What are human rights and how to stay informed? Here are my tips:
1. Let’s start with the basics of human rights protection: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights – Article 1 declares: “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.” If I might add: “and sisterhood” 😉
2. Follow the daily briefs of Human Rights Watch. You can sign up with your email for free and receive a compilation of current tweets daily with an explanation about the pending human rights issue.
3. Sign up for an online course, for example on Coursera or edX. Access to the course is usually for free. You can also earn a certificate if you pay a certain amount (50$ to 200$). It can be your chance to study at top universities such as Harvard or Stanford! I found some interesting-sounding courses which you might want to check out:
- AI & Law, Lund University (Sweden)
- Refugees in the 21st century, University of London (UK)
- Child Protection: Children’s Rights in Theory and Practice, Harvard University (USA)
4. Watch documentary films – they can give you great insights. Here are my favourite ones, if you haven’t seen them yet:
- The Cleaners – a report about the traumatic work of content moderators verifying social media
- Go – freely available on YouTube – it shows how computer programs learn and outsmart human beings
- Raving Iran – freely available on YouTube – two DJs make music in a country where electronic music is strictly forbidden. On a side note: the documentary’s music is great
5. Amnesty International publishes country reports and informs about human rights issues in specific countries.
humanitytrail 