At the Kennedy School of Government, Bridge Builders, students, and community members gathered for a panel entitled, “Refugees, AIDS, and Women: A Human Rights Discussion.” Michael Ignatieff, Harvard professor and director of the Carr Center for Human Rights, introduced the issue of human rights as a concept that, since the Cold War, has shifted from connoting political and civil rights to a sense of economic and social rights. He also defined the issue as “crucially defined from bottom up” in terms of grassroots activism.
Professor Ignatieff then passed the microphone to another moderator, who began the discussion with some general questions on the definition of human rights and the effectiveness of a human rights framework in activist struggles.
Adam Li, of China, defined human rights in relation to people infected with AIDS, who deserve general human rights such as education and employment, but also deserve patient rights, such as testing, counseling, and treatment. In opposition to the suggestion that human rights exist as a Western framework, Li said, “I don’t believe the concept originated from the West after the Second World War,” and that there is “no official flag” of human rights, but that they may vary depending on context.
The other panelists also countered the idea of human rights as a foreign or Western concept. Busisiwe Matukane, who works in South Africa with refugees from Mozambique, emphasized that humans should have access to basic needs like education and healthcare. Similarly, El Salvadoran women’s rights activist Amanda Victoria Gonzalez said, “human rights are inside each one of us” and the framework “is not something that was brought to us.”
The two women also responded similarly to a question by an audience member about the usefulness of official human rights charters, such as those implemented by the U.N. Matukane expressed an inability to use the U.N. guidelines without “connections.” Gonzalez did not know about the U.N. and expressed her skepticism by saying, “those organizations are for people in a higher class than me.”
Unfortunately, the time constraints and communication challenges posed by the use of translators limited the possibilities for in-depth discussion on the questions raised. Similarly, the panelists could not easily understand and respond to each other’s comments, which served to isolate each human rights issue in a way that limited the scope of the discussion. However, each speaker presented important human rights questions that merit further discussion.
Justine Petrillo is a regional editor at Cultural Survival.
