Exploring human rights

Abstract

The 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is celebrated in Stories on Human Rights, a collaborative project between the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' Office and ART for The World, a non-governmental organisation. Filmmakers of various nationalities made 22 short films exploring the six universal ideals inherent in the Declaration: culture, development, dignity and justice, environment, gender, and participation.Croatian Marina Abramović filmed Dangerous Games in Laos. Girls and boys wearing army uniforms and equipped with toy weapons, mimic acts of intimidation and violence regularly seen on televised news or the internet. “With my film I want people to start thinking about what kind of education and culture we expose our children to as they grow up today”, comments Abramović. Although her film asks questions rather than presents a solution, it ends optimistically, when the children burn their weapons.Le Mangue, an allegorical film about development, is directed by Idrissa Ouédraogo from Burkina Faso. A young girl buries a mango stone and waters the plant that germinates from it, as she matures herself. When she has a daughter, she feeds her mangoes from the tree; later, the daughter plants mango trees. Ouédraogo says her film also touches on sustainable environments as a human right by showing that desertification can by reversed by planting.The environmental theme features explicitly in Black Breakfast, a Chinese film about a tourist who finds that smoke and pollution blight a provincial town, where she hoped to see historic sites and cultural relics. Director Jia Zhang-Ke became aware of the effect of environmental factors on human rights when he made another film about the Three Gorges irrigation project, which displaced 1 million people.View Large Image Copyright © 2008 Marina Abramoviç/Dangerous Games“Some of the most influential campaigners for human rights have been artists and writers who, through their skill at placing the viewer or reader inside the predicaments of others, alerted the rest of us to the inadequacy or abuse of individuals' rights”, says Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. This project shows that the universal language of film is a potent way to maintain awareness of what human rights mean and their continuing importance worldwide. The 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is celebrated in Stories on Human Rights, a collaborative project between the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights' Office and ART for The World, a non-governmental organisation. Filmmakers of various nationalities made 22 short films exploring the six universal ideals inherent in the Declaration: culture, development, dignity and justice, environment, gender, and participation. Croatian Marina Abramović filmed Dangerous Games in Laos. Girls and boys wearing army uniforms and equipped with toy weapons, mimic acts of intimidation and violence regularly seen on televised news or the internet. “With my film I want people to start thinking about what kind of education and culture we expose our children to as they grow up today”, comments Abramović. Although her film asks questions rather than presents a solution, it ends optimistically, when the children burn their weapons. Le Mangue, an allegorical film about development, is directed by Idrissa Ouédraogo from Burkina Faso. A young girl buries a mango stone and waters the plant that germinates from it, as she matures herself. When she has a daughter, she feeds her mangoes from the tree; later, the daughter plants mango trees. Ouédraogo says her film also touches on sustainable environments as a human right by showing that desertification can by reversed by planting. The environmental theme features explicitly in Black Breakfast, a Chinese film about a tourist who finds that smoke and pollution blight a provincial town, where she hoped to see historic sites and cultural relics. Director Jia Zhang-Ke became aware of the effect of environmental factors on human rights when he made another film about the Three Gorges irrigation project, which displaced 1 million people. “Some of the most influential campaigners for human rights have been artists and writers who, through their skill at placing the viewer or reader inside the predicaments of others, alerted the rest of us to the inadequacy or abuse of individuals' rights”, says Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. This project shows that the universal language of film is a potent way to maintain awareness of what human rights mean and their continuing importance worldwide.