Human Rights and Equal Dignity (HRED)

HumanDHS is primarily grounded in academic work. We are independent of any religious or political agenda. However, we wish to bring academic work into "real life." Our research focuses on topics such as dignity (with humiliation as its violation), or, more precisely, on respect for equal dignity for all human beings in the world. This is not only our research topic, but also our core value, in line with Article 1 of the Human Rights Declaration that states that every human being is born with equal dignity (that ought not be humiliated). We agree with Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development, who advocates the building of bridges from academia as follows, "I have always believed that good scholarship can be relevant and consequential for public policy. It is possible to affect public policy without being an advocate; to be passionate about peace without losing analytical rigor; to be moved by what is just while conceding that no one has a monopoly on justice." We would like to add that we believe that good scholarship can be relevant and consequential not only for public policy, but for raising awareness in general.



We look for interested people, who would like to develop our HRED page. Please see our Call for Creativity.



The Human Rights and Equal Dignity (HRED) vision of a world of equal dignity for all, away from practices of humiliation, is identical with the central human rights message. Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 states that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."




 

 

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 states that "all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."
When the Declaration was drawn up, there it was discussed whether to place this sentence into the preamble. However, this was rejected by those who argued that this sentence represented not just a lofty ideal for a preamble, but had to have more binding force. Therefore this sentence was placed in the first Article (personal communication with Tore Lindholm, October 2004, Oslo, Norway).


 

 

The Universal Human Rights Index

The Universal Human Rights Index provides instant access for all countries to human rights information from the United Nations system. The index is based on the observations and recommendations of the following international expert bodies: the seven Treaty Bodies monitoring the implementation of the core international human rights treaties (since 2000) the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council (since 2006).




 

 

Health and Human Rights Info

Health and Human Rights Info makes practical information and material on mental health and human rights more available. Our aim is to give you access to organisations, publications, guidelines and manuals regarding the effects of human rights violations on mental health in the contexts of violence, conflict and disaster on individual as well as community level. This website contains a database with links to selected materials, divided into three categories and thematic pages. Health and Human Rights Info is a project initiated by the International Society for Health and Human Rights (ISHHR) . and funded by the Norwegian NGO Mental Health Project.

 


 

 

The International Society for Health and Human Rights (ISHHR)

Please see the work by The International Society for Health and Human Rights (ISHHR), whose aim is to contribute to the promotion and improvement of aid to persons who have experienced gross violations of human rights, and to contribute to the world-wide eradication of gross violations of human rights. ISHHR has members in almost 50 countries worldwide. Please read on the ISHHR website: "The human rights issue is a very important one for health workers, and as health professionals we deal with this in many different ways. We live in a world where these rights are being violated and challenged every single day. In this situation we hope to contribute with our share, namely by strengthening the communication between professionals in this area and by emphasising the need for an active defense for human rights."

 




Links

Please note that the entire HumanDHS website is maintained by volunteers, since its inception in 2003, and this is mainly done by Evelin Lindner. Until 2012, she usually pasted interesting news into this Links section. From July 2012 until 2017, she tagged interesting information on delicious.com. From 2017 onward, you see Evelin's personal list of interesting web links on Twitter:

Spanish Society for International Human Rights Law (SSIHRL)
The SSIHRL is a pluralistic and independent organization aiming to build bridges of permanent communication among academia, public institutions, international organizations and civil society, in order to promote and implement the international human rights law (IHRL) values within Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, thus ensuring States' compliance with decisions and recommendations adopted by the international human rights bodies and mechanisms.

Global Voices
Global Voices is a community of more than 300 bloggers and translators around the world who work together to bring you reports from blogs and citizen media everywhere, with emphasis on voices that are not ordinarily heard in international mainstream media. Global Voices seeks to aggregate, curate, and amplify the global conversation online - shining light on places and people other media often ignore. We work to develop tools, institutions and relationships that will help all voices, everywhere, to be heard. Millions of people are blogging, podcasting, and uploading photos, videos, and information across the globe, but unless you know where to look, it can be difficult to find respected and credible voices. Our international team of volunteer authors and part-time editors are active participants in the blogospheres they write about on Global Voices. Global Voices is incorporated in the Netherlands as Stichting Global Voices, a nonprofit foundation. We do not have an office, but work as a virtual community across multiple time zones, meeting in person only when the opportunity arises (usually during our Summits). We rely on grants, sponsorships, editorial commissions, and donations to cover our costs. Our Projects Global Voices is translated into more than 30 languages by volunteer translators, who have formed the Lingua project. Additionally, Global Voices has an Advocacy website and network to help people speak out online in places where their voices are censored. We also have an outreach project called Rising Voices to help marginalized communities use citizen media to be heard, with an emphasis on the developing world. Read more.

Youku
Youku is a video hosting service based in People's Republic of China.

International Federation for Human Rights - FIDH
Human Rights are the very foundation of a society that guarantees equality, dignity and freedom for each human being. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), through its legitimacy, its experience, its methods and its credibility, has a unique role to play in contributing to their realisation. Since 2009, FIDH has singled out certain areas of prime concern, for which it has determined action priorities:
• Freedom and capacity to act of human rights defenders,
• Universality of rights, in particular those of women and migrants, whose - inequitable treatment constitutes a major obstacle for the progress of mankind,
• Effectiveness of Human Rights, to put an end to the impunity of authors of violations, who are not called to account, be they individuals, States or business enterprises,
• Respect for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in times of conflict, emergency or political transition. In order to act effectively on such complex issues and to achieve concrete results, FIDH has also determined a number of internal objectives:
• To reinforce interaction and proximity with its member and partner organisations, in particular by deploying new decentralised offices in nearly all regions,
• To continue developing the professionalism of the movement,
• To reinforce FIDH's capacity to mobilise public opinion and political circles,
• And to consolidate the increase in its financial resources and its sustainability, essential prerequisites for fulfilling its ambitions.
FIDH acts in an international context that is both complex and unsettled. In order to meet all these challenges, FIDH must be clear-sighted, and modest regarding its capabilities; it must also define its priorities and continually evaluate its action. The quest for universal and effective rights is the vital lead for FIDH to embody a universal Human Rights movement.

REDRESS
REDRESS is a human rights organisation that helps torture survivors obtain justice and reparation. REDRESS works with survivors to help restore their dignity and to make torturers accountable.

The International Center for Transitional Justice
The International Center for Transitional Justice is an international non-profit organization specializing in the field of transitional justice. ICTJ works to help societies in transition address legacies of massive human rights violations and build civic trust in state institutions as protectors of human rights. In the aftermath of mass atrocity and repression, we assist institutions and civil society groups—the people who are driving and shaping change in their societies—in considering measures to provide truth, accountability, and redress for past abuses. We do this by providing technical expertise and knowledge of relevant comparative experiences in transitional justice from across the globe.

UN reform proposals put forward as action plan by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on March 21, 2005
Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All
Executive Summary

III. Freedom to live in dignity
In the Millennium Declaration, Member States said they would spare no effort to promote democracy and strengthen the rule of law, as well as respect for all internationally recognized human rights and fundamental freedoms. And over the last six decades, an impressive treaty-based normative framework has been advanced.
But without implementation, these declarations ring hollow. Without action, promises are meaningless. People who face war crimes find no solace in the unimplemented words of the Geneva Conventions. Treaties prohibiting torture are cold comfort to prisoners abused by their captors, particularly if the international human rights machinery enables those responsible to hide behind friends in high places. War-weary populations despair when, even though a peace agreement has been signed, there is little progress towards government under the rule of law. Solemn commitments to strengthen democracy remain empty words to those who have never voted for their rulers, and who see no sign that things are changing.
Therefore, the normative framework that has been so impressively advanced over the last six decades must be strengthened. Even more important, concrete steps are required to reduce selective application, arbitrary enforcement and breach without consequence. The world must move from an era of legislation to implementation.
Action is called for in the following priority areas:
.. Rule of law: The international community should embrace the “responsibility to protect”, as a basis for collective action against genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. All treaties relating to the protection of civilians should be ratified and implemented. Steps should be taken to strengthen cooperation with the International Criminal Court and other international or mixed war crimes tribunals, and to strengthen the International Court of Justice. The Secretary-General also intends to strengthen the Secretariat’s capacity to assist national efforts to re-establish the rule of law in conflict and post-conflict societies.
.. Human rights: The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights should be strengthened with more resources and staff, and should play a more active role in the deliberations of the Security Council and of the proposed Peacebuilding Commission. The human rights treaty bodies of the UN system should also be rendered more effective and responsive.
.. Democracy: A Democracy Fund should be created at the UN to provide
assistance to countries seeking to establish or strengthen their democracy.

Dr. Micheline R. Ishay, University of Denver, Denver, CO 80208, USA.

Hurisearch: Search Engine Aids Rights Workers
Human rights groups around the world are creating a search engine to help co-ordinate campaigns against abuse. The database behind the search system pools data about dissidents, the abuse they have suffered, and campaigns that highlight when freedoms are restricted. More than 3,000 groups around the world are contributing information to the database. It has been set up because rights groups say they are not well served by current search engines. Work on the search system is being co-ordinated by Huridocs - a non-profit group set up to help human rights groups, non-governmental groups and researchers do a better job of cataloguing and sharing information. The project began by indexing documents and data prepared by large campaigning groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Anti-Slavery International. Now these have been joined by thousands of other organisations around the world who upload information into the database ready for searching. Before its creation much of the detailed local information about rights abuses could have been overlooked. Huridocs estimates that the system now holds more than 2.5 million pages from more than 3,000 separate websites. Users can search the database in 77 languages. Work on the system, called Hurisearch, started in 2003 and now it is completed it is due to get its official launch on 10 December - Human Rights Day.
please read the entire article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/technology/6198244.stm.

UN Elects New Human Rights Body
Several nations considered by activists to have poor human rights records have won election to the newly formed UN Human Rights Council. China, Cuba, Pakistan, Russia and Saudi Arabia were among 44 states confirmed on the 47-strong council, elected by the UN General Assembly. The new body replaces the Human Rights Commission, discredited for having members with terrible rights records.
Please read the entire article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4754169.stm.