Topic: RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES OF REFUGEES IN THE UNITED STATES (IOM Bangkok)

Activity: Rights and Responsibilities Discussion and Charting Exercise

Refugees may have few rights in their first country of asylum; they will not know their rights upon entry to the US, and the responsibilities they have toward the society.

Objectives

By the end of this unit participants will be able to:

• Describe their legal status at each of the three stages

• Describe the requirements of becoming a citizen

• Identify their responsibilities toward American society

Your Rights

Time

15-25 minutes

Material

• laminated cards (large enough to be seen from the back of the room) listing the various rights refugees will have in the US

• flip chart paper

Procedures

1. Before the class, prepare three sheets of flip chart paper. On each sheet, list the status (refugee, PR Alien, Citizen).

2. Ask participants what rights they have / don’t have in their country of asylum. You may want to write these down on the board, under two columns (Rights we have / Rights we don’t have). This will re-enforce the fact that refugees have few rights in Thailand.

3. Explain that, in the US, they can have 3 statuses: refugees (1st year), then, after one year they can apply to become permanent resident aliens, and finally, after 5 years in the US, they can apply for citizenship. We’ll now look at the rights associated with each status.

4. Tape the three flip chart papers on the wall; lay out all the ‘rights’ cards on a table, or on the floor, for all students to see.

5. Tell students you will start with ‘refugee’ status. Ask them to tape on the ‘refugee’ paper all the rights they can expect as refugees.

6. Once they’re done, remove any rights that do not belong, add any rights that do belong.

7. Explain that for PR status, they keep all the rights of refugees but that now they have additional rights. They are to tape up the additional rights on the “PR” paper.

8. Finally, do the same for the Citizen status paper.

Your Responsibilities

Introduction

If a person has certain rights in the US, that person also has certain responsibilities; you cannot have one without the other.

Time

10 – 20 minutes

Materials

‘Your Responsibilities’ handout

Procedure

1. Rights bring with them responsibilities. We have discussed what the US gives refugees, now it is time to discuss what refugees should give to the US.

2. Divide participants into small groups and hand out the worksheet.

3. Once completed, ask volunteers to share their thoughts. Encourage discussions between groups that disagree.

Your Responsibilities Handout

In the same way that you receive certain rights from the US, it is your duty to accept certain responsibilies. Read the right in the left-hand column, then write down your responsibility in the right-hand column.

RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS	RESPONSIBILITIES
POLITICAL
Right to vote
Right to voice opinions
Right to seek political office
CIVIL
Right to be judged by the court
Right to be treated equally
Right to personal security
Right to personal privacy
SOCIAL
Right to be treated with dignity and respect
Right to a clean and healthy environment
Right to adequate food, clothing, shelter

 

 

 

 

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