that level so perhaps something to be dropped. On the other hand, they knew little about the Human Rights Act (just aware it existed) so I think we should put some emphasis on this. The intro was good but perhaps too simple for them, they already knew what human rights were: universal, fundamental/basic rights.

Topics that seemed to interest them were: WW2 , prisoner’s treatment, racial and religious discrimination, death penalty.
We also had a debate about the greater good argument: is hurting one person justified if done for the ‘greater good’?
We did projects in the afternoon: posters, drawings, powerpoint presentations, a quiz. A great rhyme on youth discrimination: Is it about heights or is it about rights?

All in all a fantastic day. We felt appreciated but more importantly, we felt we made a difference which is great and the whole point of this project!

Alice Cole Roberts (10/06/2010)”

Drawing by Rhiannon and Selucia from John Cass School
Full-size image