“I mean, what does everybody want in the long run? To get up in the morning and go to work safely, and have their children return safely, and have enough to eat on the table. That’s really the basis for what everybody wants.”

– Robi Damelin, Parents Circle Families Forum

The international community has agreed that everyone has the right to basic human needs as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Yet around the world, the rights to water, land, safety, and more are violated daily. Amnesty International reported that people are regularly tortured and abused in at least 81 countries; also in at least 81 countries, peoples’ freedom of expression remains restricted; and in 54 countries, individuals still face the risk of being given an unfair trial.

In this section we explore a handful of human rights and tell stories of injustice through their lenses.

Who must be held responsible for ensuring that everyone has all their needs met and that no one is oppressed or exploited?

→When governments can’t be trusted and your cries for help aren’t being heard, what’s left to do but to resist nonviolently, hoping your actions will help to create a better world?

Written by: Jenay Smith