Home Human Rights Day - December 10, 2007

Human Rights Day is celebrated on December 10 around the world to mark the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations on December 10, 1948.

Exhibit hours: 1:00 - 9:00 pm Monday - Thursday; 1:00 - 5:00 pm Friday.

"The destiny of human rights is in the hands of all our citizens in all our communities" Eleanor Roosevelt.

Human Rights Events at NC State

Lecture on services offered by Wake County Human Services and the issues surrounding immigration, especially regarding children: Wednesday, Nov 7, 4:30-5:30, Brown Room in Talley Student Center.

Fall Ethics Speaker: Esther Ngumbi: Monday, Nov 12, 7:00 pm, Talley Student Center Ballroom. Esther will be sharing her experiences with hunger, the ethics behind hunger, and programs like the World Forod Program that are making a difference.

National Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Week events http://ncsu.edu/csleps/service/index.htm Esther Ngumbi's lecture (above) is presented as part of Homelessness and Hunger Awareness Week. NCSU is offering a full slate of events and opportunities for service from Nov 12 through Nov 17 including a Hunger Banquet, Hunger and Homelessness Expo, and Helping Others with Leadership and Service Gleaning Service Project.

Speak Truth to Power Opening Reception: Tuesday, November 13, 3:30-5:30, African American Cultural Center Gallery on the second floor of Witherspoon Student Center. Improvisational drunning on djembe and conga by Gregg Whitt of Oak City Drums. The reception is free and open to the public

Proclamation of Human Rights Day at NC State. Chancellor Jim Oblinger has issued a proclamation establishing December 10 as Human Rights Day at NC State. The proclamation will be read at 4:00 pm, November 13 at the opening reception for the Speak Truth To Power Exhibit in the African American Cultural Center Gallery.

Speak Truth to Power Photo Exhibit Nov 12- Dec 15, 2007. Mon-Thursday 1:00-9:00 pm, Fridays 1:00-5:00 pm. African American Cultural Center Gallery, 2nd Floor of Witherspoon Student Center. Black and white portraits of international human rights defenders by Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer Eddie Adams with text by Kerrie Kennedy. This exhibit first opened in the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. and has toured around the world.

Invisible Children Nov 19, 2007. 7:00 pm. Witherspoon Cinema. Documentary film about war's effects on children and child soldiers. Sponsored by University Scholars Program and CSLEPS.

Tyranny and Torture in the Republic of Panama. Poster by Ann Ross showing how she uses tools of forensic anthropology to uncover the identities of the remains of missing persons. Ann Ross is Associate Professor of Anthropology at NCSU and the 2005 recipient of the International Human Rights Award given by the Human Rights Coalition of North Carolina. Coming soon to the display case outside the CSLEPS office, 3rd Floor Talley Student Center.

Human Rights Day at NC State! December 10, 2007. NCSU community reads the universal declaration of human rights - featuring Valerie Ball, Sibin Mohan, Janet Howard, Helen Zhang, Slater Newman, Judy Wang, P.J. Parker, Jessica Tiller, Tim Blair, Dan Solomon, Lisa Marshall, Sam Morris, Tom Hunter, and the voice of Larry Nielsen. View the Video here: Preamble, Articles 1-5, Articles 6-10, articles 11-15, articles 16-20, articles 21-25, articles 26-30. You'll need Quicktime to view the video. Download Quicktime. Video created by Matt Helfant.

Project SAFE Training. December 10, 2007. Register online at http://www.ncsu.edu/safe/training/reg/index.html

"Human rights are the rights a person has simply because he or she is a human being." (www.speaktruth.org). Another definition for human rights is "those basic standards without which people cannot live in dignity." Human rights include civil and political rights (e.g., freedom of expression, equality before the law) and economic,social and cultural rights (e.g., right to work, right to an education).

About the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Declaration is nonbinding. However, two binding treaties, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights were adopted by the United Nations in 1966. The United States signed both treaties in 1976, but has ratified only the former (in 1992). The Declaration and both treaties are jointly referred to as an International Bill of Rights.

"In a period of fifty years the world witnessed a veritable revolution in the process of transforming visions of international human rights into reality. Never before in history had there been so many achievements in extending rights, setting standards, protecting rights through binding treaties and covenants, promoting rights through education and the media, enhancing rights through advisory services in the field for those who suffered, and expanding activities to break the former culture of impunity. Together they helped millions of people gain their independence and assisted unknown numbers of others by preventing abuses, securing freedom from torture or prison, acquiring access to monitoring bodies and humanitarian aid, and obtaining national and international protections for their rights. In addition they inspired national constitutions, regional intergovernmental organizations, and states to use the observance or violation of human rights as a criterion for their policies. In almost every one of these endeavors, reference was made to the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as customary international law and the power of its vision to change the world. Indeed, its impact led the British Broadcasting Corporation news to describe the UNIVERSAL DECLARATION as nothing short of 'our century's greatest achievement.'" (From Lauren, 2003, pp. 269-270 - CAPITALIZATION ADDED)

"Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home - so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world."

Eleanor Roosevelt

Credits:

- Publicity for these events was created and produced by Caldwell Scholars Virginia Ball, Adriana Horton, Luisa Islas, and Omar Awartani with special thanks to Aranzazu Lascurain of the NCSU Office of International Affairs. The flyer above was created by Luisa Islas.

- The Speak Truth to Power exhibit is made possible by the Office for Diversity and African American Affairs, the Division of Undergraduate Academic Programs, the Office for Equal Opportunity, the Center for Student Leadership, Ethics, and Public Policy, the School of Public and International Programs, the Office of International Affairs, the NCSU Libraries, and Wake County Human Services.