"A right is not what someone gives you, it's what no one can take from you."
- Ramsey Clarke
CHINA: AUTHORITIES HAVE "BLOOD ON THEIR HANDS" AFTER ACTIVIST'S DEATH
Cao Shunli, 52, was denied medical treatment after being detained for five months with tuberculosis in both lungs, cirrhosis of the liver and uterine fibroid. Last September, Shunali and Liu Xia, another high-profile activist, staged a two-month sit in at the foreign ministry with other activists, pressing authorities to allow the public to participate in a national human rights review. Few months later, Shunli was detained on her way to a human rights review via airport, for "provoking trouble and picking quarrels" with people. After being denied medical treatment time and time again, even with her conditions, she was admitted into hospital in late February, dying from organ failure on March 7th. Many people believe that the Chinese authorities were being quite “barbaric” in the way they would deny medical treatment to activists in detention because it is “common in order to weaken or punish them.” (summary)
HUMAN RIGHTS CONNECTIONS
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Article 5: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. {She was subjected to torture in a way, because she was left to suffer with tuberculosis in both her lungs, cirrhosis of the liver, and uterine fibroid, due to denied medical treatment several times.}
Article 11: (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed. {When Shunli tried to exit the country last September for a human rights review, she was “detained” because she was suspected of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. The government can’t arrest people because they are suspicion of them. She was obviously a target because of her rebellious background.}
Article 13: (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. {This ties in with article 11, because she was stopped at the airport, departing Beijing. Suspicion isn't a viable excuse.}
Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. { For two months, her and Liu Xia protested outside about a national human rights review for the people, making her a potential threat to the government for over speaking her boundaries, in a way.}
Article 25: (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection. {Being the high class activists they were, Shunli and Xia were both denied medical treatment, time and time again, for months on end because they protested. It was a form of punishment towards them, showing how the government still rules. In the end, it just got them into more trouble, seeing as how everyone views them as tyrants due to the barbaric views on political affairs.}
Article 11: (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defense. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed. {When Shunli tried to exit the country last September for a human rights review, she was “detained” because she was suspected of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble”. The government can’t arrest people because they are suspicion of them. She was obviously a target because of her rebellious background.}
Article 13: (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. {This ties in with article 11, because she was stopped at the airport, departing Beijing. Suspicion isn't a viable excuse.}
Article 19: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. { For two months, her and Liu Xia protested outside about a national human rights review for the people, making her a potential threat to the government for over speaking her boundaries, in a way.}
Article 25: (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (2) Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection. {Being the high class activists they were, Shunli and Xia were both denied medical treatment, time and time again, for months on end because they protested. It was a form of punishment towards them, showing how the government still rules. In the end, it just got them into more trouble, seeing as how everyone views them as tyrants due to the barbaric views on political affairs.}
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
![Picture](/uploads/1/7/6/0/17604157/7039608.jpg?152)
Do you think that criminals or just people who are detained should get the same rights as we do? Towards medical care, shelter, food etc.? Have their actions banned them from being a human being? If so, isn't that a violation of article 1: all human beings are equal?
WORKS CITED
- “China: Authorities have “blood on their hands” after activist’s death.” Amnesty International. n.p. 14 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
- Kaiman, Jonathan. "Chinese Activist Cao Shunli Dies after Being Denied Medical Help, Says Website." Theguardian.com. Guardian News and Media, 14 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
- "Jailed Chinese Human Rights Activist Cao Shunli Dies in Detention after Denied Treatment." South China Morning
Post. France-Presse Reuters. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd., 15 Mar. 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.
- Declaration of Human Rights
Film Review: The Book Thief
Summary: A story of a girl who transforms the lives around her during World War II. When her mother can no longer care for her, Liesel is adopted by a German couple. Although she arrives illiterate, Liesel is encouraged to learn to read a write by her adoptive father. When the couple takes in Max a Jew hiding from Hitler’s army, Liesel befriends him. Ultimately, words and imagination provide the friends with an escape from the events unfolding around them in the extraordinary journey. Directed by Brian Percival.
Article Abuses: Article 2 clearly states that no discrimination will come to people of different race, religion, colour, sex etc. During the time within the movie, WWII is starting to come into action, and Liesel and her family were in the middle of it. The abuse comes with the discrimination of Jews and anybody who isn't German or blond and blue eyed etc. They abused the right to be who you want to be, freely and without judgement or inequity. Article 12 says that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with their privacy, home, family etc. This was clearly abused when the Nazis broke into and destroyed the Jewish village, demolishing everything in their way. Article 5 was also abused when article 12 was taking place. When the Nazis were invading their homes, they took everyone out and beat them, didn't matter if you were a woman or a man. Article 25 was abused when Rudy and everyone else in the village was starving, Jewish or not. Since they were at war, many villages were not getting the resources they needed, causing famine across many Germans and Jews alike.
Article Abuse Affects on Characters and Society: Near the beginning of the movie, the Nazis invaded the Jewish people’s homes and businesses. This abuses article 12, because the Nazis were interfering with those people’s home, families and privacy. It states that everyone has the right to protection under the law, against such attacks, but obviously, since their heritage was different, they were denied that right as well. This affected the people more than Liesel, seeing as she was in the right area. When article 2 was abused, the society was affected, causing them all to choose a side and having to make the choice of being something they are not. In the midst of the war, Max, a Jewish man, escaped to the Hubermann’s, a German family, because the Germans were invading his village searching for Jewish people, simply for being Jewish. Another effect that this human right article abuse had on the characters, were because when Rudy wanted to be the fastest runner alive, he painted himself black with mud/soot to give himself more resemblance to Jesse Owens, the fastest man alive, at that time. This is a case of stereotyping for thinking that you can’t be fast without being African-American, and painting themselves with mud in order to look like them. Article 25 had a repercussion similar, because when the war was going on, the stores weren't able to get their food shipments for the village etc, causing them to starve for days on end, simply for not being able to afford it. This is an abuse, because everyone should be given a ‘standard of living’. If there was a war going on, there should have been food banks or safe houses for the country people. The obvious article that was abused is #5. Although they didn't show any harm from the actual occurrences of WWII towards Jews, they did show the invasion of the village and how the Nazis were beating and brutally hurting these people for no reason. Although Liesel was not affected by this, but she was never exposed to it either. This makes it harder to judge any of the people in the movie, because how could they know which side to chose, if they didn't know about both sides. When Max comes, she starts to understand the brutality of the Nazis, but there’s nothing she could have done.
Catharsis/Cinematography: When Max was getting sick from hypothermia, the camera kept flashing through book pages and words from the walls and showing the different settings from Heinrich’s house to the village etc. This caused the audience to feel worried for Max, not knowing if he was going to get out of that sickness alive, and Liesel, not wanting her to lose her only friend. During his illness, the Nazis came to give annual basements checks on German families, making sure that there were no traitors, hiding Jews away etc. This caused you to feel suspense, not knowing if they would find Max or not. Considering his illness, he wasn't well enough to hide himself or in the right state of mind to know to hide and so on. Closing to the end of the movie, the narrator, supposedly being the voice of Death, was explaining how everyone died from the bombs dropped on Liesel’s village and how they felt and their last thoughts etc. This caused you to feel sadness for the village, because the camera first showed overhead views of everyone who died, describing how they died and what their last thoughts were and what they felt, and then, when you were kind of confused of why they were doing that, they showed how the bombs dropped onto the houses and all the families and shops etc, were demolished from the war. When the Nazis were invading the Jewish village, you felt a sense of shock because the scenes kept flashing from the Nazis beating up the people, and then flashing to breaking glass and flying papers and screaming people. The morning after the bombs have dropped Liesel sees Rudy’s body being carried out and laid on the ground, as soon as she runs over he dies. Liesel leaning over to kiss him goodbye, but right after she faints. The faint was in slow motion making it more dramatic especially in a birds eye view. The scene creates the feeling of sorrow or even grief, because Rudy has always been there for Liesel, and the bond they had was unbreakable. It was heart breaking when she couldn't be there for him.
Summary: A story of a girl who transforms the lives around her during World War II. When her mother can no longer care for her, Liesel is adopted by a German couple. Although she arrives illiterate, Liesel is encouraged to learn to read a write by her adoptive father. When the couple takes in Max a Jew hiding from Hitler’s army, Liesel befriends him. Ultimately, words and imagination provide the friends with an escape from the events unfolding around them in the extraordinary journey. Directed by Brian Percival.
Article Abuses: Article 2 clearly states that no discrimination will come to people of different race, religion, colour, sex etc. During the time within the movie, WWII is starting to come into action, and Liesel and her family were in the middle of it. The abuse comes with the discrimination of Jews and anybody who isn't German or blond and blue eyed etc. They abused the right to be who you want to be, freely and without judgement or inequity. Article 12 says that no one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with their privacy, home, family etc. This was clearly abused when the Nazis broke into and destroyed the Jewish village, demolishing everything in their way. Article 5 was also abused when article 12 was taking place. When the Nazis were invading their homes, they took everyone out and beat them, didn't matter if you were a woman or a man. Article 25 was abused when Rudy and everyone else in the village was starving, Jewish or not. Since they were at war, many villages were not getting the resources they needed, causing famine across many Germans and Jews alike.
Article Abuse Affects on Characters and Society: Near the beginning of the movie, the Nazis invaded the Jewish people’s homes and businesses. This abuses article 12, because the Nazis were interfering with those people’s home, families and privacy. It states that everyone has the right to protection under the law, against such attacks, but obviously, since their heritage was different, they were denied that right as well. This affected the people more than Liesel, seeing as she was in the right area. When article 2 was abused, the society was affected, causing them all to choose a side and having to make the choice of being something they are not. In the midst of the war, Max, a Jewish man, escaped to the Hubermann’s, a German family, because the Germans were invading his village searching for Jewish people, simply for being Jewish. Another effect that this human right article abuse had on the characters, were because when Rudy wanted to be the fastest runner alive, he painted himself black with mud/soot to give himself more resemblance to Jesse Owens, the fastest man alive, at that time. This is a case of stereotyping for thinking that you can’t be fast without being African-American, and painting themselves with mud in order to look like them. Article 25 had a repercussion similar, because when the war was going on, the stores weren't able to get their food shipments for the village etc, causing them to starve for days on end, simply for not being able to afford it. This is an abuse, because everyone should be given a ‘standard of living’. If there was a war going on, there should have been food banks or safe houses for the country people. The obvious article that was abused is #5. Although they didn't show any harm from the actual occurrences of WWII towards Jews, they did show the invasion of the village and how the Nazis were beating and brutally hurting these people for no reason. Although Liesel was not affected by this, but she was never exposed to it either. This makes it harder to judge any of the people in the movie, because how could they know which side to chose, if they didn't know about both sides. When Max comes, she starts to understand the brutality of the Nazis, but there’s nothing she could have done.
Catharsis/Cinematography: When Max was getting sick from hypothermia, the camera kept flashing through book pages and words from the walls and showing the different settings from Heinrich’s house to the village etc. This caused the audience to feel worried for Max, not knowing if he was going to get out of that sickness alive, and Liesel, not wanting her to lose her only friend. During his illness, the Nazis came to give annual basements checks on German families, making sure that there were no traitors, hiding Jews away etc. This caused you to feel suspense, not knowing if they would find Max or not. Considering his illness, he wasn't well enough to hide himself or in the right state of mind to know to hide and so on. Closing to the end of the movie, the narrator, supposedly being the voice of Death, was explaining how everyone died from the bombs dropped on Liesel’s village and how they felt and their last thoughts etc. This caused you to feel sadness for the village, because the camera first showed overhead views of everyone who died, describing how they died and what their last thoughts were and what they felt, and then, when you were kind of confused of why they were doing that, they showed how the bombs dropped onto the houses and all the families and shops etc, were demolished from the war. When the Nazis were invading the Jewish village, you felt a sense of shock because the scenes kept flashing from the Nazis beating up the people, and then flashing to breaking glass and flying papers and screaming people. The morning after the bombs have dropped Liesel sees Rudy’s body being carried out and laid on the ground, as soon as she runs over he dies. Liesel leaning over to kiss him goodbye, but right after she faints. The faint was in slow motion making it more dramatic especially in a birds eye view. The scene creates the feeling of sorrow or even grief, because Rudy has always been there for Liesel, and the bond they had was unbreakable. It was heart breaking when she couldn't be there for him.