Human Rights and Film

As I previously mentioned here at this blog, I’ve been hosting a social media mini-course on “Human Rights and Film” at my Facebook fan page. The course is over, but I’ve put all the material from it below, in this post.

This is not the first time I’ve fiddled with social media mini-courses on Twitter. Inspired by our friend and past interviewee Stephen Prothero, the goals of my mini-courses “Religion and Film” and “Buddhism and Film” were really one and the same: to offer some preliminary information about religious studies topics using new media and art. I hoped to expose participants to ideas, readings, and films that they might not have encountered before, and maybe inspire further exploration on their part. The feedback was lovely, and so I’d been thinking for a while about doing a third.

“Human Rights and Film” took place over 30 days, with one of the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights considered every day. One each day I would (1) list the specific article for that day; (2) recommend a reading that captured the essence of that right, or highlighted a contemporary issue involving it; and (3) recommend a film that also captured its essence or highlighted a contemporary concern involving it.

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Article I

“All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

• READING: the Preamble to the Declaration, as well as the sections of its website marked “History,” “Human Rights Law,” “Drafters,” and “Resources” at the official website of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• FILM: Philadelphia (1993), dir. Jonathan Demme

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Article II

“Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.”

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”

• READING: the United States Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, et al
• FILM: Amistad (1997), dir. Steven Spielberg

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Article IV

“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms.”

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”

Article VI

“Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law.”

Article VII

“All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.”

Article VIII

“Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law.”

Article IX

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.”

• READING: “Human Rights and Indefinite Detention” by Alfred de Zayas for the International Review of the Red Cross
• FILM: The Road to Guantánamo (2006), dir. Michael Winterbottom

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Article X

“Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.”

Article XI

“(1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed.”

Article XII

“No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”

Article XIII

“(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”

Article XIV

“(1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.”

Article XV

“(1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.”

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Article XVI

“(1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.”

Article XVII

“(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.”

Article XVIII

“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”

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Article XIX

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”

Article XX

“(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. (2) No one may be compelled to belong to an association.”

Article XXI

“(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives. (2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country. (3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”

“Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through national effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and the free development of his personality.”

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Article XXIII

“(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.”

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Article XXIV

“Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.”

• READING: “With Dignity: The Right to Rest and Leisure” by Lawrence University’s Marika Straw
• FILM: Office Space (1999), dir. Mike Judge

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Article XXV

“(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection.”

Article XXVI

“(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. (2) Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace. (3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”

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Article XXVII

“(1) Everyone has the right to freely participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits. (2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.”

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Article XXVIII

“Everyone is entitled to a social and international order in which the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration can be fully realized.”

• READING: “Case Study: Military Intervention for Human Rights” from the BBC World Service
• FILM: The Dark Knight Rises (2012), dir. Christopher Nolan

Article XXIX

“(1) Everyone has duties to the community in which alone the free and full development of his personality is possible. (2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of others and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare in a democratic society. (3) These rights and freedoms may in no case be exercised contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations.”

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Article XXX

“Nothing in this Declaration may be interpreted as implying for any State, group or person any right to engage in any activity or to perform any act aimed at the destruction of any of the rights and freedoms set forth herein.”