Human rights

3: The Balkans

Required Resources

• Slides 9-21
• Student Worksheet 2: Case Study
• Student Worksheet 3: Painting a picture of war
• Video: Bosnia (ethnic cleansing)

Delivery

• Explain to students that you will now focus on a case study of the Bosnian War to discuss human rights further.
• The 'Conflict and cooperation' lesson plan provides students with a full understanding of the Balkans conflict and acts as a good introduction to this lesson. However, an overview of the Balkan crisis and history is provided on Slides 9-14.
• Play Video 1 which is a video of a military reporter talking about an attack on an orphanage and the atrocities associated with 'ethnic cleansing'. NB. The video then cuts and goes on to talk about the role that British military personnel are playing as part of the UN force.
• Distribute Student Worksheet 2a-2b which provides information about the Bosnia-Herzegovina war. Students are required to read the case study and to identify which individuals or groups of people have had their human rights breached. They should refer to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To reinforce the different ethnic groups within Bosnia, you could ask them to produce a pie chart to present the different proportions.
• Present Slides 16-19 to explain the UN, National Atlantic Treaty of Organisations (NATO) and European Union (EU) roles in the Balkans conflict. Slide 15 explains NATO if required for revision.
• Distribute Student Worksheet 3 which presents a painting by Peter Howson (see Teacher Notes). Students are required to describe what they see and how it makes them feel. Using the Declaration of Human Rights, they should identify which rights are being breached. This could be completed independently or in pairs.
• Feedback as a class. Use Slide 20 to provide some context to the image. This explains Peter Howson's role and explains the real details of the image.
• Ask students if they thought that it was Serbs who were impaled on the sticks? Had students previously considered the rights of the Serbs?
• If you have time, Slide 21 asks students to consider whether art is an effective way to record war and explore the issues surrounding human rights.

Differentiation

Lower Ability:

Work in pairs.

Higher Ability:

Independent work.