Dec. 10, 2008: New Animation Promotes Justice for Violation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Where do you go when the government destroys your home and leaves you on the street? Where does a girl go who is expelled from school because she is pregnant?

How do people access justice when their economic, social and cultural rights are violated? Too often the answer is that there is nowhere to go, justice is denied. Right now there is a great chance to take a leap forward in the protection of economic, social and cultural rights. This month the United Nations General Assembly will discuss allowing people to complain to a UN Committee when they are denied justice in their countries. On the 10th of December 2008, 60 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN should adopt the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, finally creating an opportunity to get justice internationally for violations of rights to education, health, housing, water, food and other economic, social and cultural rights. Once this is adopted, you will be able to take action to call on your country to sign up to deliver justice for all human rights violations. Amnesty International has created a short animation telling a typical story of a community which faces violations of various economic, social and cultural rights. It shows how people are routinely denied justice when these rights are not recognized as legally enforceable at home, and they are turned away by those in power - by the government, by the courts- with nowhere else to go to get justice. But it shows that another story is possible, where justice is accessible, where people have the power to demand their rights and to hold violators to account. The power to demand this change, to demand justice for all human rights, lies with us.

Watch the animation here:

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Read the Feature: "UN Discusses Crucial Step on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights"