Exploring Historic Codes, Traditions, and Diverse Humanitarian Perspectives of Today

The free lessons in this workshop are designed to use critical thinking and historical perspectives to helpstudents explore their own images and perceptions of armed conflicts and related humanitarian issues.After brainstorming basic rules that should be followed by parties to armed conflicts, students explore howin every period of history, and throughout the world, people have created codes and applied traditions tolimit the devastation caused by war. Students study these historical examples after they have examinedthe need for rules to regulate war and looked at the basic rules of modern international humanitarian law(IHL).

Teachers leave this workshop with full access to all Humanitarian Education lesson packs from theCanadian Red Cross. Lessons complement a variety of high school subjects such as global issues, socialstudies, history, law, civics and language arts, and include a range of methodological tools supportingexploration of a variety of current and historic events. Curriculum maps can be requested for most subjectareas.