- Written by: Neil o'Neill
On the second day of the ELC we had the World Café session. This report outlines the purpose of the world café, the structure and content of the session in accordance with the title of the conference and finally, a brief assessment of the session. The World Café is one of the few opportunities for structured interaction amongst ELC participants. As most of the conference entails the absorption of content from the prolific speakers, it is a good opportunity to find the necessary balance with which attendees can express their own feelings on the topics covered. On a more personal level it is also a fantastic way to invoke more critical thought on the themes of the conference that aids the internalisation of content.
- Written by: Keldon Alleyne
The Human Rights, Torture and Sexual Violence session was chaired by Lord Tarsem King of West Bromwich and Margaret Ali, Director of UPF - UK. The chair, Lord Tarsem King opened with a shocking reminder that innocent women form a large proportion of torture victims, with violations mostly being fueled by greed.
- Written by: Elisa Brann
Cecilia Fortune, WFWP South London regional director, chairing the seventh session of the conference, began by expressing the necessity for a common understanding of value, especially that of human value. Jack Corley, Chairman of UPF in the UK and an adviser to UPF Europe, explored this topic whilst sharing the perspectives on human value and dignity based on the core principles of UPF. He challenged that if one man’s meat is another man’s poison, then how can value be determined? The value of a material object, he explains, is determined by the respect you have for the person who gave it to you – a piece of paper with writing on it gains value if, for example, it is adorned with the Queen’s signature and handed to you by her yourself. Alternatively value can be attributed to an object based on its purpose. If the object fulfils the role for which it was created it can be considered meaningful, and therefore valuable. Indeed, the question of ‘what is value’ must be addressed on every level.
- Written by: William Haines
Rev Dr Marcus Braybrooke, president of the World Congress of Faiths, chaired the session and introduced it by pointing out that while it was in the 20th century that human rights were affirmed, although the ideas had always existed in scripture, the hope of the 21 century was that all people could enjoy them. He then read out article 18 which is concerned with freedom of thought, conscience and religion. He pointed out that many religions don’t have a good record of allowing people to change their religion or marry out of their religion. This led him to conclude that one test of the maturity of a religion is its willingness to let people go. He encouraged religious people to speak out and campaign together about religious freedom issues as they are more effective than when they act alone.
- Written by: Ollie Davies
The Chair of this session, Rev. Dr. Marcus Braybrook stated that, in faith communities, we have the task of raising collaborated awareness on the cases of infringements of the religious rights of minority groups, and the responsibility of translating the words of human rights documents to make them compatible with religious teachings, falls on the religious communities themselves.
- Human Rights and Human Security
- Religious Freedom and Human Rights Education
- Women’s Empowerment and Human Rights
- Towards a New Vision for Human Rights
- Biographies - Human Rights and the Protection of the Unempowered and the Dispossessed
- Do We Have to Tolerate Torture?
- Sustainable Peace for a Sustainable Future
- Draft Programme: Human Rights - Protection of the Unempowered and the Dispossessed
- Human Rights in a Multicultural Europe: Commemorating Human Rights Day 2012