On April 15th a local school class did the UNCHR role-play at the Rafto House by voting the North Korea resolution. At the very same time, the ‘real’ UNCHR voted the North Korea resolution in Geneva. The reality of the role-play and the authenticity of the situation seemed to hit the student who dug into their roles with gravity. Given that the Rafto Human Rights House has special focus on North Korea this year, including the hosting of the 7th international conference on North Korean human rights, it becomes natural to use the case of North Korea in the teaching. (06-MAY-2005)
One of the main purposes of the Rafto Human Rights House is to contribute to awareness rising on human rights. Schools – teachers and students – are main target groups, and the Rafto Human Rights House has worked out a new programme where role-play is being incorporated as a central element. The new programme is divided into three parts, where part one will take country cases as a point of departure for the teaching. After the case study part two of the teaching continues by elaborating more generally on the work of the Rafto Human Rights House and human rights as such, together with a brief introduction to the background for the 1948 declaration. Finally, in part three, the teaching staff set up a role-play.
The role-play takes place in the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). UNCHR is the most important international forum advocating human rights. Every year the commission comes together for a six-week period in March and April, and 53 of the 191 UN countries are given a vote. In addition many of the other countries and NGOs will be there observing and lobbying, and in total around 3 000 delegates get together to discuss the human rights situation in the world. From this setting we have created a role-play, where the case again is North Korea, and the students task is to vote over a resolution on North Korean human rights. The students are divided into different groups that are central to this case in the UNCHR – such as voting countries, lobby groups, observation groups and also some spies, and then they have to make a decision on the resolution based on background information and debate.
The intention behind the role-play is – in addition to human rights awareness rising – to show the complexity of the international system. When the case of North Korea is being debated in the UNCHR, the decisions makers are in fact representing two parties. On the one hand they are representing the UN and humanity in making resolutions on human rights, but on the other hand they are also representing their nation state and nationality. This double role is often ignored among the public, and the staff at the Rafto Human Rights House find it important to get this point through. In consequence, the decisions being taken, and the votes being made in the UNCHR, reflects both the UN human rights agenda and the different national interests.
