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How do human rights make a difference in your daily life?

How do human rights make a difference in your daily life?
4.5
We come across different types of people from different places, from different backgrounds, from different experiences, life experiences. So for me, it’s about, you know, human rights is treating everybody the same. You know, seeing somebody who might not have come from the same background as me and then recognizing that and celebrating that difference, rather than making it make us be polar opposites and not engaging with that person. So I guess for me, it’s about celebrating difference. It’s about ensuring that as you’re respecting your own rights and the rights of people you love and care about, that you’re respecting the rights and caring about other people as well.
42.7
When I get up in the morning and start my day, I think the rights that matter most to me are the right to speak out and the right to meet with whoever I want to. So those are the rights to freedom of expression and the rights to free association. They matter to me partly because I love Amnesty and I’m really interested in Amnesty, and everything I do with Amnesty is enabled by the exercise of these rights. - Being able to express my feeling, being able to go outside and start promoting or start protesting for something that is not right, that’s a big difference.
95.1
Being able to lobby my MPs, for example, for something that is going around to my community, it actually makes a really difference. You see it in so many countries like, there is human rights defender. They’re there fighting their life, but they’re not able to express. Therefore, they’re not able to express, to protest. Even for peaceful protests, they’re not able. They get arrested, they get torture, just for being able to make the choice that you want.

Human rights affect all aspects of our lives. Whether we are aware of it or not, human rights guarantee that our most basic needs are protected.

Discussion

How would the lives of the video speakers change if they were denied the rights that enable them to enjoy their everyday lives?

Reflect and discuss with your peers.

This article is from the free online

Defending Dignity: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

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FutureLearn - Learning For Life

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