What have you learned in the last three weeks about human rights? Do you have a different perspective about HR from before? What were some of your favorite things discussed these last few weeks?
Some topics discussed in class:
-Post Conflict Reconstruction
- Women's Rights/Violence against women
-Economic/Political/Psychological explanations to HR violations
-What are human rights?
-Universalism/Relativism
-The United Nations and UDHR
-Children's Rights
-Genocide
-Media Representation of HR abuses -Torture
-Refugees/IDPs
-Economic, political and civil rights
-Humanitarian Intervention
-Why does it matter to me? How can I make a difference?
Specific case studies: Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, India, Sri Lanka, Argentina, Brazil, Algeria, The United States...
Media: The Take, Hotel Rwanda, Life and Debt
*Please, take some time to answer the Truce Foundation's four questions.
14 comments:
i have learned so much in these pst three weeks. thats probably the most cliche first sentece ever, but it stands true. i felt that our class was beyond the greatest i have ever been in, school or cty, and the teachers, and kids were amazing. i remember learning what a non-state actor was, all the way to the zimbardo experiment. i think my dad is going to be shocked at how much i now know about the economy, and its impact on the world as a whole. i really liked learning about child rights, as well as womens rights. felt bad for the dudes occasionally, but still, its an important topic to discuss. It alarmed me how much i didnt know about the world around me. THANKS VAGISH AND NEDULAR! gpol08 aucky aucky* rofl. lol. lawlz. <33
clustuhhh bombed
phat gurlz
The last three weeks have been incredibly eye-opening. We covered a lot of the different topics. My favorites were post conflict reconstruction, the UN and the UDHR, economic rights through sanctions and violence against women. All of these topics seemed much clearer and less philosophical than the others. Since they were less philosophical, they actually had answers and evidence which would suggest the best way to solve the world's problems. I was also really interested in economic sanctions and the effect they have on HR through the form of being able to medication, food, etc. I feel that a lot of people are incredibly ignorant about this part of politics and that the economy can dictate how many HR are violated. Finally, I thought that the UN was really interesting because my opinions kept changing. I entered the class thinking that the UN was a great organization that helped save millions of lives around the world, but as we discussed what the UN does, I learned how inefficient they were. We also discussed the western bias that the UN has. Over the last few days, however, I realized that even though the UN may be inefficient and have some bias, it still gets a lot done, especially when it comes to post conflict reconstruction.
These last few weeks have been great and I learned so much about the ever-changing world we live in.
I have learned a great many things about human rights by being in this class.
The first thing i learned was what all of the human rights were. I did not know them,and some i thought were pretty obvious but they still needed stating. Then what surprised me was finding out the extent that these were being violated, even in a society that i knew well, and would have thought would protect everyone in it.
When first coming to this class, i thought that the UN was a good organization, and it did a lot to help many different countries. I thought wrong. Sure it does do a great many things, but it can be too slow and in that time many things can happen. Also it has more laws to follow and it is more difficult to take action. So it is effective but not to the extent that i thought it was.
I thought that the torture debate was extremely enlightening. This i because i thought i was completely against torture, but then i saw the arguments for torture. Both sides make sense and i am unsure about where i stand, maybe still against but not quite as fully as i was. Such as it has worked in the past, and lives can be saved by only harming one person. But then there is the opposition that about how can we weigh human life? and that we are breaking HRs by torturing. Therefore i am unsure.
The universalism vs. relativism is intriguing as i had never really thought about it before to such an extent. i realized how difficult it must be for the UN or other places to try and enforce international law. Each country has a different culture and different needs, such as developing.
I did not know about hard law or soft law before this class. I had heard the term before but did not know what they meant, and know i found out how soft law seems to be more effective.
i also thought the take on women's rights was interesting. I would not have thought about it, as we are taught that everyone is human and equal. But when you look at it, women need to be seen differently than men because otherwise it would not be equal. Women and men are made differently for different reasons, so we cannot expect us to be treated exactly the same. They do not get pregnant, whereas women do and they should be allowed to have time off. Also you can give fathers time of as well for paternity leave. Also women should not be discriminated against just for being women, but they are. So i think it is good to bring up these issue, that might not ordinarily be thought about.
I also found out just how difficult it must be for people working in the social sciences to come up with solutions and agree on them. Many people have different views and there are many aspects to each problem or conflict making it challenging to deal with.
I thought this was a great class as it covered many things that i probably never would have known or been taught in school. I have learned a lot and really enjoyed it. I also liked how we did a mixture of simulations, we did one essay and the debates, i thought this was really good. We were able to learn and apply the things we had learned.
we learned so much i hardly know what to say here. i came to this class really not knowing at all what to expect and it was entirely different than what i had previously imagined. for the most part i was shocked and upset about what i didnt know. specifically about women's rights violations, the vast nature of the refugee problem, and how evil the IMF is. I would love to say that i understood all that Vagisha tried to explain to us about economics but im still a little confused. I will figure it out eventually i hope. Before this class i was always very annoyed with countries when they didnt intervene when human rights were clearly being violated in other countries. When we learned about all of the work and complexity involved in humanitarian intervention it made me think more about how complicated every country and conflict is and how difficult it is to try and help. i dont know what im going to do now i want to help people but there are so many people need help. thanks vagish and neddddular when i get home im just going to lecture everybody i know and spend all my time on hrw.org!
I have learned so much in the past 3 weeks. I am leaving camp with a different view on human rights and a critical eye on the U.S. and the U.N. I always knew that human rights are open to interpretation and that many people disagree over who is "wrong" and who is "right." But the concept of human rights is so much more than who is right or wrong. It is based off people, races (or should I say ethnicities?), organizations, and countries who all hold vastly different views. Reconciling those views and forming an agreement is a daunting task that one person will never be able to accomplish. One person can make a dent in discrimination and heal several wounds but it will take the collaboration of everyone to truly have human rights.
My favorite discussions in this class were on women's rights, child's rights, and genocide. Cultures and religions play a large role in those issues and I found different cultures and practices fascinating. Our class was very accepting of new ideas and everyone had something to contribute. Each opinion and argument meant something and I seriously doubt that I will find such an open and engaging environment again.
Thanks so much Vagisha and Nerey! You changed my world and opened my eyes.
And a shout-out to everyone in the class: Go G-Pol B!!!!!
These three weeks were ahhhh-mazing! We've convered so much in this course. Quite frankly, everything we were taught this summer was something new to me. Women's right was definitely a shocker. My mom's a tough businesswoman and my school never really talked about women's rights; I was never really aware that women are being hurt just for being a female every day. The only time that the issue was brought up in my school was when a guy walked up to me and asked "you wanna hear a joke? -Women's rights! haha" He's not going to be that happy when he sees me again next school year. On the other hand, i was also overwhelmed by how complicated the problems are in our world. Everything has to do with everything, torture, hunger, fear, rape, relativism, self-interest, sovereigny. It's so complicated! But then again, I've also learned about the UN, NGOs and other non-state actors, and their existence tell me that there are people who care and one day, some day, these problems will be solved.
I feel that it is also my responsibility to bring the awareness of the current issues in this world that's here in CTY back to my school. It'll be so weird going back to Shanghai again.
But nonetheless, every class in the past three weeks was again...ahhhhhhhh-mazing. :D
Diana Xu
Diana Xu
^ooops i wrote my name twice :P
As every other poster has said, I have learned much in the past three weeks. This was my favorite CTY site/class and although I do not have a new perspective, I feel that human rights need to be tailored to each country/culture but still retain universal characteristics. My favorite discussion was the difference between Universalism and Relativism.I learned that every culture and country has its own different practices and that international legislation has to take their culture differences into consideration, but still follow basic human rights as a guide.
This class has given me an in-depth look at human rights, a subject I had not studied before. I have learned much about the history of the human rights movement, important topics in human rights, and key actors in the advocacy process. At the same time, I had a lot of fun, especially during the simulations. I am excited about all I have learned and know I have gained a new perspective on the world today.
Vagisha and Nerey,
I'm writing this as a letter, because I don't know how to start. I want to thank you guys so much for all you have taught me and for being so understanding of everything that was going on. I have learned so much from both of you. I loved learning about so much from so many viewpoints. I know I'm being vague, but I'm not sure how to really write about what I learned without just writing a list. Let it suffice that I know a hell of a lot more than I did before this class, not only on human rights, but on economics, the UN, politics, and many different countries in general -- especially Sri Lanka and Argentina.
Vagisha, you should really read the book Daughter of Persia by Sattareh Farman Farmaian. You'd really love, I think.
I've run out of time.
Love and thanks,
Amelia
P.S. Nerey, you are an excellent public speaker; I don't know what you're always so worried about.
P.P.S. Catwoman + Storm = Vagisha
I have never been so impacted by a class in my life! I am leaving here a more worldly and conscientious person. The topics kept me focused and interested, they were never terribly dull. Our class was the best I've ever taken thanks to Vagisha, Nereyda, and my fellow classmates.
I feel like my eyes have been opened to a whole new world. I would occasionally feel guilty for not being aware of the various issues we discussed, but i've come to understand that I can use my privilege to help others.
The first thing I learned was that practically all of our human rights are violated on a regular basis! I had never even heard of the UDHR before, but i now feel rather framiliar with it. My opinion in the UN was continually changing. I originally thought they contributed a great deal to bettering the world, but I have come to learn that their efforts are good, but the results are not very effective. The lesson on PMCs was very interesting and enlightening. I wonder what other information is kept from the public and even congresspersons. The discussions on Women's Rights made me rethink human rights being gender neutral.
Everything we have gone over has been interesting and I've have gained knowledge fom every person in the class! Thank You, Thank You, Thank You to everyone, especially Vagisha and Nereyda!!!
I was not enthusiastic about coming to this camp because I did not have a lot of interest in human rights. This is not necessarily because I am a bad person, but rather that I was ignorant to many of the problems around the world. It was, and still is very difficult for me to understand people in other parts of the world live. I believe that this is a natural phenomenon. Children know little outside of their homes, and similarly many people do not understand much about people outside of their microcosm. I would consider myself in this grouping of people. However this camp has helped to open my eyes to much of the problems of people of different social, economic, cultural, and religious status. I believe that I have developed an interest in human rights and am very thankful for that.
There’s no way I can describe all I learned in the last three weeks in just a couple of paragraphs. This class was just amazing. I learned a dizzying amount of stuff, and I actually had fun learning it. Our class (the people) was probably what made the last three weeks so awesome.
I’m definitely going home with new perspectives on the world, all because of what we learned in the class. I used to dread learning about economics in the upcoming school year. I still sort of dread it, but our lesson on it was eye-opening and left me angry about the global economic situation, and especially angry with the IMF. I guess I’m eager to use what I’ve learned to evaluate the world more closely in the future?
I guess I came to the class with some generalizations about human rights that, while pretty true, were too vague to actually be useful. This class taught me so much more, though, about the human rights situation in the world, the global legal system, the UN, and a lot more. I can’t say I had a favorite lesson. They were all eye-opening and amazing. I’m really going to miss this class, everyone in it, and Vagisha and Nerey.
-Ola
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