Hello.

My name's Miss Ikomi and I'm a teacher from London.

I'm gonna be taking you through today's lesson.

Let's get started.

Today's lesson is called What Can We Do as Citizens to Protect the Rights of Others? It is part of the wider unit called What Rights Should All Children Have? By the end of today's lesson, you will be able to explain what we do as citizens to protect the rights of others.

The keywords we're going to hear about today are: right: this is something that we are entitled to by law.

And advocacy: this means representing or supporting a person or organisation publicly by writing, speaking, or taking action on behalf of that person or organisation.

Keep an eye out for these keywords as we move through today's lesson.

We're gonna start by thinking about how children's rights can be protected.

We know that children's rights are protected by lots of different documents.

One of those is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, also known the UNCRC.

This is an international agreement that has been signed by 196 countries worldwide.

That's almost all the countries around the world.

This agreement supports and protects the rights of children and is based on four main principles.

Those principles are: non-discrimination, best interest of the child, the right to life, survival, and development, and respect for the views of the child.

Lucas says, "I know what my rights are, but I don't know how they're protected.

What do you think, Sofia? Sofia is saying that "there are many ways that our rights can be protected.

Governments need to create strong policies and laws to protect children and ensure that these are followed.

People also need to use their advocacy skills and stick up for our rights.

Some people think about their own rights first and forget about the need to protect and value other people's." We've seen our first keyword there, or both our first keywords, rights and advocacy.

Children's rights can be protected in the law.

The UNCRC is an example of an international law that exists to protect children's rights.

The 196 countries that have signed it demonstrates that these rights are important within those countries, and therefore children need to have those extra protections.

Let's check what we've done so far.

How many countries have signed the UNCRC? Pause your video and choose the answer now.

The correct answer is D: 196.

Well done if you got that right.

Children also have their human rights protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

This is sometimes called the UDHR.

This was created by the United Nations in 1948.

It was created just after World War II.

It lists basic rights that everybody should have, such as freedom and equality.

It's not legally binding, but it does set out the global standard for human rights and lots of countries have taken those rights and written them into their own laws.

We can see a picture on the slide that has the Lady of Justice statute.

She's supposed to represent respect and equality within a court of law.

Declarations and agreements like the UDHR and the UNCRC offer some protection towards children's rights.

However, it remains the responsibility of countries to put these rights into their actual laws.

This is because international agreements can't make the law in all of those different countries.

Therefore, to make a real difference and have power, those agreements have to be followed through by individual governments to make sure that individual rights are fully protected.

Advocacy means representing or supporting a person or organisation publicly by writing, speaking, or taking action on behalf of that person or organisation.

We can use advocacy skills to campaign for the protection of children's rights around the world.

There are lots of different methods of advocacy and these methods might be used to protect rights.

One way of advocating for someone else might be writing to a representative like an MP, peacefully protesting about an issue, creating or signing petitions to raise awareness.

Every child should have their rights protected and advocacy can encourage governments to act and therefore make lasting change that benefits everyone, if children's rights aren't being respected.

It can also make sure governments invest in schools and teachers, for example, to make sure that children have a right to their right to education.

The advocacy can also ensure governments invest in greener policies so children have access to their right to a clean environment.

Advocacy happens in local communities across the UK.

We're going to think about an example of this.

In this picture, we can see a map of London and the surrounding areas.

We can see in the middle, it's lots more grey, around the outside, we have lots of green spaces.

To protect land from being developed for housing and to preserve it for future generations, London and some of the areas around it have set up a Save the Green Belt campaign.

This means that they host events like Picnic for the Green Belt to encourage community participation and environmental conservation.

People are advocating for the people living within the area to make sure that everyone has access to green spaces.

This group also organise meetings to educate residents and discuss other advocacy strategies.

Let's check what we've done so far.

I'd like you to fill in the missing word in the sentence below.

Pause your video and do this now.

Let's see what the correct word was.

Representing or supporting a person or an organisation publicly by writing, speaking, or taking action on behalf of that person or organisation is called advocacy.

Well done if you got that correct.

Alex is asking, "How else can children's rights be protected?" Sam says, "Children have the right to grow up in safe homes and communities.

Advocacy efforts can fight for clean water, good food and healthcare.

Protecting the environment also protects children's futures." Sam's given us a lot of good examples of advocacy, protecting human rights, Aisha's asking, "Are there any other ways that children's rights can be protected?" Andeep says that "children should be listened to more and their ideas taken seriously by adults and governments.

Children have the right to share their thoughts and opinions, and it's often referred to as the freedom of speech or freedom of expression.

Advocacy ensures that voices are heard and included in decisions that are going to affect children, particularly ensuring that their rights are protected.

So what laws are in place to help us access our rights? Andeep is telling us, "Education is an important right, so therefore we have laws to protect it, and that may look like school attendance rules.

Every child has to go to school in this country, otherwise their parents might be fined or even imprisoned.

The law is there to protect the right that children have, which is to be educated." Let's check what we've done so far.

True or false? For children's rights to be protected, they need to be listened to and their ideas taken seriously.

Pause your video and choose your answer now.

Can you also have a think about why you've chosen your answer? The correct answer is true.

This is because if people don't listen to children's ideas, they're ignoring their right to freedom of speech or freedom of expression.

Well done if you got that correct.

Let's put this into practise.

I'd like you to write one paragraph explaining how children's rights can be protected.

Sofia is telling us that we should try to include some of the following keywords: UNCRC, law, government policies, advocacy, and listening.

Aim to write at least five sentences.

Pause your video and have a go at this now.

I asked you to write a paragraph explaining how children's rights can be protected.

You might have included some of the following in your answer: Children's rights can be protected by following the UNCRC, which outlines the basic rights that every child is entitled to.

Governments must also create strong policies to keep children safe and cared for and make sure their rights are protected by law.

Furthermore, advocacy is vital for raising awareness and pushing for changes to protect children's rights.

Finally, listening to children ensures their voices can shape decisions that affect them.

With the UNCRC as a guide, governments and communities can work together to help every child thrive.

Well done if you included some of that in your answer.

If you can see something really good in there, maybe you can add it to your answer now.

Next, we're going to think about how we can advocate for the rights of others.

We know that standing up for the rights of others is called advocacy.

We've seen some examples of that in today's lesson.

We can use active citizenship methods to advocate and protect the rights of children worldwide, for example, through protesting if there's something that we disagree with, or lobbying.

In the picture, we can see a photo of Amnesty International campaigners peacefully protesting to protect human rights.

Jacob's asking, "What is lobbying?" Lobbying is when an individual or a group tries to persuade someone in Parliament to support a particular policy or campaign.

Lobbying can be done in person by sending letters and emails or via social media.

It's a very important method of advocacy and also is a form of act of citizenship that can be used to protect children's rights.

So when we lobby someone, we're trying to convince them of our way of thinking, so they can then make a difference.

Jacob says, "Surely only adults can protect children's rights.

Aren't children powerless?" Sofia's telling us that that is absolutely not true.

Children can also help other children.

"Just because adults tend to be the official changemakers and policy makers, it doesn't mean that children can't do anything.

Children can take part in advocacy campaigns and use active citizenship methods to lobby for those changes." Let's check what we've done so far.

What's it called when an individual or group tries to persuade someone in Parliament to support a particular policy or campaign? Pause your video and choose your answer now.

The correct is B: lobbying.

Well done if you got that right.

Active citizenship involves people acting collaboratively and speaking up or advocating to achieve a change or benefit for society.

It's about making differences in either our local, national, or global communities that might be large or small.

We might make a difference in our school, for example, or be aiming to make a difference across all schools in the whole country.

Active citizenship is a really important part of a democratic society like the UK, the idea that we have a say in how our country is run.

On the slide, we can see the active citizenship process.

This is a cycle of seven steps that will help us to plan, do, and reflect on a citizenship action.

We can see in our first stage, called get planning, this is where we would research our issue and decide on the methods that we're going to use in order to make a difference.

The next part is about taking action.

This is where we put all of that planning from the first stage into action.

Last, we have to measure our impact.

This is to reflect and see whether what we planned actually made a difference.

True or false? Measuring impact is the second part of the active citizenship process.

Pause your video and choose your answer.

Can you have a think about why you've chosen that answer? The correct answer is false.

This is because we'd finished the campaign with measuring the impact, so this isn't actually the second part.

This is the third part.

Well done if you got that correct.

One example of active citizenship could be an advocacy campaign thinking about protecting the rights of others.

It's important that when we are choosing our campaign methods, we choose the most suitable method for the campaign that we're doing to make sure that it's going to have the desired effect.

For example, we might want to campaign about the issue of people around the world, in particular, children being prevented from their right to education and going to school.

What do you think some challenges might include for children who might not necessarily be given this right? Some challenges they might face are long distances to get to school.

They might have to walk a really far away in order to get to school or to get something like water, which means they might be too late or tired to then go to school.

School fees might be too expensive, particularly in countries where they don't have free education.

Families might struggle to pay for school alongside really important basic needs such as food.

Other challenges might include missing school because children need to help at home caring for children or working to support their family.

In conflict zones, children might be forced to flee homes or schools may be damaged.

This could make education impossible.

Or there might be things like natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes, and this can disrupt children's schooling.

According to the UN, in 2024, there were 251 million children globally who weren't able to access their right to education and weren't going to school.

There are advocacy campaigns that exist that are taking this issue to campaign and calling for children around the globe to have equal access to education.

One example of this is the Send My Friend to School campaign.

The focus of this year's campaign, in which thousands of schools were involved, is urging the UK government not to let emergencies stop our friends from around the world from learning.

Let's check what we've done so far.

According to the UN, in 2024, how many children globally were not able to access their right to education and go to school? Pause your video and choose your answer.

The correct answer was A: 251 million.

Well done if you got that correct.

If we were looking to run an advocacy campaign to protect a child's right to education, what type of actions might we take that we think would be relevant and get our message across? Some examples might include: running community events, partnering with advocacy organisations like Amnesty International, that we saw before, engaging with local leaders, maybe local councillors or MPs, writing letters to changemakers, creating educational content on social media, fundraising for schools and education programmes, collaborating with charities and non-government organisations, petitioning and peacefully protesting for a change.

Involving changemakers who have power and influence might also be effective in making our campaign more visible.

Who might we include when we think about changemakers? Some examples might be: head teachers, the school council, local councillors, Members of Parliament, ministers and government departments, charities and non-government organisations, community group leaders.

Okay, let's check what we've done so far.

I'd like you to read the sentence below and fill in the blanks with one of the options, A, B, or C.

Pause your video and have a go at this now.

Let's check the answers.

To run an effective advocacy campaign, you could collaborate with changemakers like charities and NGOs that have power and influence to make change.

Well done if you got that right.

The correct answer was B.

Let's put this into practise.

The Oak National Academy pupils want to help protect the rights of others.

They have chosen to run an advocacy campaign to help support the 251 million children globally who aren't able to access their right to education.

I'd like you to help them with their project by filling in the table, thinking about what is the goal of the campaign, who could be involved, what actions might you take, and how will you measure success? Pause the video now and have a go at this task.

I asked you to help the Oak National Academy pupils to run an advocacy campaign.

You might have included some of the following in your answer: In terms of the goal of your campaign, you might have said that the goal is to raise awareness about the 251 million children around the world who aren't able to go to school and therefore access their right to education.

We want to encourage the UK Government and other global leaders to take action and make sure that every child, no matter where they live, has the opportunity to go to school.

In terms of who we might involve, we could have said local schools, their pupils, teachers and head teachers, parents and community members, MPs and local government officials, non-government organisations and charity organisations that focus on education.

For example, the Send My Friend to School campaign.

The actions we might take could include: organising a petition that people sign to show their support, writing letters to MPs and government officials, urging them to take action to support this really important cause, hosting an event at school to raise awareness of the issue, so more people choose to join the campaign.

How we measure success.

You might look at how many people have signed your petition.

We might look at responses from the local MP and other changemakers.

We might also think about the level of participation at the event that we chose to run.

Well done if you included some of that in your answer.

Today we have been thinking about what we can do as citizens to protect the rights of others.

We've learned that children's rights are protected through the UNCRC, which outlines and seeks to protect children's rights across 196 countries.

We need to use advocacy skills to campaign to support children's rights and to help them be protected worldwide.

Advocacy skills such as lobbying governments by writing to MPs, peacefully protesting, creating or signing petitions and campaigning about children's rights can help protect those rights.

Listening to children ensures that their voices shape decisions that affect them and it can help citizens to protect the rights of others.

Fundraising, social media campaigning, quiz competitions, charity auctions, and lobbying changemakers are all different ways that we can put active citizenship into action and protect the rights of others.

That's the end of today's lesson.

Thank you for joining me.