Human Rights: Here, There, and Everywhere!

When you hear the term “Human Rights”, what picture comes to mind? Some would probably answer the United Nations’ flag. Others might think of a diverse group of people, coexisting peacefully in this imaginary scenery. I myself connect Human Rights to the declaration itself – the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. More specifically, for me the black and white picture of Eleanor Roosevelt holding up a copy of the text is forever connected to the words Human Rights. Yet, Human Rights are not limited to any person, object, or setting. We all face situations every day that could be connected to Human Rights, or the lack of them. In this post, we will leave all the ordinary and formal examples of what Human Rights can be about in favour of a more fun and relaxed approach. We turn to music, movies, and books to exemplify different articles or aspects of the most important document in the world. Enjoy our list of 6 items that you have probably never connected to Human Rights before!

1. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

If you haven’t read this book yet, you’ve got to put it on your reading list. It is immensely humorous and a quote machine, with famous examples such as “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t” and “It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.”  The book circles around the life of Arthur Dent, whose life takes some strange turns when his home planet Earth is demolished to make way for an intergalactic highway. A strange starting point for a story, you might say. But rest assured, the intergalactic space odyssey through time and space to find the correct question to the answer “42” only gets stranger. The story does not in any way, even remotely, allude to Human Rights. So why are we here? (the answer is not 42). Rather, the universe that Douglas Adams has described in his book is anarchic. Pirates and thugs scour the universe, presidents are thoroughly corrupt, and corporations are only barely distinguishable from organised crime, with little care for Corporate Social Responsibility programmes. It is a parody of a human society, but it is especially descriptive of one that has lost all humanism, rule of law, and warmth. Now, the connection to Human Rights isn’t as farfetched as it seemed on first glance. Human Rights are, after all, international legal agreements on what human dignity and decency demands. Without them, we’d be living in a chaotic world lacking even a basic global consensus on minimum standards for treating one another.

2. The Lord of the Rings 

Are you born in the late 80’s or early 90’s? If you’re anything like me, you will probably have seen the Lord of the Rings trilogy a couple of times. There are many reasons to enjoy these movies – epic battles, bombastic music, great story, Ian McKellen’s fabulous hair, etc. If you were to look at it from a more educational, human rights perspective however, what would you find? Many comparisons have been made between the story and the Second World War – but I think one shouldn’t always pick the lowest hanging fruits. Instead, I’d like you to close your eyes (figuratively speaking, reading might prove hard otherwise) and imagine what it was like down in the factories of Mordor and Isengard – dark, dirty, warm, smelly. Not exactly ideal working conditions! In these holes, the evil orcs worked day and night, without rest, salaries, paid vacation, parental leave, or possibility to form trade unions. To make things worse, orcs are actually revived elves. Imagine spending a whole eternity (as elves are immortal) working hard in your first life, ending up dying despite your immortality, and then be revived only to find out that all your pension savings from your previous life are gone and you now need to support an evil lord in unfashionable clothing. In short, a blunt violation of Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

3. Cher power ballads

Cher is a great artist and singer. Some of us didn’t realise until her song ”Believe” was the IJBC song of 2015 in Austria. If you haven’t heard it, find a safe place where no one will mock you for listening to powerful love songs in your loneliness and ponder, ”do I believe in life after love”? For this post however, it doesn’t matter whether you believe in life after love or not. Your right to believe in whatever you find convincing, be it religion, ideology, Cher, or the flying spaghetti monster, is protected by article 18 in the Universal Declaration. Your friends and family are not forbidden from giving you strange looks or trying to convince you otherwise. Don’t listen to them though. They haven’t felt what you’ve felt.

4. Ice Age

Many of us have followed the life of Manny, Sid, and Diego throughout the Ice Age. They have gone through a number of adventures to overcome family, friendship, and relationship issues while the world seemed to be changing around them. Their journey was moving, fun, and exciting. But we also got anxious to see if they would survive crazy storms and huge walls of ice cracking and threatening to flood their home. Any coincidence with times that we are living in is not merely coincidence. Natural causes are the reason for many of the changes we see in our world, but more and more we see the Earth responding to human interference. People having to leave their homes for natural disasters are known as environmentally displaced people. As human rights learners, we raise our awareness to the impacts of climate change in the life of many and think about human rights challenges to protect environmentally displaced people. We have to unite to save our world as Manny, Sid, and Diego have tried to do thousands of years ago. And we hope not to find any crazy squirrels cracking more ice blocks trying to catch his nut, causing more trouble!

5. Toy Story

Toy Story reflects the magical world of the toys that come to life when they are alone. Everyone might have imagined what toys do when no one is looking. The truth is that toys allow us to create any world we want and live as many realities as our imaginations can take us to! By playing, we have the chance to explore new emotions, to learn from trying new things and to be creative. And what does Toy Story have to do with Human Rights? The movie reminds us that besides the right of being taken care of, of being respected, of having freedoms and privacy assured, KIDS HAVE THE RIGHT TO PLAY! The Declaration on the Rights of the Child says children should have time to leisure, to play, to enjoy their childhood, and to be engaged in cultural and recreational activities while feeling safe and secured. Playing is serious stuff! Let’s play and go TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!

6. The Sound of Music

Julie Andrews as Maria von Trapp sang Do Re Mi to seven children to show them a new world outside the life and tough routine they were raised in. Above the hills of Austria, we learned how to sing and dance along with the von Trapp family. This magical scenario seems far from a Human Rights talk…but, let’s take a closer look. What Maria is doing when singing Do Re Mi is actually teaching and interacting with learners in an engaging way so she can pass on a new knowledge and facilitate the development of new skills and attitudes. Not all people have the same opportunity. The Right to Education challenges us to ensure EVERYONE has access to elementary education and other levels of education are accessible! Education should be a means to develop the human personality, and to help foster understanding, tolerance, and friendship among peoples.

Anton Ruus

Educational Content Specialist on the IJB Team,

On the behalf of the Human Rights working group.