Los Derechos Humanos
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Human Rights / Derechos Humanos
THE RIGHT TO LIVE FREE
“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”
Examples:
• An estimated 6,500 people were killed in 2007 in armed
conflict in Afghanistan—nearly half being noncombatant
civilian deaths at the hands of insurgents. Hundreds of
civilians were also killed in suicide attacks by armed
groups.
• In Brazil in 2007, according to official figures, police
killed at least 1,260 individuals—the highest total to
date. All incidents were officially labeled “acts of
resistance” and received little or no investigation.
• In Uganda, 1,500 people die each week in the
internally displaced person camps. According to the
World Health Organization, 500,000 have died in
these camps.
• Vietnamese authorities forced at least 75,000
drug addicts and prostitutes into 71
overpopulated “rehab” camps, labeling the
detainees at “high risk” of contracting HIV/AIDS
but providing no treatment.
NO SLAVERY
“No one shall be held in slavery or servitude”
• In northern Uganda, the LRA (Lord’s Resistance
Army) guerrillas have kidnapped 20,000
children over the past twenty years and forced
them into service as soldiers or sexual slaves
for the army.
• In Ghana, children five to fourteen are tricked
with false promises of education and future
into dangerous, unpaid jobs in the fishing
industry.
NO TORTURE
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.”
• In 2008, US authorities continued to hold 270
prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, without
charge or trial, subjecting them to “waterboarding,” torture that simulates drowning.
• In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, acts
of torture and ill treatment are routinely
committed by government security services and
armed groups, including sustained beatings,
stabbings and rapes of those in custody.
• In Darfur, violence, atrocities and abduction
are rampant and outside aid all but cut off.
Women in particular are the victims of
unrestrained assault, with more than 200
rapes in the vicinity of a displaced persons
camp in one five-week period, with no
effort by authorities to punish the
perpetrators.
FREEDOM TO MOVE
“Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence
within the borders of each State.”
“Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own,
and to return to his country.”
• In Algeria, refugees and asylum-seekers were
frequent victims of detention, expulsion or ill
treatment.
• In Myanmar, thousands of citizens were detained,
including 700 prisoners of conscience…. In
retaliation for her political activities, she has been
imprisoned or under house arrest for twelve of the
last eighteen years
FREEDOM OF THOUGHT
“Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion;
this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom,
either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to
manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and
observance.”
• In Myanmar, the military junta crushed peaceful
demonstrations led by monks, raided and closed
monasteries, confiscated and destroyed property,
shot, beat and detained protesters, and harassed
or held hostage the friends and family members of
the protesters.
• In China, Falun Gong practitioners were singled out
for torture and other abuses while in detention.
Christians were persecuted for practicing their
religion outside state-sanctioned channels.
• In Kazakhstan, local authorities in a community
near Almaty authorized the destruction of twelve
homes, all belonging to Hare Krishna members,
falsely charging that the land on which the homes
were built had been illegally acquired. Only
homes belonging to members of the Hare Krishna
community were destroyed.
FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right
includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive
and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of
frontiers.”
• In Sudan, dozens of human rights defenders were
arrested and tortured by national intelligence and
security forces.
• In Ethiopia, two prominent human rights
defenders were convicted on false charges and
sentenced to nearly three years in prison.
• Russia repressed political dissent, pressured or
shut down independent media and harassed
nongovernmental organizations. Peaceful
public demonstrations were dispersed with
force, and lawyers, human rights defenders
and journalists were threatened and attacked.
Since 2000, the murders of seventeen
journalists, all critical of government policies
and actions, remain unsolved.
• In Iraq, at least thirty-seven Iraqi employees of
media networks were killed in 2008, and a total
of 235 since the invasion of March 2003,
making Iraq the world’s most dangerous place
for journalists.
RIGHT TO DEMOCRACY
“Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country,
directly or through freely chosen representatives.”
“Everyone has the right to equal access to public service in his
country.”
“The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of
government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine
elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be
held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.”
• In Zimbabwe, hundreds of human rights
defenders and members of the main opposition
party, the Movement for Democratic Change
(MDC), were arrested for participating in
peaceful gatherings.
• In Pakistan, thousands of lawyers,
journalists, human rights defenders and
political activists were arrested for
demanding democracy, the rule of law and
an independent judiciary.
• In Cuba, at the end of 2007, sixty two prisoners
of conscience remained incarcerated for their
nonviolent political views or activities.
Left-Wing
Right-Wing
Democratic
Party
Communism
Liberals
Neutral
Republican
Party
Fascism
Conservatives
Tipos de gobierno
Derechistas/ Right-Winged
Izquierdistas / Left-Winged
• In favor of centralizing political
power in the hands of the
leaders of government.
• Politics on the right is
associated with conservatism.
• In the U.S., the Republican
Party is more conservative.
• At their most extreme, rightwing politics tends toward
Fascism. Ex. : Hitler
• In favor of distributing political
power to the people.
• Politics on the left is
associated with liberalism.
• In the U.S., the Democratic
Party is more liberal.
• At their most extreme, leftwing politics tends toward
Communism. Ex. : Castro
Fascism
• The Government is supreme and the country is allencompasing, and all within it must conform to the
ruling body, often a dictator.
• The country must grow and the implied goal of any
fascist nation is to rule the world, and have every
human submit to the government.
• Any type of questioning the government is not to be
tolerated. If you do not see things our way, you are
wrong. “IF you are not with me, you are against me.”If
you do not agree with the government, you cannot be
allowed to live and taint the minds of the rest of the
good citizens.
Communism
• A political theory derived from Karl Marx,
advocating class war and leading to a society
in which all property is publicly owned and
each person works and is paid according to
their abilities and needs.
Subversive
• A systematic attempt to overthrow or
undermine a government or political system
by persons working secretly from within.
Rafael Leonidas Trujillo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qvi6oksjpS8&list=PLBF1AD39FADAA248A
&index=5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1EduqLxozg&list=PLBF1AD39FADAA248A
&index=20
• Dictator Rafael Trujillo was born on October
24, 1891 in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic.
He became president of the Dominican
Republic in 1930 through political
maneuvering and torture. He officially held
the office until 1938, when he chose a puppet
predecessor. He resumed his official position
from 1942 to 1952, but continued to rule by
force until his assassination on May 30, 1961.
• In early 1930, after Dominican President
Horacio Vasquez faced revolts and a
provisional government had been
established, Trujillo named himself a
candidate in the new presidential
elections.
• During Trujillo's campaign, he organized a
secret police force to torture and murder
supporters of the opposing candidate. Not
surprisingly, Trujillo won the election by a
landslide.
• Shortly into Trujillo's first term, Santo
Domingo, the Dominican capital, was
devastated by a hurricane. Trujillo used the
disaster as an excuse to impose martial law
on all citizens. He also imposed
"emergency taxes" and even seized the
bank accounts of his opposition. Trujillo
spent the next six years renovating the city
and building several monuments in his
own honor. Upon completing renovations,
Trujillo renamed Santo Domingo "Ciudad
Trujillo."
• During his additional years in office,
Trujillo continued to use his power for
personal profit. He took total control of
all major industries and financial
institutions.
• The country saw some improvements to
its economy, but those were mainly
limited to the capital city. Meanwhile, in
more rural areas, entire peasant
communities were uprooted to clear the
way for Trujillo’s new sugar plantation.
• Trujillo was known to treat the
Dominican Republic's Haitian migrants
with particular severity and a deliberate
disregard for their civil liberties. In 1937,
he went so far as to orchestrate the
massacre of thousands of Haitian
immigrants.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IFpVz1Tc_E&list=P
LBF1AD39FADAA248A&index=10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjIekDqKBI
I&list=PLBF1AD39FADAA248A&index=12
VhmyQwx_JDk&list=PLBF1AD39FADAA248A&i
ndex=11
Augusto Pinochet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZcLbaKBQ1o&list=PLBF1AD39FADA
A248A&index=2
• Augusto Pinochet Ugarte (born November 25,
1915) joined the Chilean army in 1935. He rose
through the ranks and was appointed
Commander in Chief by President Salvador
Allende in 1973.
• Allende was the freely-elected
socialist president of Chile.
• Pinochet led the military coup that killed
Allende and overthrew his government in
1973, establishing himself (Pinochet) at the
head of the ensuing military regime.
• Pinochet and Chile were heavily involved in
Operation Condor, which was a collaborative
effort among the governments of Chile,
Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay and Uruguay
to control leftist dissidents. It consisted of a series
of kidnappings, disappearances and
assassinations of prominent opponents of the
right-wing regimes in the listed countries. The
Chilean secret police force, was one of the driving
forces of Operation Condor. It is unknown how
many people were killed, but most estimates
range well into the thousands.
• Pinochet served until 1990, leaving a legacy of
abuse that took successive governments years to
catalogue. According to a government report that
included testimony from more than 30,000 people,
his government killed at least 3,197 people and
tortured about 29,000. Two-thirds of the cases
listed in the report happened in 1973.
• After 25 years in power, he was put under arrest,
but died in 2006, before he could be tried for
alleged human rights violations.
• Pinochet died December 10, 2006, never having
stood trial for the crimes for which he was accused.
Videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMFmKg0k
8cY&list=PLBF1AD39FADAA248A&index=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00kQorWV
Isw&list=PLBF1AD39FADAA248A&index=3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6kkaIfy9
wU&list=PLBF1AD39FADAA248A&index=23
Juan y Eva Peron
Juan Domingo Perón (October 8, 1895 – July 1, 1974) was an Argentine military
officer and politician. He was three times elected as President of Argentina, serving
from June 1946 to September 1955, when he was overthrown by a coup d'état, and
from October 1973 to July 1974.
During his first presidential term (1946-1952), Perón was supported by his second
wife, Eva Duarte ("Evita"), and the two were immensely popular among many
Argentines. Eva died in 1952, and Perón was elected to a second term, serving
from 1952 until 1955. During the following period of two military dictatorships,
interrupted by two civilian governments, the Peronist party was outlawed and
Perón was exiled. Perón returned to Argentina in 1973 and was soon after elected
President for a third time. His third wife, María Estela Martínez, known as Isabel
Perón, was elected as Vice President on his ticket and succeeded him as President
upon his death in 1974.
Juan and Evita Perón are still considered icons by the Peronists. The Peróns'
followers praised their efforts to eliminate poverty and to dignify labor, while
their detractors considered them demagogues and dictators.
Eva Perón was instrumental as a symbol of hope to the common laborer
during her husband’s presidency. When she died in 1952, the year of the
presidential elections, the people felt they had lost an ally. Coming from
humble origins, she was loathed by the elite but adored by the poor for her
work with the sick, elderly, and orphans. It was due to her behind-thescenes work that women's suffrage was granted in 1947.
Isabel Perón succeeded her husband to the presidency, but proved incapable
of managing the country's political and economic problems, including the leftwing insurgency and the reactions of the extreme right.
Isabel Perón's term ended abruptly on March 24, 1976, during a military coup
d'état. A military junta, headed by General Jorge Videla, took control of the
country, establishing the self-styled National Reorganization Process. The junta
ramped up the "dirty war", combining widespread persecution of political
dissidents with state terrorism. The death toll rose to thousands (at least 9,000,
with human rights organizations claiming it was closer to 30,000). Many of these
were "the disappeared" (desaparecidos), people kidnapped and executed
without trial or record.
Jorge Videla
According to human right groups, thousands of Argentines — perhaps as many
as 15,000 or even 30,000— "disappeared" while in the custody of the police or
the military.10,000 to 12,000 of the "disappeared," PEN (Poder Ejecutivo
Nacional) detainees held in clandestine detention camps throughout the
dictatorship, were eventually released under diplomatic pressure. In the book
Disposición Final by Argentine journalist Ceferino Reato, Videla confirms for
the first time that between 1976 and 1983, 8.000 Argentinians have been
murdered by his regime. The bodies were hidden or destroyed to prevent
protests at home and abroad. Videla also maintained that female guerrilla
detainees allowed themselves to become pregnant in the belief they wouldn't
be tortured or executed, but they were. The children whom they bore in prison
were taken from them, illegally adopted by military families of the regime, and
their identities were hidden for decades.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZMHWJr
DLNA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlEXGN8h
Mrk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtKEWouG
-VA&list=PLBF1AD39FADAA248A&index=8
On 30 April 1977, Azucena Villaflor, along with 13 other women, started
demonstrations on the Plaza de Mayo, in front of the Casa Rosada presidential
palace, demanding to be told the whereabouts of their disappeared children. They
became known as the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Madres de Plaza de Mayo).
They still gather once a week, even though many of them are old and frail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywQRuvH1eE&list=PLBF1AD39FADAA248A&index=7
Two years after the return of a representative democratic government in 1983,
Videla was prosecuted in the Trial of the Juntas for large-scale human rights
abuses and crimes against humanity that took place under his rule, including
kidnappings or forced disappearance, widespread torture and extrajudicial
murder of activists, political opponents (either real, suspected or alleged) as well
as their families, at secret concentration camps. Videla was also convicted of the
theft of many babies born during the captivity of their mothers at the illegal
detention centers and passing them on for illegal adoption by associates of the
regime.
Videla was imprisoned for five years. In 1990, President Carlos Menem pardoned
Videla and many other imprisoned former members of the military regime.
Following the election of President Néstor Kirchner in 2003, there was a renewed
widespread effort in Argentina to show the illegality of Videla's rule. The
government no longer recognized Videla as having been a legal president of the
country. In 2003, Congress repealed the law which had ended prosecutions for
crimes under the dictatorship. In 2005, the Argentine Supreme Court ruled that
the law had been unconstitutional. The government re-opened prosecution of
crimes against humanity.
Following a new trial, on December 22, 2010, Videla was sentenced to life in
a civilian prison for the deaths of 31 prisoners following his coup. On July 5,
2012, Videla was convicted and sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment for his
participation in a scheme to steal babies from parents detained by the
military regime. According to the court decision, Videla was an accomplice "in
the crimes of theft, retention and hiding of minors, as well as replacing their
identities."The children were given to military families for illegal adoption,
and their identities were hidden. An estimated 400 children were stolen
during this period, often from mothers who gave birth in prison and who
were later "disappeared." By the early 21st century, 77 of these adoptees had
their identities restored.
On 17 May 2013, Videla died in the Marcos Paz civilian prison two years after
his sentencing, of injuries suffered five days earlier in a fall in the shower.
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Argentine recipient of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize,
said, "The death of Videla should not delight anybody, we have to keep
working for a better society, more just, more humane, so that all that horror
never happens again.”