UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE
HUMAN RIGHTS AWARENESS EVENT:
WOMEN, CHILDREN, AND THE LAW

In March 2004, the University of Baltimore Chapter of Amnesty International (AI), along with several other student organizations, will be hosting a human rights attorney, who has been imprisoned and persecuted by her government for practicing human rights law, within her community. In conjunction with this event, we would like to invite political figures and community activists to speak in support of a unified standard for the protection of the unique struggles women and children face, at home and abroad. We are hoping that this speaking event will attract the attention of the Baltimore community to the implementation of the Human Rights Education (HRE) program, which we will be initiating in the spring, as well as to AI’s efforts to end violence against women and children.

Women’s Rights are Human Rights.

The past two decades have seen women's organizations spring up around the world. Most of the advances which women have made towards claiming their rights have been the result of grass roots campaigning, usually by independent women's rights organizations. Some work for their disappeared relative or are community activists, fighting for basic economic and social rights such as freedom from want. Many are lawyers seeking justice for the under represented. They campaign against torture, domestic violence, equal treatment at work or for land rights and access to credit. All of these women are human rights defenders. This wave of courage, creativity and commitment has all too often met a wall of government indifference and sometimes government repression of the cruelest kind. Few governments recognize the work of women's human rights organizations as a legitimate exercise of fundamental civil and political rights.

Reaching out in our own communities shows
a commitment to change.

In our own community we are asking that treaties guaranteeing basic human rights for all people be ratified. The international human rights system guarantees a range of rights to all human beings. Originally articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, this comprehensive vision is formally brought into law through a series of international treaties that governments can choose to ratify. But most people are not only unaware of which treaties their governments have adopted, they are unfamiliar with the basic rights to which they are entitled under international law—including the right to an adequate living standard, the right to education, the right to security of person, the right to leisure, and the right to be free from discrimination.
Recently, however, social justice activists working on a range of issues in the U.S. and elsewhere have begun to recognize the potential of human rights to support them in their work. Some groups have begun to focus on one of the most transformative aspects of international human rights treaties: the obligation of governments to pro-actively identify discrimination, and to implement remedies that fulfill the promise of human rights and prevent future violations. This means that governments must review existing and pending policies to ensure that they do not have discriminatory effects.
AI has always worked to demonstrate that a single human rights standard must apply to all countries. Taking the lead in showing that human rights violations don’t just happen in far away countries--they happen in the USA as well. Hunger, homelessness, extreme poverty, inadequate healthcare, violence against women and racial discrimination are all human rights issues that have been the basis for costly lawsuits against cities, states and the federal government .

Human rights education
is both a lens through which to observe the world and a methodology for teaching and leading others.

AI believes that learning about human rights is the first step toward respecting, promoting and defending those rights. The HRE program was established in order to facilitate the teaching of human rights. Designed to support teachers of kindergarten through college as well as educators working in non-formal settings such as community associations and cultural forums, HRE is dedicated to promoting the human rights principles and positive value system that are set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The HRE program trains college and graduate school aged students to teach a human rights curriculum in high school, junior high school and elementary school classrooms. It has been a successful program in New York City, Washington D.C., Chicago, my home town, and several other cities across the country. AI believes that teaching human rights means both conveying ideas and information concerning human rights and nurturing the values and attitudes that lead to the support of those rights.
The HRE program provides resource materials as well as training and networking opportunities. All educators, formal, informal, and potential, are invited to join our Human Rights Education Network (HRE Network), which currently includes a range of teachers from those just beginning to consider including human rights education in their curriculum to long-time activists/human rights educators.

If you would like to take part in the University of Baltimore’s Human Rights Awareness Event, please contact: Erin Faul, President, Amnesty International, University of Baltimore Group, 1420 Charles St., Baltimore, Maryland 21201, (443) 865-2651, or email: efaul-AT-lycos.com.