The Human Rights

THE HUMAN RIGHTS Ana Raquel Ferreira e Diana Gonçalves, 11ºD Orientação: Rosa Carvalho

Agrupamento de Escolas de Póvoa de Lanhoso 2014

Agrupamento de Escolas de Póvoa de Lanhoso – 30.Jan.2014 Póvoa de Lanhoso schools Grouping - 30th January 2014

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Texts that supported the multimedia presentation to the school community January, 30th 2014

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Agrupamento de Escolas de Póvoa de Lanhoso – 30.Jan.2014 Póvoa de Lanhoso schools Grouping - 30th January 2014

This is a set of texts within the framework of the Human Rights Day Celebration and th the Day of Peace and Non-Violence at School on the 30 January. The latter is integrated in an activity organized by the schools of the Connecting Classrooms project ENA Cluster – Póvoa de Lanhoso Schools Grouping, Carlos Amarante Secondary School, in Braga, Dr. Joaquim Gomes Ferreira Alves Secondary School, in Vila Nova de Gaia, Eugénio de Andrade Basic School, in Paranhos, Porto and EB2.3 School of Matosinhos.

The joint celebration of the 30th January by these schools is currently integrated in the eTwinning project and includes a "Reading Marathon" where the set of texts that integrates this publication was presented to the school community of Póvoa de Lanhoso schools Grouping.

Authors: Ana Raquel Ferreira e Diana Gonçalves, Alunas do 11ºD Coordination: Rosa Carvalho, English Teacher

Edition: Agrupamento de Escolas de Póvoa de Lanhoso, Rua da Misericórdia, 4830-503 Póvoa de Lanhoso http://espl.edu.pt/ Licence:

June 2014

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What are the Human Rights?

It seems to be an easy question. But it's not.

Can any of you give me a definition of Human Rights? (...)

We will now show you a short video that shows a little bit of the history and evolution of the Human Rights.

It is fair to say that the Human Rights are a composition of 30 essential rights that should be guaranteed by the law to every human being in the world.

We believe the Human Rights are more than that. We believe the Human Rights are what humanity needs to be a better place and they must be a reality everywhere. The Human Rights should guarantee equality and dignity.

Let's bring an important issue to the table: education.

Article 26 of the Human Rights says very briefly: everyone has the right to education.

And what's education?

Education is the key to a better and brighter future. It is a route out of poverty. It is a fundamental human right! And for us and any of you sitting there this is normal, we go to school since our childhood. But you know what? Over 57 million children are still missing out on school and 60% of that number are girls and women.

Without access to education, these women and girls will never claim for their rights and will never have the power to make their own choices, securing a life of dignity for themselves and their daughters. Broken societies will never heal and economies will never develop without education for all women and girls - it is that simple!

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Do you imagine yourself not going to school everyday? Do you imagine being threatened for going to school? Do you imagine being shot for going to school?

No, you don't. It’s true that we frequently don't give enough importance to school; we believe we were better at home, sleeping because sometimes being here is boring. However, thousands of girls in the world are still fighting for the right to freedom and education.

We will now show you this video where we can see the testimony of some of these girls.

There is a girl in this video that we would like you to know better. She is willing to die for the right of education. Her name's Malala Yousafzai, she's the same age of most of us – 16.

She was shot by the Taliban in 2012 but she survived and continues to speak out on the importance of education.

She gave a speech at the United Nations on her 16th birthday, in 2013. She has also written an autobiography,

I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, which was released in October 2013. Her book was banished in Pakistan and unfortunately, the Talibans still consider Malala a target. This year she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and won the Sakharov prize for freedom of thought.

These are two of her famous quotes: "A country with talented, skilful and educated people is the real superpower".

“One child, one

teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.”

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Who's Malala?

Malala Yousafzai was born in Pakistan and she's an activist for the Human Rights, specially the Education for girls in her country. Actually she's living in England with her father.

She's from Mingora, located in the Swat Valley in Pakistan. Her hometown was a popular tourist spot and proudly called "the Switzerland of Pakistan" until the Taliban tried to take control. In September 2008, with only 11 years old, she gave her first speech at the local press club in Pashawar after some attacks on schools.

The title of her talk was "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?", that's the first glimpse at her passion towards this cause. In January 2009 a BBC reporter in Pakistan asked Malala's father if he knows someone who could write a blog about life under the taliban, at this time the taliban were banning women from a variety of activities like education and shopping. She starts blogging for the BBC under the name GulMakai and I will just quoting Malala briefly: "I wanted to speak up for my rights and I didn't want my future to be just sitting in a room and be imprisoned in my four walls and just cooking and giving birth to children. I didn't want to see my life in that way� To keep her safe the revelation that she was the blogger only occurred in December from the same year.

In 2011, at age of 13 she is nominated for International Children's Peace Prize. At December of the same year she wins Pakistan's National Youth Peace Prize and at the ceremony she expresses the desire to begin a national party of her own to promote education.

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Book “I Am Malala”

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In October 2012, on her way home from school a Taliban gunmen tried to kill her with a shot in the head - her "crime", to have spoken up for the right of girls to be educated. The shooting left Malala in critical condition; she was transferred from the military hospital in Pashawar to a hospital in England. The shooting resulted in a massive outpouring of support for Malala, which continued during her recovery. She gave a speech at the United Nations on her 16th birthday, in 2013. She has also written an autobiography, I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban, which was released in October 2013. Her book was banished in Pakistan and unfortunately, the Taliban still considers Malala a target.

This book “I am Malala” is a response to the question “Who is Malala?” that the Taliban gunman asked when he was in the bus to shoot her. So this book is not only the story of MalalaYousafzai. This is the story of every Malala out there, the story of every girl suffering from terrorism in Swat, every girl in the world without the freedom to go to school, without the freedom to empower themselves, without the freedom to speak for their rights. This book “I am Malala” is also the voice of those who are afraid to talk, those who are neglected, those who don’t have their rights guaranteed.

In December 2012 she was a runner up for the 2012 TIME Person of the Year.

On July 12 of the current year, on her 16th birthday Malala gives her first public speech since the shooting.

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In September she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Almost one month later releases her autobiography titled "I am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban" and in the same day she's threatened by the Taliban again, a spokesperson says that the group would try to harm Malala as long as she remains an outspoken critic of efforts to impose strict Islamic law in Pakistan. Two days later she won the Sakharov Prize. Since she won she was invited to go to the Oval Office in the White House and met President Obama and the first lady, Michelle. The president signed a proclamation that said that “on every continent, there are girls who will go on to change the world in ways we can only imagine, if only we allow them the freedom to dream.". Later, in the same month she met the Queen Elizabeth II and said that ordinarily she wouldn’t miss a day of lessons but made an exception because she was meeting the queen.

So this is the Malala: a girl that from early age stood up for a cause, stood up for the right of education to every girl. You’re probably thinking that if we have education why do we should bother with this? After all we already have education. The answer is very simple: if we want a better world, a wiser world, a more fair world we have to fight for it and education is a basic right that everyone, I repeat: everyone (!) should have. The education is the only way out of all of those problems that are affecting the society right now. Education is really needed because it is the only way to solve the problems of the world.

One day a great man who inspired Malala (and probably the rest of the world), maybe the greatest man who have ever walked on earth said “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. Her name was Nelson Mandela and he was born in 1918. He was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician and philanthropist who served as President of South Africa. He was the first black South African to hold the office. He was a man who dedicated his life fighting for freedom. Mandela was arrested in 1962 and served in jail for 27 years. Even from the jail she continued to fight for his cause without giving up and I’m quoting him now: “I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

He changed the world and made of it a better place to live in. The last Thursday he passed away at the age of 95, the man who opened the eyes of the world closed her own eyes for the eternity and the eternity is the place where he belongs now. His legacy lives on in all of us it is in our hands now.

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Today we celebrate the Human Rights. Today we celebrate Malala and the life of Nelson Mandela. Today we celebrate more than that – we try to listen to those who don’t have the voice to speak, we try to make our planet a more comfortable place to live in. Both of us were inspired by the legacy of great people who changed the world. We frequently think that our voice doesn’t make any difference in the world and maybe we are right. Maybe MY voice doesn’t make a difference in the world. Maybe YOUR voice doesn’t make a difference in the world. Neither YOUR voice but maybe our voices make a difference together.

So we ask you to raise your voice and speak up for your rights. Nobody is better than you, nobody deserves more than you. So don’t stand there just waiting the world to change.

It’s not going to happen unless you raise your voice and speak!

And I also have a dream! My dream is that one day society will not care about each other’s differences. Like a man called John F. Kennedy said once “In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. And we are all mortal.”

We have the power to change what’s wrong. We, as humans, have the power to create magnificent machines. We, as humans, have the power to create breathtaking buildings. We, as humans, have the power to create happiness. We, as humans, have the power to create something beautiful. And we, as humans, have the power to change the world.

The human rights begin “in small places, close to home” remember? So be kind and nice to people, if you make a mistake – and you are here to make mistakes – apologize yourself, help people, be a generator of happiness.

So now’s the time to stand up and remove yourself from the dark numbness of your mind and finally speak and spread the word.

We don’t want human diversity to end. What fulfils us is our diversity, our capacity to be unique. We just want peace in diversity. We want freedom in diversity. Most of all, we want equality in diversity.

Thank you all!

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Agrupamento de Escolas de Póvoa de Lanhoso – 30.Jan.2014 Póvoa de Lanhoso schools Grouping - 30th January 2014

“A country with talented, skilful and educated people is the real superpower.”

“One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.”

Malala Yousafzai

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