Human Rights Day is observed every year on 10th December; the day on which the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. More widely, the month of December is marked as Universal Human Rights Month, providing a time to reflect on the way we treat others, and to do what we can in the fight for equality.
In recognition of this important month, we have made four articles about human rights from the archives of our publishing partners free to read:
Mekong Review ‘Humanitarian Breakdown’ (February — April 2020)
“Events in Myanmar exposed an international human rights movement ill-prepared and ill-equipped to respond to genocide.”
In the February — April 2020 issue of Mekong Review, political analyist Benjamin Zawacki writes about NGOs working partly or exclusively on Asia or Southeas Asia in the face of Myanmar’s genocide in 2017.
Read the article, pages 15–17, here.
“Far from being a moment of celebration, I believe we should be using this historic milestone [70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration] to take stock and refocus the fight to make human rights a reality for everyone.”
Human rights activist Kumi Naidoo reports in the December 2018 issue of Le Monde Diplomatique (English-language Edition) that we were seeing rising intolerance, extreme inequality and a failure by governments to take desperately needed collective actions to address global threats, and that economic and social rights are often ignored.
Read the article, page 5, here.
STIR ‘Uprooting Patriarchy: The Root Cause of Poverty’ (Issue 20)
“What is bringing women to power and transforming our patriarchal society is an approach to social and political organisation that recognises that human beings are not fundamentally bundles of needs, but rather creative and productive problem solvers.”
In Issue 20 of STIR, Executive Vice President of The Hunger Project John Coonrod writes about patriarchy as the root cause of poverty, and what we need to do to work towards a solution.
Read the article, pages 36–39, here.
The World Today ‘The Human Rights Council – 5 Years On’ (October 2011)
“This leads to the Achilles-heel issue of the Council: Is it living up to its protection responsibilities?”
In 2006 the Human Rights Council took over from the Human Rights Commission as an organ reporting directly to the UN General Assembly. Dr Bertrand Ramcharan reports on the Council’s progress 5 years on, in the October 2011 issue of The World Today.
Read the article, pages 28–31, here.
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Access to the digital magazine issues included in this post will be active until the 1st February 2023.
For more information about Human Rights Day, please visit the United Nations’ website here.
Fully-searchable digital subscriptions to Mekong Review, Le Monde Diplomatique EN, STIR and The World Today are all available in the Exact Editions individual and institutional shops.
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