Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, 

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, 

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, 

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations, 

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, 

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in cooperation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, 

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge, 

Now, therefore,

The General Assembly,

Proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keepin
g this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights implies that all Humans should be treated equally and with dignity: however, as rape is used to humiliate a sex as well as dominate individuals, there is no evidence of dignified treatment. 
Being born in equal dignity implies that every Human is treated with such dignity. Yet rape is not dignified treatment and hence the basic right of a Human Being is violated. 
To counter such an argument one can assume that to be able to obtain Human Rights, one has to be acknowledged as a Human. This only occurs when one is treated as such, in other words with dignity and equality. Under this aspect, women who have been raped, or not treated with dignity, are not recognized as Humans and therefore would not be able to obtain their rights.
Everybody should have the right to protection from all forms of violence caused by any reason, such as their race, colour, language, sex, religion, political, national or social origin, property, birth or another status.

This Article expands what said in Article 1 about discrimination and equality and also introduces Article 7. Furthermore, it is fundamental because it emphasises the importance of all the Articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration”.

I chose this article because it includes several aspects of the concept of “human rights”, in this way it gives us a wide view of the topic. 

BLACK LIVES MATTER
The episode of George Floyd’s death on May 25th, 2020, is a clear example of violation of Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Not only what those police officers did was a racist and discriminatory gesture (Article 2 - “without any distinction of any kind, such as race, colour”), but they also deprived a human being of his right to life (article 3).

Any ways, the protests and riots of the BLM movement that followed this tragic event don’t seem be enough as a lesson for everyone one...

A statue in honour of Black Lives Matter has to be erected in Budapest, but nationalist and conservative government of Viktor Orbán threatened to pull it down. He affirmed that “Black Lives Matter is basically a racist movement. The racist is not the person who opposes a BLM statue, but the person who erects one”. 

Censorship of Coronavirus 

Another example of violation of article 2 is the way Chinese government controls the circulation of news, by using censorship and by punishing who spreads false information or information that are considered improper by the authorities. This is a violation of the right of people to express their personal opinion and ideology. (Article 2 - “without distinction of any kind ... political or other opinion”). 

In the following article we can analyse a present-day situation: how China censored Coronavirus.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/19/technology/china-coronavirus-censorship.html

HONG KONG - NATIONAL SECURITY LAW

A further violation of human rights. About 53 pro-democracy activists were arrested in Hong Kong, as they represent a threat for the government. An unacceptable decision that limits and discriminates people because of their political ideology. Read the following articles to learn more about the situation!

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-55555299

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-52765838

Security of the person is a basic entitlement guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948. 

The right to the security of one's person is associated with liberty and includes the right, if one is imprisoned unlawfully, to a remedy such as habeas corpus. Security of person can also be seen as an expansion of rights based on prohibitions of torture and cruel punishment. Rights to security of person can guard against less lethal conduct, and can be used in regard to prisoners' rights. 

The right to security of the person is guaranteed by Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In this article, it is combined with the right to life and liberty. In full, the article reads, "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law."
This means you must not be imprisoned or detained without good reason. If you are arrested, the Human Rights Act provides that you have the right to:

I chose this particular article of Human Rights because I think it’s the most important one: the right to life is the basis for all the other Rights, and simply for our lives. 

There are certain circumstances in which public authorities can detain you as long as they act within the law. This applies, for example, if:

Unfortunately, Human Rights are not always granted and respected by people or by the authorities. Violations exist in every part of the world. For example, Amnesty International’s 2009 World Report and other sources show that individuals are:

Also, women and children in particular are marginalized in numerous ways, the press is not free in many countries, and dissenters are silenced, too often permanently. While some gains have been made over the course of the last six decades, human rights violations still plague the world today.

More concrete examples of these violations:

An estimated 6,500 people were killed in 2007 in armed conflict in Afghanistan—nearly half being noncombatant civilian deaths at the hands of insurgents. Hundreds of civilians were also killed in suicide attacks by armed groups.

In Brazil in 2007, according to official figures, police killed at least 1,260 individuals—the highest total to date. All incidents were officially labeled “acts of resistance” and received little or no investigation.

In Uganda, 1,500 people die each week in the internally displaced person camps. According to the World Health Organization, 500,000 have died in these camps.

Vietnamese authorities forced at least 75,000 drug addicts and prostitutes into 71 overpopulated “rehab” camps, labeling the detainees at “high risk” of contracting HIV/AIDS but providing no treatment.

SOURCES
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/human-rights-act/article-2-right-life
http://www.claiminghumanrights.org/udhr_article_3.html
https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/human-rights/what-are-human-rights

I chose this particular article because I think that its protection is vital to guarantee the proper functioning of a civil society. It is also the right that ensures respect for all other rights e.g. right to vote, free assembly, press freedom and many more since it allows people to speak out on violations.

Unfortunately, like all rights, this one has been violated too. 

The cases of violation that this fundamental right faces are enormous, considering that only in Bangladesh in 2017 there were 335 violations of the right to freedom of expression. ( https://www.article19.org/resources/bangladesh-violations-right-freedom-expression-2017/ )

A well-known violation of this right is the Charlie Hebdo attack of 2015 which has been considered an assault on freedom of expression. As a matter of fact this aspect has been reported on many important newspapers: Le Parisien’s front page headline read “They shall not kill freedom”; Le Monde considered this attack as the French 9/11; lastly Le Figaro ran a giant headline “Liberty assassinated”.

A more recent case of violation of article 19 was the response to the “Black Lives Matter” movement. “Article 19 stands in solidarity with protesters in the US who demand justice for police brutality and an end to discrimination and racism in view of the fact that freedom of expression allows individuals to speak out against oppression, government abuse and discrimination, and express and share their ideas and perspectives to improve our individual lives, communities, and societies.” That being said protests against racism and abuses by authorities are central to this right. The use of force employed by many authorities against protesters and journalists during peaceful protests is a clear and disturbing violation of that human right. 

From the beginning of protests following George Floyd‘s death, the US press freedom tracker has also recorded nearly 300 violations of the rights of journalists, many of which violent. (https://www.article19.org/resources/us-concrete-action-needed-to-end-discriminatory-violations-of-free-expression/)

Another recent episode was the YouTube announcement of December 2020, which states that YouTube will appoint a local representative in Turkey to comply with the country’s recently amended internet law, making it much more susceptible to content removal and take-down requests by the Turkish authorities. This will lead to an increase in arbitrary censorship, compromising people’s privacy and right of access to information, and could as a result implicate YouTube in human rights violations. (https://www.article19.org/resources/turkey-youtube-precedent-threatens-free-expression/)

I personally think that something like this should never happen, especially in this era where most people rely on internet for access to information. This is a form of censorship and the sad reality is that there are many countries where censorship is quite common and unfair too, which I find unquestionably shameful. It undoubtedly violates the right that should be granted to every individual to access information throughout any media.

In the east African country of Uganda, in December 2020, there have been violations of human rights in the context of the election campaigns. Security forces used excessive force and there have been many attacks on journalists. The campaign period has been the protagonist of many deaths: “No less than 54 protesters were killed by police and other unidentified individuals in plain clothes in just two days”. (https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/12/uganda-stop-killings-and-human-rights-violations-ahead-of-election-day )

The spokeswoman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani stated that: “Numerous human rights violations have been reported, including of the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and participation, as well as arbitrary deprivation of life, arbitrary arrest and detention, and torture. … Indeed, harassment, ill-treatment, arbitrary arrests and detention of opposition candidates and supporters have been worrying developments during the electoral campaign." (https://www.voanews.com/africa/un-officials-say-fair-elections-unlikely-uganda)

Only a few days ago we have witnessed the storming of Capitol Hill, after which the permanent suspension of Donald Trump’s Twitter account followed. This event has been the subject of many debates that see two opposite groups as protagonists: those who believe it to be a violation of freedom of speech (1st amendment, which defends the right to freedom of expression like article 19 of human rights), and others who are convinced that it wasn’t a violation since government cannot restrict speech, but social media companies, who are private entities, can. It is a really tricky situation since human rights state that everyone should have freedom of speech and social media plays a big role in this field. In the end it would seem that the second group is right, because as a matter of fact the first amendment does concern government only. (https://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2021/01/09/is-social-medias-ban-of-trump-a-bad-precedent.cnn ) 

Nevertheless it was quite an unsettling occurrence and it came quite as a surprise to everyone!

In October 2016, the UN Special Rapporteur on Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression, David Kaye, reported that individuals seeking to exercise their right to expression face limitations imposed by government, that are not legal, necessary or proportionate (UN General Assembly, 2016). Mr Kaye said: “They are punishing journalists for their reporting, silencing individuals for posting opinions on social media, shutting down debate and the flow of information on grounds of counter-terrorism, protecting public order, sheltering people from offense.”; “And it (censorship) not only harms the speaker or reporter or broadcaster, it undermines everyone’s right to information, to public participation, to open and democratic governance.” 

Freedom of expression requires a free and uncensored press where the media can comment public issues without any form of censorship or restraint.

The Special Rapporteur drew attention to cases where governments justify their actions having no basis in human rights law. “For example,” he said, “it has become routine for governments to explicitly target political criticism, journalism, and the expression of singled-out groups such as LGBTI communities and artists.” 

“Those who carry out physical threats, particularly to journalists and writers and bloggers, are rarely held accountable” Kaye added. “Online, threats to expression are getting worse. Advances in technology have triggered new forms of repression and censorship that undermine everyone’s ability to hold opinions or seek, receive and impart information and ideas.” (https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=20717)

I’m glad I chose this article because I take it to heart and I perceive freedom of expression as one of the most important human rights. Every single human being should be allowed to express himself and his opinion and to access others’ opinions and information because otherwise communication (with the meaning of “The process by which messages or information is sent from one place or person to another”(Cambridge dictionary) ) that is fundamental for human beings wouldn’t have reason to exist.

That being the case I am firmly convinced that these kind of situations should be absolutely fought and stopped, in view of the fact that they are against basic human rights. Furthermore the way I see it, and I state this without any doubt whatsoever, as long as these injustices are a daily reality where the individual is discredited and mistreated, we can’t live in a peaceful, civil and HUMAN world.

~Valeria

If Education is one of the fundamental Human Rights, why do children perceive it negatively,  as an 'obligation'?  Are 'marks' an issue? How can we solve these problems?

Everyone in our everyday life now understand how our current school system really doesn’t work, and how many real and important problems stop us from becoming real, competent adults. Our school system is still the one established during th Industrial Age; why has no one askek himself how is it supposed to fit nowadays, when our world is changing everyday faster and faster? 

Values are still the same of the ones in the Industrial age, but why no one understands that people grow up and change, generations change, and something old can’t fit anymore to new and evolved students? Our school system does not give us chances to develop useful and fundamental skills, that we will surely need in our life. When we are at school, we are used to only follow instructions given us from teachers, but in today’s real life people are rewardes for their creativity and capacity to think outside of the box, so how far can we get if we’re teached like this?

In today’s world, while working, we should develop the capacity of making our own decisions and organizing our time and activities, but the school system is sending us an opposite message: we are considered robots, or machines who are not in charge of their lives, but have just to follow the instructions. In conclusion, I wouldn’t be so surprised if we are bored and demotivated everyday.

This school system is building an unhealthy culture for everyone. School nowadays teste only thing we have memorized, but it doesn’t really care about our capacities. Students spend a lot of time to learn useless things, that they will soon forget. Learning is more than memorizing, but no one seems to care about it. 

According to our school system, everyone must learn the same things, in the same way and at the same time, but no one thinks about the fact that every human being is different and has different passions. In nowadays society everyone should find their passion to become adult and to fit in this world, but school doesn’t seem to care about helping children to find the resolution to this question; school doesn’t help in recognising how much potential goes unrecognized in the current system.

This school system has no room for the differences that we all have, and all who don’t fit with it are considered a failure.

Lecturing has becomed more and more a dehumanizing experience, because we are all different. Technology has made it possible for everyone to learn anything, but for fear of losing control the system doesn’t allow these resources. This system is becoming more and more outdated and ineffective. 

Teachers are treating students like robots, there’s no more real conversation or connection between them. Students are exploited by teachers only to do their work and  to to earn money, without understanding that we are all humans, we all have our emotions, our problems, our difficulties and our passions. There are no more emotions involved, only school, but this doesn’t help students to feel comfortable and peaceful in learning and going to school. In addition to this, marks are an extremely ancien and demotivating system of judgement. When they get a bad mark, students feel bad and they think that it was a failure. In this way, teachers seem to judge per person itself, not his performance at the moment. Students are not robots or machines, and this is the reason why we may fail a test or an exam. We are not in a competition, so I don’t see the point in giving points; I would instead give comments, also to encourage students to do their best and to learn for themselves and for their future, not only for the test, because like this, school is not preparing us for the outside world. In fact, school teaches basic knowledges that everyone should have, without teaching us how to really live our life. I think that school should teach us more practical subjects, to prepare us to be a good citizen and adult. Another good idea would be teaching students sex education, in order to prevent teenagers to real life. In conclusion, school system should definitely change and become more sensible to students.

First of all, teachers are not enough emotionally available and don’t understand that their students are just teenagers. Sometimes it’s just not a good day, week or month and teachers should be understanding. Most teachers, instead, expect us to be productive but homework shouldn’t be considered more important that our mental health. When they’re sad and tired, students should have the chance to go on a walk, kpaint, sleep, read a book, play their favorite sport because humans and have emotions. Students are just not robots.

Furthermore, students are getting tested too often and they’re being assigned too much homework. Unfortunately,  most teachers are focus testing us so often that they forget about the key to school: the quality of our knowledge. When they’re being tested every day, students try to find the quickest way to learn a topic. For this reason, they learn what they’re thought by heart and that knowledge lasts just as long as they need it to take their test. As soon as they’re done with it, they forget everything on that topic. 

Also, the quantity of homework is exaggerated. A bit of homework from times to times is really helpful however, pupils also need some time to elaborate what they’ve just learned. Too much information can be confusing and we need some time to make sure we fully understand it. Overworking us it’s not making us learn more, it just makes us hate school.

Lastly, students are extremely unhappy with the system of education and although they try to communicate their message for change, no one seems willing to listen to them. 

Teenagers in Italy have the chance to complain about the school environment in a monthly assembly. After this they talk to their educators and try to find a solution to the problem such as having too many tests or not agreeing with a teaching method. When they ask for change, teachers seems to view their requests as a whim and refuse to grant them.

In conclusion, I think that the system of education should change drastically to ensure the happiness and mental health of everyone revolving around it. I believe that if we made school a safe place for pupils where they can feel theirselves and express their emotions, we would have many more teenagers interested in acquiring a culture 

As we know, Human Rights aren’t taken for granted all around the world. For instance, in Western Countries we always had the opportunity and the right to travel everywhere we desire to go, however in other parts of the world moving isn’t a right.

COVID-19.

Specially in this COVID - 19 Pandemic, health was put right before this right. We hadn’t had the right to travel and see the people we love the most for a long time. For someone “the people they love the most” live in the place they were born in, so they weren’t allowed to jump on a plane and go back to their families. If we want to deal with “what’s more important between the freedom to move and people’s lives?” of course everyone chooses to protect someone’s life and gives up travelling for a bit. However it has been stressing not to have the possibility to explore the world outside our house, knowing that this world has everything to offer right now. This prohibition lead people who liked travelling and people who didn’t to love it with all their soul. It’s when something is taken away from you that you see its importance and, as a consequence, you start to miss it.

WHAT IF WE WERE BORN ABROAD?

If this right has been taken away from the West World only for this period, there are places where you cannot even think you have the right to move. In totalitarian regimes, the dictatorship doesn’t allow people to exit their country even if it’s just for curiosity. Thinking that dictatorship want to attempt killing people’s curiosity it’s absurd, because you just can’t. Humans are curious animals and this virtue lead them to built the world we live in right now. It doesn’t have a sense to forbid curiosity.

However, if we think about North Korea, we think about people who don’t know what the rest of the world is, they aren’t even allowed to cross boards physically or with their imagination, because Internet is forbidden too, but this is a whole another story. 

It’s a shame when you cannot appreciate the beauty of your neighbour country, because your country and the one next to yours are in war.

Forbidding the freedom to travel, for every reason, does not allow people to have the choice to live the life they want. I just wonder why people aren’t kinder to their neighbours. 

MIGRATION.

Human Rights are meant to be respected by everyone, however if we talk about migrants we see that this right isn’t even taken into consideration sometimes. 

In order to escape from the bad situation in their country, migrants have to face all the obstacles one can imagine, whether they are bureaucratic or they are a life or death situation. And, a lot of times, countries host migrants only for political reasons and not for a matter of being human. Of course, migrants must have the right documents to move in another country, but sometimes they didn’t had the right back in their country to have the needed documents, even for stupid reasons. They just ask for help and hosting countries should make their best work. Sometimes hosting countries accept their stay, sometimes they don’t. 

As the article I put below says, migrants have the need to move because of political, demographic, socio-economic and environmental reasons as major factors and because of education, religion, marital status and personal attitude as minor factors. And, if it’s a need, you should satisfy it, or you’ll be always unhappy with yourself and your life. People just have to be more open to migrants, understanding the reasons behind their choice because they faced already a lot and maybe they just want to call “home” another and kinder country.

NORTH-SOUTH PROBLEM IN ITALY.

If we analyse the national situation of Italy, we can see that many people from the South go to Northern Cities to live a better life because the North offers more choice, more jobs and more freedom of expression of one’s way of being. So people are attracted by the North and go there to look for a brighter future, Fortunately, Italy allows it. However there are politicians who say that people from the South are lazy people who don’t want to work and they want to move just because they say they feel unsatisfied: they aren’t really moving because of a need. And even if it’s about a caprice and not about a need, politicians should not say hurtful words to them!

To conclude this article, it’s important to mention all the hard work people are doing to bring this right to all the countries. They are sweating, fighting and dying to make this freedom a right to everybody.

Here there is an article about the reasons why people have the need to migrate and the reasons why the right to move has to be taken seriously:

https://academic.oup.com/jtm/article/25/1/tay040/5056445

Here an article about North and South Korean border:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-56083161