Discussion Questions:

1. Does the UDHR have the force of law? Why is a body of international law necessary?

2. What situation prompted the change from the Human Rights Commission to the Human Rights Council in 2006?

3. What is a Special Rapporteur?

4. What three documents make up the International Bill of Human Rights and what human rights issues do they address?

5. What is the European Convention on Human Rights, and what is its relationship to the European Court of Human Rights? Who may seek recourse in the European Court?

6. What is the function of the OSCE? Why was it established?

7. What is the role of continental and international enforcement bodies, and why were they established?

8. Why is the International Criminal Court called “a court of last resort” and what category of crimes does it address?

9. What is a nongovernmental organization (NGO) and what is its role in the human rights arena?

Review websites or publications of the major organizations advocating human rights and implementation of the UDHR.

Based on your research of the materials and/or websites of these organizations, what is your assessment of the current general state of human rights in the world?

Section 4: human rights violations

• Knowledge of major human rights issues and their status around the world, measured against the articles of the UDHR.

• Knowledge of the primary organizations and resources that monitor and report on the state of human rights, and familiarity with their materials and websites.

• Knowledge and use of procedures for reporting human rights violations and advocating implementation of UDHR.

How effective is the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and what must be done to broadly implement its provisions?

This section contains examples of current violations of six Universal Declaration of Human Rights articles. These are included to provide a general view of the current state of human rights and to suggest topics for further research and action.

Violations of articles of the universal declaration of human rights

Human rights advocates agree that 60 years after its issue, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is still more a dream than reality. Violations exist in every part of the world. Amnesty International’s World Report 2008 and other sources show that individuals are tortured or abused in at least 81 countries, face unfair trials in at least 54 countries and are restricted in their freedom of expression in at least 77 countries. Women and children in particular are marginalized in numerous ways, the press is not free in many countries, and dissenters are silenced, too often permanently. While some gains have been made in six decades, human rights violations still plague our world today.

Provided in this section are examples of violations of seven Universal Declaration of Human Rights articles, to serve as discussion points and research topics.

ARTICLE 3 – THE RIGHT TO LIFE

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”

• An estimated 6,500 people were killed in 2007 in armed conflict in Afghanistan, nearly half noncombatant civilian deaths at the hands of insurgents. Hundreds of civilians were also killed in suicide attacks by armed groups.

• In Brazil in 2007, according to official figures, police killed at least 1,260 individuals—the highest total to date. All incidents were officially labeled “acts of resistance” and received little or no investigation.

• In Uganda, 1,500 people die each week in the internally displaced person camps. According to the World Health Organization, 500,000 have died in these camps.

• Vietnamese authorities forced at least 75,000 drug addicts and prostitutes into 71 overpopulated “rehab” camps, labeling the detainees at “high risk” of contracting HIV/AIDS but providing no treatment.

ARTICLE 4 – NO SLAVERY

“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”

• In northern Uganda, the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) guerillas have kidnapped 20,000 children over the past 20 years and forced them into service as soldiers or sexual slaves for the army.

• In Guinea-Bissau, children as young as 5 are trafficked out of the country to work in cotton fields in southern Senegal or as beggars in the capital city. In Ghana, children 5–14 are tricked into dangerous jobs in the fishing industry with false promises of education and jobs.

• In Asia, Japan is the major destination country for trafficked women, especially from the Philippines and Thailand. Also, UNICEF estimates 60,000 child prostitutes in the Philippines. The US State Department estimates 600,000 to 820,000 men, women and children are trafficked across international borders each year, likely a low estimate, half of whom are minors and including record numbers of women and girls fleeing from Iraq. In nearly all countries, including Canada, the US and the UK, deportation or harassment are the usual governmental responses, with no assistance services for the victims.

• In the Dominican Republic, the operations of a trafficking ring led to the deaths by asphyxiation of 25 Haitian migrant workers. In 2007, two civilians and two military officers received lenient prison sentences for their part in the operation. In Somalia in 2007, more than 1,400 displaced Somalis and Ethiopian nationals died at sea in trafficking operations.

ARTICLE 5 – NO TORTURE

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

• In 2008, US authorities continued to hold 270 prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, without charge or trial, with clear evidence of torture. Senior officials refused to denounce the practice of “water-boarding,” torture that simulates drowning. Former President George W. Bush authorized the CIA to continue secret detention and interrogation, despite its violation of international law.

• In Iraq, US military personnel took over the Abu Ghraib prison (where Saddam Hussein’s government had tortured and executed dissidents) and tortured Iraqi detainees.

• In Darfur, violence, atrocities and abduction are rampant and outside aid all but cut off. Women in particular are the victims of unrestrained assault, with more than 200 rapes in the vicinity of a displaced persons camp in one 5-week period, with no effort by authorities to punish the perpetrators.

• In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, acts of torture and ill treatment are routinely committed by government security services and armed groups, including sustained beatings, stabbings and rapes of those in custody. Detainees are held incommunicado, sometimes in secret detention sites. In 2007, the Republican Guard (presidential guard) and Special Services police division in Kinshasa arbitrarily detained and tortured numerous individuals labeled as critics of the government.

ARTICLE 13 – FREEDOM TO MOVE

“1. Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State.

“2. Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”

• In Myanmar, thousands of citizens were detained, including 700 prisoners of conscience, most notably Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Imprisoned or under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years in retaliation for her political activities, she has refused government offers of release that would require her to leave the country.

• In Algeria, refugees and asylum-seekers are frequent victims of detention, expulsion or ill treatment. Twenty-eight individuals from sub-Saharan African countries with official refugee status from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) were deported to Mali after being falsely tried, without legal counsel or interpreters, on charges of entering Algeria illegally. They were dumped near a desert town where a Malian armed group was active, without food, water or medical aid.

• In Kenya, authorities violated international refugee law when they closed the border to thousands of people fleeing armed conflict in Somalia. Asylum-seekers were illegally detained at the Kenyan border without charge or trial and forcibly returned to Somalia.

• In northern Uganda, 1.6 million citizens remained in displacement camps in 2007. In the Acholi subregion, the area most affected by armed conflict, 63 percent of the 1.1 million people displaced in 2005 were still living in camps two years later, with only 7,000 returned permanently to their places of origin.

ARTICLE 18 – FREEDOM OF THOUGHT

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

• In Myanmar, the military junta crushed peaceful demonstrations led by monks, raided and closed monasteries, confiscated and destroyed property, shot, beat and detained protesters, and harassed or held hostage the friends and family members of the protesters.

• In China, Falun Gong practitioners were singled out for torture and other abuses while in detention. Christians were persecuted for practicing their religion outside state-sanctioned channels.

• In Kazakhstan, local authorities in a community near Almaty authorized the destruction of 12 homes, all belonging to Hare Krishna members, falsely charging that the land on which the homes were built had been illegally acquired. Only homes belonging to members of the Hare Krishna community were destroyed.

ARTICLE 19 – FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

• In Sudan, human rights defenders were arrested and tortured by national intelligence and security forces.

• In Ethiopia, two prominent human rights defenders were convicted on false charges and sentenced to nearly three years in prison.

• In Somalia, a prominent human rights defender was murdered.

• In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the government attacks and threatens human rights defenders and restricts freedom of expression and association. Provisions of the 2004 Press Act were used by the government to censor newspapers and limit freedom of expression.

• Russia repressed political dissent, pressured or shut down independent media and harassed nongovernmental organizations. Peaceful public demonstrations were dispersed with force, and lawyers, human rights defenders and journalists were threatened and attacked. Twenty murders of journalists critical of government policy remain unsolved.

• In Iraq, at least 37 Iraqi employees of media networks were killed in 2008 and 235 since the invasion of March 2003, making Iraq the world’s most dangerous place for journalists.

ARTICLE 21 – RIGHT TO DEMOCRACY

“1. Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.

“2. Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his country.

“3. The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”

• In Zimbabwe, hundreds of human rights defenders and members of the main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), were arrested for participating in peaceful gatherings.

• In Pakistan, President Musharraf ordered the arrest of thousands of lawyers, journalists, human rights defenders and political activists for demanding democracy, the rule of law and an independent judiciary.

• In Cuba, at the end of 2007, 62 prisoners of conscience continued in prison for their nonviolent political views or activities.

Discussion Questions:

1. What human rights issues are currently in the news (internationally, nationally, locally)?

2. What is your assessment of these issues, measured against the UDHR and other human rights instruments?

3. What legal consequences does an individual, group or government face if they violate an individual’s or a group’s human rights?

4. What actions should your local, state or national government take to end a particular human rights violation or violations in general?

Section 5: IDEAL VERSUS REALITY

• Knowledge of the lives and work of well-known humanitarians of the past and present.

• Understanding the legacy of the work of these humanitarians and their effects on today’s world.

In the face of grim reality of the state of human rights in the world, what hopeful message can be drawn from the lives and work of well-known humanitarians?

Human rights exist, as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the entire body of international human rights law. They are recognized at least in principle by most nations and form the heart of many national constitutions. Yet the actual situation in the world is far distant from the ideals envisioned in the Declaration.

To some, the full realization of human rights is a remote and unattainable goal. Even international human rights laws are difficult to enforce and pursuing a complaint can take years and a great deal of money. These international laws serve a restraining function but are insufficient to provide adequate human rights protection, as evidenced by the stark reality of abuses perpetrated daily.

Discrimination is rampant throughout the world. Thousands are in prison for speaking their minds. Torture and politically motivated imprisonment, often without trial, are commonplace, condoned and practiced even in some democratic countries. Twenty-seven million people live in slavery—more than twice the number during the peak of the slave trade. And more than a billion adults are unable to read. Given the magnitude of human rights violations—and those listed in Section 5 are only a glimpse of the full picture—it is not surprising that 90 percent of people are unable to name more than 3 of their 30 rights.

Who, then, with so many unaware of their most basic rights, will make sure that human rights are promoted, protected and become a reality?

To answer that question, we can draw inspiration from those who made a difference and helped create the human rights we have today. These humanitarians stood up for human rights because they recognized that peace and progress can never be achieved without them. Each, in a significant way, changed the world.

Martin Luther King, Jr., when championing the rights of people of color in the United States in the 1960s, declared “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

The great advocate of peaceful resistance to oppression, Mahatma Gandhi, described nonviolence as “the greatest force at the disposal of mankind. It is mightier than the mightiest weapon of destruction devised by the ingenuity of man.”

Fighting fiercely against religious persecution in eighteenth-century France, Voltaire wrote, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Thomas Jefferson, inspiration and principal author of the American Declaration of Independence, declared that “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.”

These and other humanitarians spoke and lived as powerful and effective advocates of human rights, as described in the profiles on the following pages.

CHAMPIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS

There are those who, through thought and action, have made a difference and changed our world. Among them are these humanitarians, each a powerful and effective advocate and each an inspiration to all who today dedicate themselves to the cause of universal rights.

CÉSAR CHÁVEZ (1927–1993)

Mexican-American farm worker, labor leader and civil rights activist César Chávez brought about better conditions for agricultural workers by his actions. Born on his family’s farm near Yuma, Arizona, Chávez witnessed the harsh conditions farm laborers endured. Workers were routinely exploited by their employers, often unpaid, living in shacks in exchange for their labor, and with no medical or other basic facilities. Without a united voice, they had no means to improve their position. Chávez changed that when he dedicated his life to winning recognition of the rights of agricultural workers, inspiring and organizing them into the National Farm Workers Association which later became the United Farm Workers. Through marches, strikes and boycotts, Chávez forced employers to pay adequate wages and provide other benefits and was responsible for legislation enacting the first Bill of Rights for agricultural workers. For his commitment to social justice and his lifelong dedication to bettering the lives of his fellow men and women, Chávez was posthumously recognized with the highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

“Once social change begins, it cannot be reversed. You cannot uneducate the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore.”

CÉSAR CHÁVEZ

MAHATMA GANDHI (1869–1948)

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi is widely recognized as one of the twentieth century’s greatest political and spiritual leaders. Honored in India as the father of the nation, he pioneered and practiced the principle of Satyagraha—resistance to tyranny through mass nonviolent civil disobedience. While leading nationwide campaigns to ease poverty, expand women’s rights, build religious and ethnic harmony and eliminate the injustices of the caste system, Gandhi supremely applied the principles of nonviolent civil disobedience to free India from foreign domination. He was often imprisoned for his actions, sometimes for years, but he accomplished his aim in 1947 when India gained its independence from Britain. Because of his stature, he is referred to as Mahatma, which means “great soul.” World civil rights leaders from Martin Luther King, Jr., to Nelson Mandela haver credited Gandhi as a source of inspiration in their struggles to achieve equal rights for their people.

“When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it—always.”

MAHATMA GANDHI

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. (1929–1968)

Martin Luther King, Jr., was one of the twentieth century’s best-known advocates for nonviolent social change. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, King’s exceptional oratorical skills and personal courage first attracted national attention in 1955 when he and other civil rights activists were arrested after leading a boycott of a Montgomery, Alabama, transportation company for requiring that nonwhites surrender their seats to whites and stand or sit at the back of the bus. Over the next decade, King wrote, spoke and organized nonviolent protests and mass demonstrations to draw attention to racial discrimination and to demand civil rights legislation to protect the rights of African-Americans. In 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama, King guided peaceful mass demonstrations that the white police force countered with police dogs and fire hoses, creating a controversy that generated newspaper headlines around the world. Subsequent mass demonstrations in many communities culminated in a march that attracted more than 250,000 protestors to Washington, DC, where King delivered his famous “I have a dream” speech in which he envisioned a world in which people were no longer divided by race. So powerful was the movement King inspired, Congress enacted the Civil Rights Act in 1964, the same year he was honored with the Nobel Peace Prize. Posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, King is an icon of the civil rights movement. His life and work symbolize the quest for equality and nondiscrimination that lies at the heart of the American—and human—dream.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI (BORN 1945)

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been a major voice for human rights and freedom in Burma (Myanmar), a country dominated by a military government since 1962. Born in Rangoon and studying at Oxford University, she became politically active in 1988 when the Burmese junta violently suppressed a mass uprising, killing thousands of civilians. Suu Kyi wrote an open letter to the government asking for the formation of an independent committee to hold democratic elections. Defying a government ban on political gatherings of more than four persons, Suu Kyi spoke to large audiences throughout Burma as Secretary-General of the newly formed National League for Democracy (NLD). In 1989 she was placed under house arrest. Despite her detention, the NLD won the election with 82 percent of the parliamentary seats, but the military dictatorship refused to recognize the results. Suu Kyi has remained in prison almost continuously since that time, rejecting the government’s offer of freedom as it would require her to leave Burma. In 2003, she was moved from prison and again placed under house arrest, which has been repeatedly and illegally extended by the junta. She remains a living expression of her people’s determination to gain political and economic freedoms. Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, Suu Kyi has called on citizens around the world to “use your liberty to promote ours.”

“I think by now I have made it fairly clear that I am not very happy with the word ‘hope.’ I don’t believe in people just hoping. We work for what we want.”

DAW AUNG SAN SUU KYI

NELSON MANDELA (BORN 1918)

Nelson Mandela, one of the most recognizable human rights symbols of the age, is a man whose dedication to the liberties of his people inspires human rights advocates throughout the world. Born in Transkei, South Africa, son of a tribal chief, Mandela received a university degree and law degree. In 1944, he joined the African National Congress (ANC) and actively worked to abolish the apartheid policies of the ruling National Party. On trial for his actions, Mandela declared, “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

Sentenced to life imprisonment, Mandela became a powerful symbol of resistance for the rising anti-apartheid movement, repeatedly refusing to compromise his political position to obtain his freedom. Finally released in February 1990, he intensified the battle against oppression to attain the goals he and others had set almost four decades earlier. In May 1994, Mandela was inaugurated as South Africa’s first black president, a position he held until 1999. He presided over the transition from minority rule and apartheid, winning international respect for his advocacy of national and international reconciliation. A worldwide celebration of his life and rededication to his goals of freedom and equality took place on his 90th birthday in 2008.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.”

NELSON MANDELA

OSCAR ARIAS SÁNCHEZ (BORN 1940)

Oscar Arias Sánchez won the respect of leaders and humanitarians everywhere for bringing peace to Central America. Born in 1940, he studied in the United States and then earned a law degree in Costa Rica.

Elected president of Costa Rica in 1986, Arias Sánchez immediately put the world on notice that he intended to restore peace in Central America by disentangling the region from the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. In a series of meetings with the presidents of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, Arias Sánchez pressed to resolve the turmoil and end outside influence in Central America. He eventually gained approval of his peace plan, which called for each country to limit the size of their armies, assure freedom of the press, and hold free and open elections. The plan was successful and, with the signing of the accords, fighting in the region came to an end.

In 1987, President Oscar Arias Sánchez received the Nobel Peace Prize for bringing peace to the region and used the monetary award to establish the Arias Foundation for Peace and Human Progress. During his presidency, he frequently ventured into the public without entourage or fanfare to listen to the concerns of the citizenry. After the Conclusion of his first term in office, he continued to be a “man of the people,” promoting human security and development on many fronts. In 2006, he was again elected president of Costa Rica and today continues to champion peace and human rights.

“The more freedom we enjoy, the greater the responsibility we bear, toward others as well as ourselves.”

OSCAR ARIAS SÁNCHEZ

MUHAMMAD YUNUS (BORN 1940)

Economist and Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus has become internationally renowned for his revolutionary system of micro-credit—the extension of small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans—that has helped millions to escape poverty.

Born in 1940 in the seaport city of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Yunus’ life is motivated by his vision of a world without poverty. It began in 1976 when he saw village basket weavers living in abject poverty despite their skill. Considered poor credit risks, the artisans were forced to borrow money at high interest rates to purchase bamboo and made no profit after repaying moneylenders. From his own pocket, Yunus made a loan of $27 to a group of women who repaid the funds and, for the first time, made a small profit. Yunus realized that by means of tiny loans and financial services, he could help the poor free themselves from poverty.

In 1983 he established the Grameen Bank (Village Bank), founded on his conviction that credit is a fundamental human right. In a quarter of a century, the bank has stood as the flagship of a 100-country network of similar institutions enabling millions to escape poverty through individual economic empowerment. Professor Yunus is a member of the board of the United Nations Foundation and the recipient of numerous international awards for his humanitarian endeavors.

“Here we were talking about economic development, about investing billions of dollars in various programs, and I could see it wasn’t billions of dollars people needed right away.”

MUHAMMAD YUNUS

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT (1884–1962)

As chair and most influential member of the United Nations Human Rights Commission, Eleanor Roosevelt was the driving force in creating the 1948 charter of liberties that will always be her legacy: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Born in New York City, Eleanor married rising politician Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1905 and became fully immersed in public service. By the time they arrived in the White House in 1933 as President and First Lady, she was already deeply involved in human rights and social justice issues. Continuing her work on behalf of all people, she advocated equal rights for African-Americans, Depression-era workers and women, bringing inspiration and attention to their causes. Courageously outspoken, she publicly supported Marian Anderson when in 1939 the black singer was denied the use of Washington’s Constitution Hall because of her race. Roosevelt saw to it that Anderson performed instead on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, creating an enduring and inspiring image of personal courage and human rights.

In 1946, Roosevelt was appointed as a delegate to the United Nations by President Harry Truman who had succeeded to the White House after the death of Franklin Roosevelt in 1945. As head of the Human Rights Commission, she was instrumental in formulating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which she submitted to the United Nations General Assembly with these words:

“We stand today at the threshold of a great event both in the life of the United Nations and in the life of mankind. This declaration may well become the international Magna Carta for all men everywhere.”

Called “First Lady of the World” by President Truman for her lifelong humanitarian achievements, Roosevelt worked to the end of her life to gain acceptance and implementation of the rights set forth in the Declaration. The legacy of her words and her work appears in the constitutions of scores of nations and in an evolving body of international law that now protects the rights of men and women across the world.

“Do what you feel in your heart to be right—for you’ll be criticized anyway. You’ll be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.”

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT