Students were shown advocacy tools and methods to assist in their community development projects. This class attempted, through participatory methods, to enable students to lobby and pressure international, national and community organizations to achieve their goals.
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This was a new and challenging subject for the students as it went against the grain of their previous education. Here we emphasized independent thinking and decision making. We stressed the formulation of opinions and constructed models for decision making and arguments in order to defend these opinions. Most importantly, the students learn the value of asking the question, “why?” Great strides were made as the students went from being very reluctant to think critically and ask questions to the point where classes often ran well past scheduled hours as so many questions were forthcoming. We used these skills in the class to analyze current events, which was also a new exercise for the students as they had previously had little exposure to world issues. This year, students have been assigned one country that they will analyze in each class all year long. This will allow them to gain new expertise and the ability to compare and contrast with Burma. Activities will be divided into regional participation exercises and eventually even small UN style debates.
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In this class the students learn about the definition of Earth Rights and ERI's background. The class attempts to combine the increasingly related fields of human rights and the environment. The students learn to examine environmental destruction from a rights-based perspective. They discuss the environmental degradation that their communities face and attempt to find human rights law strategies to address them. In doing so, they draw upon the extensive field work conducted by EarthRights International over the last fifteen years.
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Another subject with which the students had little previous exposure is globalization. We discovered that globalization is an often used term that is imprecisely defined. We discussed the economic, social and cultural advantages and disadvantages of this phenomenon. In particular, we focused on the affect of globalization on human rights. We examined its advantages in communication and technology and its disadvantages, including the impunity of multinational corporations and the shortcomings of international law in this area. Again, the students were surprised to find how much they already knew about this subject despite their previous inability to interact with it. This year’s class will be linked to the ongoing project that has students assigned countries to specialize in. They will examine how globalization affects the different states and different regions of the world and compare that to Burma.
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This class introduced the students to a variety of basic forms of governance. We began by determining what governance should consist of and what it should mean. We looked at the historical development of the nation state from ancient to modern times. In doing so, we defined the 'nation', the 'state', legitimacy, nationalism and began to understand the rule of law. We used various role playing games to develop an understanding of different forms of governance, from military dictatorship – a state with which the students were very familiar – to democratic, socialist and communist governments.
In particular, we developed democratic models based on principles of federalism and the protection of minorities in order to make class decisions. The students learned how different forms of parliament work and applied these models to a future society in Burma deciding which would suit them best. This year the students will also look at the type of government of the state they were assigned in the country-specialization program.
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This class focused on the framework of international law applicable to the relationship between governments and their citizens. We began by tracing the historical development of human rights but also examined their relevance from a South East Asian perspective. We discovered the difference between legally binding covenants and declarations and learned about their enforcement – or lack thereof. A participatory method was used throughout. The students quickly discovered that they knew much more about human rights law than they previously thought. Different activities were used to elaborate on individual rights, such as refugee rights, freedom of expression, the right to food, the right to health and freedom from torture. Importantly, we experimented with human rights advocacy and learned about the importance of human rights education.
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In this class the participants learned about International Law. They analyzed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ICCPR and ICESCR, CEDAW, CRC, Indigenous and Minority Rights, Labour Rights (ILO) and Kyoto Protocol. They also studied the background and history of international law and the UN system and its relation with Burma. This highlighted the enforcement of International Law and the role of the civil society, NGOs and the UN. The participants discussed strategies for advocacy.
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The minority rights class is one that is relevant to the lives of the students as they are from minority groups themselves. The students were very eager to learn all they could about the law and the various avenues of legal recourse for violations of minority rights. We delved into the highly politicized development of minority rights and the issue of third generation rights in overall. We examined in detail minority rights and the rights of indigenous peoples inside Burma and discussed the importance of these rights in transitional and post conflict situations. The students agreed that these rights should be the basis of development in a future Burma.
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Students learned the basics of photography, including camera use, light, shutter, Spot meter and photo editing (photo maker 2008). They also discussed how to take pictures in dangerous situations in Burma.
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Nearly six months of training culminated in the important ‘report writing’ training class between the first of April and their departure for their field work. The students immediately realized it was time to get down to some very hard work. The focus was on reviewing critical thinking skills and formulating arguments. The students conducted a series of exercises in summarizing articles, taking an opinion on the subject and supporting that opinion with clear and concise arguments. Identifying salient facts is essential to research skills. The structure of the report was stressed and students learned about the composition of the introduction, thesis statement, background information, the structure of the body of the report and what to put in the conclusion. They worked on coming up with proposals and recommendations that fit their argument. They developed interview questions that matched the needs of their report. During these exercises, the students began their own research on their chosen topic, developed their own outlines and begun to fill in some of the blanks with secondary research.
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In this class students learned about the definition of law, the definition of rule of law, and its history. They learned many types of law, including International law, National Law, Statute Law, customary Law and the parliamentary system, the constitution and legitimacy. All the concepts of law were then related back to current law and situation in Burma.
