Tuesday, October 28, 2014

The Human Rights Tour 2014

They brought us the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, One Direction, and now . . . the Human Rights Tour!  The British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) is in the midst of their fourth annual Human Rights Tour, with events still to come on October 28 in Londonderry, November 4 in York and November 6 in Norwich.  So far, the BIHR tour is staying on their side of the pond, but it's still worth a look as US activists examine effective models for local engagement stateside. 

According to the BIHR website:

"The idea is simple, go across the UK holding free to attend pop-up events in local communities, raising awareness about human rights, how they are relevant in our lives, and having a space for debate and discussion."

Since 2011, the BIHR has hosted 52 events in 35 cities, directly reaching 4000 people and serving almost 12,000 cups of tea! 

Why do this, you ask?  BIHR responds:

"Rather than talking about what people think about human rights, we go out and have the conversation in communities up and down the UK. We believe it’s important to provide the space for people to gain knowledge and confidence about human rights. To have a forum for questions, open debate and discussion which engage people, and empower them to really reflect on what human rights means to them." 

The results bear out the effectiveness of this strategy.  98% of those responding said that they saw human rights as relevant to their everyday lives after attending the BIHR session, and 88% felt more confident using human rights to challenge questionable practices.

This year, the BIHR's grassroots outreach is more important than ever.  In early October, Prime Minister David Cameron announced his controversial plan to repeal the current U.K. Human Rights Act, which implements the European Convention on Human Rights in the U.K.  The BIHR called the proposal an "act of vandalism" against the British public.

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/human_rights/2014/10/the-human-rights-tour-2014.html

| Permalink

Comments

Post a comment