Human Rights Day 2016
December 10, 2016, marks the sixty-eighth (68th) anniversary of the United Nations General Assembly adopting the (UDHR) in 1948.
As aptly stated on the ’s website, Human Rights Day presents an opportunity, every year, to ‘….celebrate human rights, highlight a specific issue, and advocate for the full enjoyment of all human rights by everyone everywhere…”
Some argue that the last four years have been remarkable in the area of human rights activism and there is a lot to celebrate – while there is a great deal that still needs to be done. There is no better moment to recommit ourselves to the work of those who came before us. It’s our turn to work to preserve human rights for our children and for all future generations.
This year, the spotlight is on the rights of all people — women, youth, minorities, persons with disabilities, indigenous people, the poor and marginalized — to make their voices heard in public life and be included in political decision-making.
These human rights — the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, to peaceful assembly and association, and to take part in government (articles 19, 20 and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights) have been at the centre of the historic changes in the Arab world over the past four years, in which millions have taken to the streets to demand change. In other parts of the world, the ninety-nine (“99%”) percent made their voices heard through the global protesting economic, political and social inequality.
To help celebrate International Human Rights’ Day, it is important for each of us to join the global conversation and join the human rights movement. Join the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and United Nations Association of the of America, in celebrating the many accomplishments of the last four years and the work we still have ahead of us.
Source(s): United Nations.
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U.S. Department of Education Releases Civil Rights Data
In a new survey of schools, the US Department of Education finds that students of color face much harsher discipline. Additionally, the survey finds that students of color are often taught by lower-paid and less experienced teachers.
If want to learn how the District of Columbia stacks up with other school systems in the afore-referenced regards, you can visit the following website: http://ocrdata.ed.gov/.
Source(s): ADVOCATES FOR JUSTICE & EDUCATION INC
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Protecting the Civil Rights of Students with Disabilities and their Families
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights released a guidance providing a reminder that our federal civil rights laws apply to charter schools just as they apply to other public schools.
For further information, please see: http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201405-charter.pdf.
Source: Advocates for Justice & Education
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1963 March on Washington: 50th Anniversary
On Wednesday, August 28, 1963, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom or “The Great March on Washington”, took place. It was one of the largest political rallies for human rights in United States history and called for civil and economic rights for African Americans.
At this historical event, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivered his historic “I Have a Dream” speech advocating racial harmony during the march. This march was organized by a group of civil rights, labor, and religious organizations, under the theme “jobs, and freedom”. It has reported that the number of participants varied from 200,000 to 300,000 people.
This month, the 50th Anniversary Coalition for Jobs Justice and Freedom has announced plans for a 7 day commemoration of the 50th anniversary of this historic event from August 21-28, 2013 on the National Mall.
Sources: 50th Anniversary Coalition for Jobs Justice and Freedom. Wikipedia
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EQUAL PAY DAY
This year, Tuesday, April 12, 2011, is Equal Pay Day. Data indicates that working women in the United States are paid an average of eighty (80) cents for every dollar paid to men. Because women earn less, on average, than men, they must work longer for the same amount of pay. The pay gap is even larger for most women of color; on average, black women earn about seventy (70) cents, and Latinas about sixty (60) cents, of every dollar paid to all men.
In 1996, Equal Pay Day was established by the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE) as a public awareness event to illustrate the gap between men’s and women’s wages. For the past thirty-one (31) years, the National Committee on Pay Equity has been working diligently to eliminate sex- and race-based wage discrimination and to achieve pay equity.
In 1979, the National Committee on Pay Equity was founded as a coalition of women’s and civil rights organizations; labor unions; religious, professional, legal, and educational associations, commissions on women, state and local pay equity coalitions and individuals working to eliminate sex- and race-based wage discrimination and to achieve pay equity. For further information on this matter, you can visit the website for the National Committee on Pay Equity.
Source(s): AFL-CIO. The National Committee on Pay Equity
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Breaking Boundaries: Body Politics and the Dynamics of Difference
Date: 4 March 2011
Place: Bronxville, New York, USA
Website: http://www.slc.edu/graduate/programs/womens-history/conference/index.html
Contact name: Tara Elise James
When it comes to “the body,” the definition of normal is fluid and changes across cultures and time. In each context, there are those who have been exploited and oppressed because they do not fit prevailing notions of beauty. This conference will explore the body politics around those with “deviant” bodies.
This conference will address these and other questions: What are the dominant narratives and perceptions about beauty and bodies? How do these perceptions affect public policy around issues of health, civil rights, education, and accessibility? How do those whose bodies do not fit into the “proper” cultural norms challenge attitudes, laws and perceptions? How have they negotiated for and found power in unwelcoming environments both now and in the past? How do the categories of race, class, gender, sexuality, age and disability complicate prevailing ideas about embodiment? Are there and have there been communities and cultures that have welcomed those whose bodies are currently perceived as deviant in dominant popular discourse? And, what is the relationship between promoting and continuing the dominant discourse and capitalist consumer culture?
We invite activists, scholars and artists in all fields to propose papers, panels, workshops, performances, and exhibits. Proposals for panels are especially welcomed, but individual papers will also be considered.
Specific topics may include, but are not limited to:
- Representations of deviant bodies in popular culture
- Social justice and fat and disability activism
- Intersectionality: race, gender, class, sexuality and the body
- HAES: Health at Every Size
- Stigma
- Feminism and the body
- Social construction of disability
- Objectification and commodification of the deviant body
- Fiction and the deviant body
- Language and the body
- Deviant bodies across cultures and time
–Sarah Lawrence College
Organized by: Sarah Lawrence College Women’s History Graduate Program
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Breaking Boundaries: Body Politics and the Dynamics of Difference
Breaking Boundaries: Body Politics and the Dynamics of Difference Conference Announcement
Organized By: Sarah Lawrence College Women’s History Graduate Program
Address: Bronxville, New York, USA
Date and Time: March 4-5, 2011
Cost: Free
Website: http://www.slc.edu/graduate/programs/womens-history/conference/index.html
Program Description:
When it comes to “the body,” the definition of normal is fluid and changes across cultures and time. In each context, there are those who have been exploited and oppressed because they do not fit prevailing notions of beauty. This conference will explore the body politics around those with “deviant” bodies.
This conference will address these and other questions: What are the dominant narratives and perceptions about beauty and bodies? How do these perceptions affect public policy around issues of health, civil rights, education, and accessibility? How do those whose bodies do not fit into the “proper” cultural norms challenge attitudes, laws and perceptions? How have they negotiated for and found power in unwelcoming environments both now and in the past? How do the categories of race, class, gender, sexuality, age and disability complicate prevailing ideas about embodiment? Are there and have there been communities and cultures that have welcomed those whose bodies are currently perceived as deviant in dominant popular discourse? And, what is the relationship between promoting and continuing the dominant discourse and capitalist consumer culture?
Specific topics may include, but are not limited to:
• Representations of deviant bodies in popular culture
• Social justice and fat and disability activism
• Intersectionality: race, gender, class, sexuality and the body
• HAES: Health at Every Size
• Stigma
• Feminism and the body
• Social construction of disability
• Objectification and commodification of the deviant body
• Fiction and the deviant body
• Language and the body
• Deviant bodies across cultures and time
For further information, please see URL: http://www.slc.edu/graduate/programs/womens-history/conference/index.html
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Nichelle Mitchem Shares Information on Violence Against Women Act: VAWA
In September, the Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (VAWA) turned sixteen years old. On September 13, 1994, President Bill Clinton signed this piece of legislation. VAWA provides money to: enhance investigation and prosecution of violent crimes perpetrated against women, increase pre-trial detention of the accused, impose automatic and mandatory restitution on those convicted, and allow civil redress in cases where prosecutors elect not to prosecute. Some have described this law as “the greatest breakthrough in civil rights for women in nearly two decades.”
VAWA was reauthorized by Congress in 2000, and again in December 2005. The bill was signed into law by President George W. Bush on January 5, 2006. VAWA will be up for reauthorization in 2011.
For more information, visit the Department of Health and Human Services violence against women website and the Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women.
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