Abuse: treat with cruelty or violence. To use something for a bad purpose or wrongly.

Advocate: somebody who publicly supports or says good things about something.

Afford: to have money enough to spare for. Also be able to buy — to be able to meet the cost of something.

Affordable: inexpensive; reasonably priced.

Article: separate section of a document or agreement, often showing one rule or point.

Asylum: a place where one is safe and secure.

Court: a place where law trials are held. Also a meeting of all the persons who are to seek justice in a law case, including the judge or judges, the lawyers, and jury.

Culture: the ideas, skills, arts, tools, and way of life of a certain group of people.

Declaration: a public statement; announcement.

Defend: to keep safe from harm or danger; guard; protect.

Democracy: government in which the people hold the ruling power, usually giving it over to representatives whom they elect to make the laws and run the government.

Detain: to keep from going; to keep for a while in custody; confine.

Difference: a way in which people or things are not alike.

Discriminate: to treat one person or group worse than others or better than others, usually because of prejudice about race, ethnic group, age group, religion, or gender.

Duty: something that a person should do because it is thought to be right, just, or moral.

Equal: having the same rights, ability, or opportunities as another.

Ethnic: having to do with a certain group, often from a specific area, that has the same culture.

Fair: just and honest; according to what is right.

Free: not under the control of another; not a slave or not in prison.

Freedom: the condition of being free; liberty; independence. Also the condition of being able to use or move about as desired.

Good name: somebody’s reputation for honesty and integrity.

Guilty: having done something wrong; being to blame for something. Also judged in court as a wrongdoer.

Human: having to do with or belonging to people in general.

Innocent: not guilty of some crime or sin; blameless.

International: having to do with two or more countries.

Law: all the rules that tell people what they must or must not do, made by the government of a city, state, nation, etc.

Life: existence in the physical world. Also whole time somebody is alive.

Nation: a group of people living together in a certain area under the same government; state; country.

Nationality: the condition of belonging to a certain nation by having been born there or by having been made a citizen of it. Also a national group, especially of immigrants in their new country.

Non-governmental: (NGO) not governmental. NGOs are groups that are not part of the government but usually work with the government to improve things in the world.

Prejudice: deciding something about someone, especially bad, before knowing them. Disliking someone without a good reason, especially disliking them because of what they look like, where they are from or what group they are a part of, without actually knowing anything about them.

Primary school: primary (first in time or order; basic) + school. Also a school at which children receive their first formal education.

Prison: a place where people are kept locked up. Also a building with cells for locking up people who have done crimes or people awaiting a trial.

Privacy: the state or condition of being free from being observed or disturbed by other people.

Protect: to guard or defend against harm or danger; shield.

Responsibility: the state, fact, or position of being accountable to somebody or for something. Also a thing or person to be taken care of or looked after.

Rights: something you are allowed to be. Something you are allowed to do or receive; a freedom to do something.

Roosevelt, Eleanor: wife of former U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She was in charge of the group that made the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Search warrant: a paper given by a court that gives people like the police permission to search someone’s property.

Slavery: slave (a person owned by another person who has no freedom at all), a condition of being a slave; bondage.

Social security: a governmental system that provides benefits to retired persons, the unemployed, and the disabled. Also any government system that provides money assistance to people with inadequate or no income.

Tolerance: the accepting of the differing views of other people and fairness toward the people who hold these different views.

Torture: the act of greatly hurting someone on purpose, as a punishment or to cause the person to confess to something.

To try someone: to take someone to trial or court. Also to examine or investigate in court.

Trade union: An organized group of workers in a trade (a skilled job, typically one requiring skills and special training), group of trades, or profession, formed to protect and further their rights and interest.

Trial: the act of hearing a case in a law court to decide whether a claim or charge is true. Also a formal examination of evidence by a judge, typically before a jury, in order to decide guilt in a case.

United: joined together in one; combined. Also joined together for a common purpose, or by common feelings.

Universal: of, for, or by all people; concerning everyone.

Wage: money paid to an employee for work done.