Human Rights, Human Wrongs - Discrimination and Gender Equality

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Discrimination, Human Rights, Sophisticated Abuses

Would President Nelson Mandela recognise sophisticated abuses of human rights - which take place thousands of miles away? If he were to find out about it, would he care? Would we recognise human rights abuses? What if they take place behind closed doors? Are we inadvertent oppressors? Find out by taking part in our educational projects.

Take part in this project or simply reply to those questions - every reply will be entered in the free prize draws - your replies will help to make a real difference in addressing real issues.

The following is a brief sketch of some of the ideas which came about as a result of the UN Schools Project and some other important human rights issues:

A lot of people make loud noises about supporting human rights when in fact they perpetuate sophisticated abuses of human rights. They preside over inequities and they claim to have consciences. They preach what they don't practice.

You don't need to be a Professor or a PhD to see the abuses of human rights - the real problem is abuse often takes place behind closed doors. Sometimes by design; other times by recklessness.

Some abuses are glaringly obvious when we see them - ask little children and they can immediately "see" that things are not right - even though "learned Professors" may claim "... don't know what you mean !"

When people claim it takes time to change things, what they mean is they are not prepared to change what they have been enjoying for years. They are an integral  part of the unjust system - why would they wish to make changes? At best, they pretend they do not understand. Worse still, they try to pull the "I am smart and intelligent" face. They turn a blind eye. They cover up the issues. They try to silence or eliminate voices of dissent. They don't want people to find out about their misdeeds.

That has always been the sad history of human rights - people in very powerful positions make the best oppressors of human rights. Why? Because they get away with it for decades or centuries.

But as Mahatma Gandhi once said something to the effect: "History has shown us that in the end good will always prevail over evil, always."

The Education and Training Academy believes in real human rights and real equality - not rhetoric, not pretence, we don't prescribe to the philosophy that oppressors can continue with their gross abuses of human rights - AND preach to others about the virtues of human rights.

Human rights begin to have a real meaning in your home when you wake up. They begin when you look in the mirror and if you have a real conscience, not a false conscience to put on the world stage, you begin to see that you have been perpetuating abuses of human rights, and you are willing to admit it to yourself, and you are ashamed of what you have been a part of, you then begin the journey of realising what real human rights are all about - they are not about enjoying meetings in luxury places, they are not about intellectual exercises, they are not about personal or organisational egos - they are about real human beings.

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