Week 49

• Engels
• MBO
• Studiejaar 1

English

To Do:

• Recap last week's lesson
• Balancing human rights
• Write for Rights: who are we writing for?

Human Rights: Task

Read the 30 articles of UDHR and choose the 5 rights that you think are the most important and choose the 5 rights that you think are least important.

Explain why you think these rights are most/least important.

Think about:

How will the human rights benefit your / our lives?

What would happen if you / we didn't have them?

Which human right is the most important? Explain your answer briefly.

Which human right is the least important? Explain your answer briefly.

Balancing Human Rights

When human rights conflict, they need to be balanced by one human right being limited or restricted.

Limiting Human Rights

Human rights can be limited when:

• people are using their rights in a way that threatens another person or wider society.
  
• people are using their right to express their view and opinion in a way that it incites racial hatred or encourages crime.

If the police suspected that someone was carrying a knife, would it be ok to limit their right to privacy (article 12)  by searching them?

Absolute Human Rights

1. Is it ever ok to torture someone or hurt them badly? (Article 5)
2. Is it ever ok to force children to work? (Article 4)

 

Absolute Human Rights

• Not every human right can be limited. Some must be upheld in all circumstances!
  
• These are called absolute rights.
•  Absolute rights cannot lawfully be interfered with, no matter how important the public interest in doing so might be.
• Absolute rights include the prohibitions on torture, inhuman treatment or punishment, and degrading treatment or punishment.

Write for Rights

Write for Rights: who are we writing for?

Khaled Drareni (Algeria)                  Idris Khattak (Pakistan)

Write for Rights: who are we writing for?

Gustavo Gatica (Chili)                      Nassima al-Sada (Saudi Arabia)

Write for Rights: who are we writing for?

Melike Balkan & Özgür Gür (Turkey)

Task

1. Look up information about the people we're writing for this year. 

(Khaled Drareni, Idris Khattak, Gustavo Gatica,Nassima al-Sada, Melike Balkan & Özgür Gür)

Who are they? What have they done? What are they fighting for? What happened to them?  What shocks you about the case? Also write down which human rights have been violated.

2. Save this information in a Word document.

3. We're going to share this information at the end of this lesson.

4. You are going to use this information to write your letter(s) next week.

Khaled Drareni (Algeria)

Idris Khattak (Pakistan)

Gustavo Gatica (Chili)

Nassima al-Sada (Saudi Arabia)

Melike Balkan & Özgür Gür (Turkey)

Write for Rights: who are we writing for?

Khaled Drareni (Algeria)

Until the corona crisis, the peaceful Hirak protest movement in Algeria took to the streets every week. They demonstrated for a new constitution, against corruption and for the president’s resignation. Journalist Khaled Drareni reported about the brutal police crackdown on the protesters, to the dismay of the authorities. He was charged with “inciting an unarmed rally” and was sentenced to two years in prison. 

Write for Rights: who are we writing for?

Idris Khattak (Pakistan)

In Pakistan, the authorities regularly kidnap human rights defenders to silence them. Idris Khattak investigated these enforced disappearances. In 2019 he disappeared himself. Eventually, the authorities admitted to holding him in prison. But they refuse to give away his whereabouts. His family fears Idris is being accused of espionage. If convicted, he could face a lengthy prison term or even a death sentence.  

Write for Rights: who are we writing for?

Melike Balkan & Özgür Gür (Turkey)

Biology students Melike Balkan and Özgür Gür joined a LGBTI solidarity group at the METU University in Ankara. The group organised a Pride sit-in on campus as the university banned the annual Pride march. The university called in the police who violently broke up the gathering using pepper spray, plastic bullets and tear gas and detained twenty one students and an academic . Melike and Özgür and eighteen others can face three years in prison. 

Write for Rights: who are we writing for?

Gustavo Gatica (Chili)

In 2019, psychology student Gustavo Gatica took to the streets, along with hundreds of thousands of other Chileans. They protested against an announced increase in the price of public transport and against social inequality in the country. The police acted harshly and fired rubber bullets at the protesters. A shower of bullets hit Gustavo in the face. He went blind in both eyes. Police denied having anything to do with it. 

Write for Rights: who are we writing for?

Nassima al-Sada (Saudi Arabia)

Nassima has dedicated her life to campaigning for human rights, including the rights of women and minorities in Saudi Arabia. Among other things, she campaigned for the right of women to drive. She was arrested exactly a week after the women’s driving ban was lifted. In prison she was assaulted and held in complete isolation for a year. Nassima is not allowed to receive any visits, not even from her lawyer.