Posts Tagged ‘Human Rights’

Imagining A New Food Supply

Monday, February 14th, 2011

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(photo by Thomas Euler)

Did you see this? NYTimes foodman Mark Bittman is the kind of guy you want thinking about the food supply.

Says Mark:

“For decades, Americans believed that we had the world’s healthiest and safest diet. We worried little about this diet’s effect on the environment or on the lives of the animals (or even the workers) it relies upon. Nor did we worry about its ability to endure — that is, its sustainability.

That didn’t mean all was well. And we’ve come to recognize that our diet is unhealthful and unsafe. Many food production workers labor in difficult, even deplorable, conditions, and animals are produced as if they were widgets. It would be hard to devise a more wasteful, damaging, unsustainable system.”

Everyone needs food, so it’s funny (and okay, scary) that we have so little control over how our food gets to our plates. And like everything, food production has an economic story behind it.

Read Mark’s suggestions for shaking up the system, reclaiming our diets, and ensuring clean, nutritious food that’s good for us and the planet.

This Valentine’s Day, Try Not To Poison A Pregnant Farmworker

Friday, February 11th, 2011

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Do you know where your roses really come from?

This short 2008 Frontline documentary exposes some pretty heinous human rights abuses in Ecuador’s flower industry.

Try googling “fair-trade flowers” for your bouquet this year.

China Prevents Activist From Accepting Nobel Prize

Friday, December 10th, 2010

By cracking down harshly on government reformers, China is drawing international attention to the very activists it’s trying to silence.

  • Today’s Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony was missing one popular award-winner: Chinese political reformist Liu Xiaobo. He is being held in a Chinese prison for proposing changes to the communist government there.
  • China treats Liu as an enemy of the state, and accuses nations that support him of creating unnecessary conflict between China and the Western world. They have responded by ending trade talks with Norway, where the prize ceremony was held.
  • When prizes winners are unable to attend the ceremony, a family member is allowed to accept the prize on their behalf. But Liu’s wife, Liu Xia, has been under house arrest since October.

Facts & Figures

  • The last time a Nobel Peace Prize winner did not claim his award was when Hitler prevented Carl von Ozzietzky (a pacifist) from accepting the prize in 1936
  • Seventeen other nations joined China in boycotting the event – most of them non-democratic
  • Liu is currently serving his fourth term in prison – 11 years for the alleged crime of sedition (which is any act or speech that is intended to provoke rebellion in a country)

Best Quote

“[As a world power, China] should become used to being debated and criticized.” – Thorbjoern Jagland, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is…

Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a proclamation by the United Nations (proclaimed December 10, 1948) intended to create a worldwide benchmark for Human Rights by laying out every right and freedom a person is inherently entitled to – regardless of race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth, or any other status.

Head of WITNESS on Filming the Truth

Monday, August 2nd, 2010

yvette-alberdingkthijm.jpg Yvette Alberdingk Thijm is the Executive Director of WITNESS, an awesome TILE Human Rights charity. Yvette has ultimate responsibility for envisioning, conceptualizing and implementing WITNESS’ overall direction. She leads efforts to carry out the programmatic, organizational and funding strategies necessary to ensure her organization’s mission and health. She’s also responsible for overseeing the organization’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements. What a job.

TILE: How do issues relating to human rights affect young people?
Yvette:
All over our globe, we want the same things: access to education, clean water, non-discrimination. We want to be treated fairly and with respect; we’re global citizens and the future is ours – we need to protect it and the earth.

TILE: What’s the most important thing we can do to affect human rights around the world?
Yvette:
WITNESS says: see it, film it, change it! You’ve got the power. Tell your story. Get involved your community, neighborhood, school, and use your iPod or cellphone to document what’s going on around you and change it!

TILE: What’s the biggest challenge you face in your work?
Yvette:
All the injustice in the world can feel overwhelming. But anyone can make a difference and when we work together we can change a lot.

TILE: What’s the best advice you would give to your teenage self?
Yvette:
Get involved and stand up for what you believe in. Your voice is important. Make sure it’s heard and help others’ stories get out there.

TILE: How do you think young people can play a role in the changing landscape of philanthropy?
Yvette:
Young people understand what it’s like to be connected digitally, and can make a big difference easily through Twitter, Facebook and social networks – it’s a lifestyle: if you decide to care, people will listen and join you.

>> TILE brings you exclusive opinions, explanations, and interviews from experts in every industry. To read more, click on Ask the Experts in the TILE Library.

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A Refugee is…

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

A refugee is an individual who has been forced to flee his or her home country as a result of war, persecution, or natural disaster.

Human Rights are…

Monday, December 7th, 2009

Human rights are those rights to which every human being on Earth is entitled, including the right to life and freedom from violence, enslavement, or other types of abuse. Many organizations, including governments and charities, fight to secure human rights for people around the world.

A Political Prisoner is…

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

A political prisoner is a person who is detained against their will because of their political beliefs or because they hold some political significance to a ruling party. Political prisoners generally have committed no crime aside from espousing a belief different to that of the ruling class or one that the people in power see as threatening to their control over a country or region. Holding political prisoners is a violation of human rights.

Human Trafficking is…

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

Human trafficking is when people, usually poor or otherwise vulnerable people, are taken captive and exploited. They are often transported far from home and treated as slaves or forced into hard labor or prostitution. Most of these helpless people are women and children who are subject to brutal living conditions. Human trafficking is a major international problem with estimates of the number of trafficked people ranging between 500,000 to 4,000,000 a year.

Aren’t health and a clean environment human rights?

Monday, August 10th, 2009

Deciding which causes you want to support – with time or money – can be confusing. If you give to just one cause, you might feel like you’re neglecting something else you care about, and it seems like some of the categories overlap anyway. Aren’t health and a clean environment human rights? It depends on who you ask. Even defining exactly what it means to be or have a human right isn’t simple.

The UN’s Universal Declaration of Human rights and other major documents have listed health and a clean environment as “human rights,” but what might be more relevant for you as a budding philanthropist to realize is that giving to an organization with a specific mission can have a broad impact. Many microfinance and poverty causes aim to help their constituents develop sustainable livelihoods – which has environmental and health implications as well financial ones. Helping to preserve and restore local environments can have major health and economic benefits as well. All of these things make people better able to live happy, meaningful lives, which is the true spirit of human rights.

The point is to find a cause that excites you and in which you will enjoy becoming involved, whether by giving money or time. The impact you make might be far wider-reaching than you think.