What are the Human
Rights aspects of this
issue? Relate to HR
conventions /
documents.
What activism for social
change have women
done about this issue?
Find a specific
organization or
movement as example. CITE ARTICLES AND JOURNALS 12-15 pages

raphic above illustrates, your research should be focused around three
considerations, all within the context of a particular country or region of the world.
o Country or Region: How you frame the geographical area you cover will
depend on the topic. Don’t just lump big swaths of the world together (as US
people tend to do): “Africa” or “Asia” or “the Middle East.” This can be
extremely misleading. Not all countries on the continent of Africa have the
same culture or the same issues. Asia includes very diverse countries, from
Japan to India to the Philippines. So you need to spend some time exploring the
topic and trying to understand what is going on in specific places before you
choose a geographic area. You should choose a country or area other than the
United States.
o The Problem: What is the history and extent of this problem in the country
you have chosen? What are the historical, cultural, political and/or economic
factors that affect this issue/problem? It is best to choose something that is
not too broad, and something that we did not go into very deeply in the course.
Since there are many issues on which we have only scratched the surface, it
should not be hard to do that! Choose something that interests you.
Something like “women’s inequality” is way too broad, but an ASPECT of
women’s inequality, such as underrepresentation in government, or lower
income or property laws that discriminate, could be appropriate.
o Human Rights: How is this issue a human rights question? Is this issue
represented in any of the official human rights documents (e.g., CEDAW,
UDHR, Convention on Rights of the Child, Convention on Trafficking, etc.)?
Spell out how it is represented—what document, what rights are specified?
What is the legal status of this issue in the country or region that you have
chosen? For example, have they signed/ratified the relevant document, but
still have extensive problems in this area? Have they not signed or ratified any
international treaties related to it? Who or what bodies in this society need to
be targeted to address or solve this problem?
o Activism / Solutions: Starting with this can help you focus your research!
What women’s and/or human rights groups are working to address this
problem? (One group is enough, but if there are several, discuss them.) Is the
group (or groups) a locally-based organization or from outside? Do they
incorporate a human rights perspective in their activism? What strategies and
3
tactics (actions) are they using or recommending? Are they making any
progress – why or why not?
Bibliography:
I am looking for high quality sources that demonstrate to me that you invested some
time in your research, not just Googling and seeing what pops up! You need a
minimum of six sources, including at least two news stories and at least two
scholarly or research-oriented sources.
§ News stories should be from recognized or recognizable NEWS sources. That
means journalists who do research and write news stories based on their
research.
§ Scholarly sources might include peer-reviewed journal articles or researchbased
books related to the issue. Our friendly NEIU librarians can help you
find the appropriate type of sources. You can also sometimes find these
sources as links from relevant human rights organization websites.
§ Websites of activist groups, governmental agencies, international agencies, etc.
may be used, and may be rich sources. But, you must pay attention to the
quality of the information on any websites you use. That means you need to be
a critical consumer of internet-based information. Remember, practically
anybody can put up a website today, saying anything they want! That doesn’t
mean it’s automatically wrong, but as scholars and students, we want to assess
how accurate our sources are.

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