ü citizen becomes apart of the government system. It also allows citizens to become individuals, and gives them a sense of ownership in their country.
l We need to be responsible for our speech ( )
l With freedom comes great responsibility. You can't run into a crowded theatre and yell, "FIRE!"
l many people might take advantage of their freedom and use it to hurt others through hate speech or even violent protest.
l the BNP, The Nazi party, White supremacists, Extreme Terrorists - all of these people use freedom of speech to hide behind as an excuse for behaviour that is against freedom of speech.
Right to live (Article 2)
l a phrase that describes the belief that a human being has an essential right to live, particularly that a human being has the right not to be killed by another human being.
ü Life is the gift from god, we are all born the same
ü No one have the right to take others life away
û E.g. murderer, they don’t have the right to live, they should be put to death in order to reduce the number of crime.
Human Rights Quotes:
-Peace can only last where human rights are respected, where the people are fed, and where individuals and nations are free. ---- 14th Dalai Lama
-Human Beings, indeed all sentient beings, have the right to pursue happiness and live in peace and freedom. --- 14th Dalai Lama
- Everyone has a right to peaceful coexistence, the basic personal freedoms, the alleviation of suffering, and the opportunity to lead a productive life ---- Jimmy Carter, Former President of the United States
- The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don't agree with--- Eleanor Holmes Norton, US Congressional Delegate
Advantage:
- Guarantees certain freedoms, the people are not afraid of the government/country, happier people, better economy, overall well-being.
- leads to better and more sustainable human development
- ensuring girls enjoy their right to education
- strengthening enjoyment of the right to clean water and sanitation
- strengthening the land rights and security of tenure of poor people
- prioritising the right to health of children and women
- ensuring women’s equality particularly in the context of access to land and credit
- strengthening civil and political rights as a basis for good governance
- can make choice
Disadvantage:
- arise when human rights are written down as laws
- Guarantees certain freedoms, the people are not afraid of the government/country,
- uneducated or little educated people might misinterpret their rights, which might lead to lawsuits against the government. Lawsuits are time consuming and costly, especially to the government and its taxpayers.
Human Rights in China
News 1:
Dissident Writer-in-Exile Yu Jie Details Torture by Police
流亡異議作家余傑詳述遭中國警方酷刑經過
2012-01-18
Yu Jie is a writer and vice-president of the Independent Chinese PEN Center (ICPENC, 2005–2007) from Chengdu,Sichuan, China. He is a notable critic of China's human rights record
In a statement today at a press conference in Washington, D.C., Yu Jie (余杰), dissident writer and former vice president of the Independent Chinese PEN Center who left China a week ago, recounts his torture by state security police after he was kidnapped on December 9, 2010, the day before the award ceremony for Liu Xiaobo’s Nobel Peace Prize.
Yu says that after being brought to an undisclosed location with a black hood forced over his head, he was stripped naked and made to kneel on the ground while plainclothes policemen pelted him with blows to the head and body, slapped him, made him slap himself, bent his fingers backward, kicked him in the chest, and stomped on him. They also took photos of him and threatened to post them on the Internet. The police took him to the hospital after he became unconscious, and told hospital staff that he was epileptic.
Yu also describes years of government censorship of his writings—rendering him a “‘non-existent person’ in the public space”—and, since October 2010, harassment, surveillance, house arrest, and forced travels.
1973年生於四川,2000年獲北京大學碩士學位。畢業後,曾就職中國現代文學館,隨即被解僱,其後靠寫作維生。2005年至2007年,曾任獨立中文筆會副會長。2006年5月,余傑以中國大陸家庭教會成員和異議作家的身份,在白宮受到美國總統布什的接見。
2010年10月,劉曉波獲諾貝爾和平獎後,余傑遭到中國當局的非法軟禁、監視、跟蹤以及「被旅遊」。同年12月9日,在挪威舉行諾貝爾和平獎頒獎前夕,余傑被中國警方暴力綁架,非法關押5天。其間,他遭到酷刑虐待,包括脫光衣服毒打,掰手指,踢踹,強迫他自打耳光,還給他拍裸體照片。他被打致昏迷,送到醫院搶救,幾乎喪命。
News 2:
Guizhou Authorities Suppress Activities to Commemorate June Fourth
貴州人權研討會籌備紀念“六四”活動遭打壓
Human Rights in China (HRIC) has learned that in recent days, many members of the Guizhou Human Rights Symposium have been detained, summoned for questioning, or even beaten by police authorities in Guiyang, Guizhou Province. The group has been openly planning activities to commemorate the 21st anniversary of the June Fourth government crackdown on the 1989 democracy movement. Despite the police actions, members of the group said that they will not abandon their right to commemorate June Fourth and that the group will continue to fight the official suppression.
The Guizhou group began its preparations for June Fourth commemorative activities in April this year. On May 9, more than ten members had planned to hold a discussion meeting in the city’s Nanjiao Park, but the police prevented some of them from leaving their homes and detained others. Among those detained, Chen Xi (陈西),Liao Shuangyuan (廖双元), Wu Yuqin (吴玉琴), Huang Yanming (黄燕明), Mo Jiangang (莫建刚),Wang Zang (王藏), and Xu Guoqing (徐国庆) were kept for more than ten hours, and Mo Jiangang was beaten at the police station.
Beginning May 24, three days after the group’s weekly meeting during which members discussed plans for seminars, lectures, and a memorial service, three group members – Mo Jiangang, Xu Guoqing, and Du Heping (杜和平) – were detained by the police for three days, while others were summoned by the public security bureau, including Chen Xi, Wu Yuqin, Xu Guoqing, Du Heping, and Li Renke (李仁科). In addition, Li Renke was threatened by the police that if he participates in any June Fourth commemorative activities, he would not be allowed to set up his peddler’s stand. Li Renke does not have a steady job, and he makes his living by peddling.
The group had scheduled its next meeting for May 28, at Hebin Park. In the days before the meeting, the police kept close surveillance on many group members, blocked communication between them, and summoned Huang Yanming and Chen Xi for questioning.
On the afternoon of May 28, the authorities sent a large number of police officers to surround Hebin Park, to prevent the meeting from taking place. Group members attempting to enter the park, including Chen Xi, Yong Zhiming (雍志明), Pan Furao (潘福荛), Lu Yongxiang (卢勇祥), Fan Houcheng (范厚成), Tian Zuxiang (田祖湘), Cheng Yang’e (成阳娥), Yang Kaixin (杨开新), Zhu Zhengyuan (朱正元), Quan Linzhi (全林志), Dong Dezhu (董德筑), Zhang Zhongfa (张重发), Tao Yuping (陶玉平), and Mei Chongpiao (糜崇骠), were either driven out or packed into a police vehicle and taken away.
The Guizhou group said that it will not change its plan and that it intends to hold a memorial service at Hebin Park on June 4. Chen Xi said, “We expected the government’s attempts to shut down any commemoration of June Fourth. This is the nature of an authoritarian regime. But we cannot give in to their pressure, and our every effort is itself a commemoration of June Fourth. This is how we have chosen to commemorate it. Human rights in China will not come without a struggle.”
The Guizhou Human Rights Symposium is an active civil society organization whose key members have long been engaged in democracy and rights defense activities. Chen Xi previously served three years in prison for forming the [Guizhou] Patriotic and Democratic Federation during the 1989 democracy movement. In 1996, Chen organized and then formed the Guizhou branch of the China Democracy Party in an attempt to seek political rehabilitation for the participants of the 1989 movement. He was sentenced to ten years in prison for “counter-revolutionary crimes.” On June 4, 1995, Huang Yanming, also a participant of the 1989 movement, and Lu Yongxiang distributed in Tiananmen Square an open letter requesting political reform and rehabilitation of June Fourth victims. Because of their activities, they each served five years in prison on charges of “counter-revolutionary crimes.” Du Heping was sentenced to three years for collecting signatures for the “Public Support of the Students Patriotic Democracy Movement” campaign in 1989 and for organizing public demonstrations.
中國人權獲悉,在“六四”21週年前夕,貴州人權研討會決定公開籌辦紀念活動。連日來,這一活動遭到貴陽警方的打壓和封殺,人權研討會的多名成員被警方帶走傳喚和扣押,有的還遭到毆打。但貴州人權研討會表示,他們將不會放棄紀念“六四”的權利,與當局的打壓抗爭到底。
自今年4月開始,貴州人權研討會便開始籌備紀念“六四”21週年的活動。5月9日,10多名成員準備在貴陽市南郊公園舉行一個紀念“六四”的聚餐討 論會,但遭到警方的封殺,所有的人都被堵在家中,其中陳西、廖雙元、吳玉琴、黃燕明、莫建剛、王藏、徐國慶等被扣押10多個小時,莫建剛在派出所遭到毆 打。
5月21日,貴州人權研討會在河濱公園舉行每週的例會,大家商討了舉行“六四”紀念活動的內容,包括悼念“六四”遇難者、舉辦座談會、演講會等。為 此,貴州人權研討會的成員陳西、吳玉琴、徐國慶、杜和平、李仁科等人自5月24日起,陸續被當地公安局傳喚。其中莫建剛、徐國慶、杜和平被警方扣押了3 天。李仁科受到警察的威脅,警告他不得參加紀念 “六四”的活動,如果不配合,就不讓他擺地攤。李仁科沒有固定工作,以擺地攤為生。
貴州人權研討會的成員沒有屈服於當局的打壓,繼續籌備紀念“六四”的活動,定於5月28日下午在貴陽市河濱公園聚會,商定有關紀念活動的具體事項, 並在網上發佈了會議通知,歡迎各界人士參加。為此,警方近日先後把黃燕明、陳西從家中帶走盤問,後被釋放。警方還嚴密監控研討會成員,切斷他們之間的通訊 聯絡,派警察看守陳西等人的家。
5月28日下午,當局出動大批警力,把河濱公園包圍起來。當陳西、雍志明、潘福蕘、盧勇祥、范厚成、田祖湘、成陽娥、楊開新、朱正元、全林志、董德 築、張重發、陶玉平、糜崇驃等人試圖進入聚會地點時,分別被警方強制驅逐或塞進警車帶走。儘管如此,當天下午還是有10多人趕到河濱公園參加聚會。由於當 局的阻撓,當日的聚會沒能舉行。
貴州人權研討會表示,他們紀念“六四”21週年的計劃不變,將在“六四”當天在河濱公園公開悼念“六四”遇難者。陳西說,政府對紀念“六四”的封 殺,在預料之中,這是專制制度的本性。但我們不能因為他們的打壓而放棄。我們的種種努力本身就是在紀念“六四”,這就是我們的紀念方式。中國人的人權是要 經過爭取才能得到。
貴州人權研討會是大陸活躍的民間組織,其主要成員長期從事民主和維權活動。陳西在1989年學運期間,因建立“愛國民主聯合會”被判刑3年。 1996年,他因要求平反“六四”,組建中國民主黨貴州分部,被當局以“反革命罪”判處10年徒刑。黃燕明參與了1989年學運。1995年6月4日,黃 燕明和盧勇祥在北京天安門廣場拋撒給要求為“六四”死難者昭雪、進行政治改革的《公開信》,被當局以“反革命罪”判刑5年。杜和平,在八九中籌辦《醒 獅》,並徵集“市民聲援學生愛國民主運動”簽名,組織遊行,被判刑3年。