Priest Ezequiel walks through the ruins of his church in Passo de Estrela, where floods destroyed 600 homes. Across Rio Grande do Sul, 183 lives were lost in the disaster (August 6, 2024). Photo Mateus Bruxel

Human Rights Day is observed annually around the world on December 10. It commemorates the anniversary of one of the world’s most groundbreaking global pledges: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). This landmark document enshrines the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as a human being – regardless of race, color, religion, sex, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.

The Declaration was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on December 10, 1948 and sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights to be universally protected.

As a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations”, the UDHR is a global blueprint for international, national, and local laws and policies and a bedrock of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development.

–United Nations

Welcome to the 155th edition of Prescriptions. This is dedicated to Human Rights, giving voice to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the works presented in exhibitions for the general public that have been showcased over the years at United Nations Headquarters and online.

From Despair to Hope: Children Beyond Armed Conflict

Tabarak, 6, Iraq (top photo): Tabarak lives in the war-torn western district in the old city of Mosul. She sits in an empty classroom at Al-Ekhlas primary school in the Nabi Jarjis neighbourhood. It is one of 350 schools in need of urgent rehabilitation. “Living in Mosul has been difficult, it has damaged many schools and houses, I don’t want any more fighting, I just look forward to starting school now. I dream of becoming a teacher someday and I hope that school helps me to do that”.

With the last stand of ISIS in Mosul in 2017, the Department of Education reported 130 schools had been totally destroyed.

Tabarak, 6, Iraq – Photo by Paddy Dowling/Education Above All

Photo by OSRSG CAAC/Paddy Dowling (Mosul, Iraq)

Sarah, 14, Democratic Republic of the Congo – Photo by Paddy Dowling/Education Above All

Sarah, 14, arrived to Kigeme refugee camp from DRC in 2012. Her parents, now unemployed in Rwanda, worked as rag traders. They made the decision to flee the fighting for the safety and relative calm of Rwanda. They were made to feel very welcome by the host community. Sarah is enrolled in class, three years behind where she should be, due to conflict, and she really enjoys her schooling. She dreams one day of becoming an accountant so she can help her family live a better life.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo held the tragic record of the highest number of children recruited and used in 2020. Close to 15% of children between 5 and 17 years were engaged in child labour in the country. The recruitment and use of children is considered a worst form of child labour.

Athar, 21, Gaza / Photo by Paddy Dowling/Education Above All

A day in 2014 changed Athar’s life forever. Her father was among those who lost their lives in the conflict in Gaza. Athar is a graduate in English literature from the Islamic University of Gaza and part of the Al Fakhoora, which works to enable the most marginalised to access higher education opportunities despite their surrounding circumstances.

She says: “For me, education is like food or fuel, an energy that gives me the power to keep going. Education perpetuates confidence to keep going and to keep getting good grades, it is my refuge and my salvation after each experience of conflict in Gaza.”

Photography 4 Humanity

Photography 4 Humanity calls on photographers around the world to bring to life the power of human rights through their images. Highlighting the most compelling human rights imagery – illustrating courage, despair, hope, injustice, compassion in ways small and large, the photos serve to inspire people to get involved and take a stand for human rights.

Winning photo: The seashore is no longer here. School girls stand in an abandoned seaport town next to an installation showing where the Aral Sea used to come. Photo Kristina Varaksina. Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan (May, 2022)

Finalist: A family who migrated to Herat due to extreme drought, have their tents flooded. / Photo Esmatullah Habibian. Herat, Afghanistan (June, 2022)

Finalist: Climate activists blocking an excavator on the edge of the Garzweiler II open-pit coal mine. / Photo Ingmar Björn Nolting. Lützerath, Germany (January, 2023)

Finalist: A girl runs to collect water through a climate induced dust storm sweeping through Kenya’s Amboseli National Park. / Photo Peter Ndung’u. Amboseli, Kenya (July, 2022)

Photography 4 Humanity encourages amateur and professional photographers alike, to submit images for an annual competition where the winner and top 10 finalists have their photographs exhibited by the United Nations globally via un.org.

Photography 4 Humanity, with the support of the UN Human Rights Office, call upon photographers around the world to capture images of people affected by climate change.

These images depict climate change as a human rights crisis, as women, children, minorities, the poor and marginalized suffer disproportionately as the climate catastrophe escalates.

The exhibit is developed to highlight the work of top photographers through the Photography 4 Humanity Global Prize Competition, and to inspire photographers to document the power of human rights around the world.

The exhibit is created and organized by Photography 4 Humanity with the support of UN Human Rights Office.

Stories of Survival and Remembrance -​ A call to action for genocide prevention​

“Where we see people facing systematic discrimination or becoming targets of violence simply because of who they are, because of their identity, we must act – both to defend those at immediate risk and those who could be in jeopardy in the future. By promoting a culture of peace and non-violence that includes respect for diversity and non-discrimination, we can build societies that are resilient to the risk of genocide.”

–United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres

Over a decade ago, photographer Jim Lommasson began working on a collaborative photographic and writing project with Iraqi and Syrian refugees to the United States, based on the objects they brought with them to this country. Survivors or their family members were asked to reflect through creative expression on the white background of the photographs of the objects, their memories attached to the object. This process allowed autobiographical narratives to become collective history. The objects carry with them stories of survival of incomprehensible inhumanity. The voices of survivors and their families illuminate the experiences that are shared despite differences of time and place: experiences of resilience, courage, the fragility of life, family history, and hope for the future. This exhibition is inspired by the original exhibition of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, and the images taken by photographer Jim Lommasson for his work with the Center in 2018. In the current exhibition, the images related to the Holocaust and the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda were taken by photographer Jim Lommasson. The images related to the genocides and atrocities in Cambodia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were provided by the Documentation Center in Cambodia, the War Childhood Museum Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Remembering Srebrenica.

This exhibition is a joint project of the Department of Global Communications and the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, together with the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, the War Childhood Museum Bosnia and Herzegovina, Remembering Srebrenica, and the Documentation Center of Cambodia. The original exhibition Stories of Survival: Object. Image. Memory. on which this exhibition is based is a project of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center and photographer Jim Lommasson.

THE HOLOCAUST

Coming to power in Germany in 1933, the Nazis implemented their racist agenda. Their targets included Jews, people with physical and mental disabilities, Germans of African descent, Roma and Sinti, homosexuals, and Slavs. Antisemitic persecution intensified after Germany invaded Poland in 1939, triggering the Second World War, and followed shortly by the invasion of the East of Poland by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The Germans isolated Jews in ghettos and deported them for slave labour.

Mossek (Morris) Nortman (Sosnowiec, Poland, September 3, 1913 – Miami Beach, Florida, January 1991) / Mossek (Morris) Nortman’s Laissez-Passer Travel Document. (France, 1947). On loan courtesy of Michael Nortman. Photo Jim Lommasson Reflections by Michael Nortman, grandson of Morris

With the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, Nazi mobile killing units (Einsatzgruppen) and local collaborators began to murder Jews systematically. To relieve the stress on the killers of the face-to-face murder of women, children and men, the regime established annihilation sites equipped with lethal gas chambers. And it sought to erase Jewish family life, culture, and religious tradition. The Allied Forces defeated Nazi Germany and its allies in 1945.

Only one-third of Jewish men, women and children in Europe survived the Holocaust.

Judy Katz (Satu Mare, Romania, 18 February 1930 – Glenview, Illinois, 9 March 2016) / Judy Katz’s Scarf. Germany, mid-20th century. Gift of Judy and Harold Katz. Photo Jim Lommasson. Reflections by Jack, Larry, and Lila Katz, children of Judy

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

From 1992 to 1995, following the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), it is estimated that more than 100,000 people were killed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 80 percent of those killed were Bosniaks, the predominantly Muslim population, while two million people were forced to flee their homes. Concentration camps were set up; thousands of Bosnian women were systematically raped. In July 1995, in what has been established by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia as an act of genocide, more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were executed by the Bosnian Serb forces in the town of Srebrenica, in addition to more than 20,000 civilians expelled. Srebrenica was a United Nations-declared “safe area”. This was the largest massacre in Europe since the Holocaust and despite prompting a ceasefire that led to the end of the war, the genocide left deep emotional scars on the survivors, families of victims, and the Bosnian and Herzegovinian society in general, creating enduring obstacles to reconciliation among the country’s different ethnic groups.

This was the largest massacre in Europe since the Holocaust and despite prompting a ceasefire that led to the end of the war, the genocide left deep emotional scars on survivors and the Bosnian society in general, creating enduring obstacles to reconciliation among the country’s different ethnic groups.

Selma Jahić / Grandfather’s watch. Photo/Selma Jahić

RWANDA

During the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, more than one million people – overwhelmingly Tutsi, but also moderate Hutu, Twa and others who opposed the genocide – were systematically killed in less than three months. Hundreds of thousands of women were raped.

The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda was intricately planned by Hutu extremists, who leveraged their positions to support and equip militias. The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda ended when the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) defeated the Hutu extremist government and stopped the killings.

In the years following the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, more than 120,000 people were detained for bearing criminal responsibility for their participation in the genocide.

To deal with the overwhelming number of perpetrators, Rwanda sought a judicial response that was pursued on three levels: the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the national court system, and the traditional community court system called “Gacaca”. Since then, Rwanda has embarked on an ambitious Justice and Reconciliation process with the aim of all Rwandans once again living side by side in peace. A key homegrown initiative is Ndi Umunyarwanda, which means ‘I am Rwandan’. It is a programme initiated to build a national identity based on trust and dignity. It aims to strengthen unity and reconciliation among Rwandans by providing a forum for people to talk about the causes and consequences of the genocide as well as what it means to be Rwandan.

Reflections by Immaculée Mukantaganira (Muko, Rwanda, December 3, 1954 -) / Raissa Umutoni’s Dress London, United Kingdom, ca. 1994. On loan courtesy of Immaculée Mukantaganira. Photo Jim Lommasson

Sexual Violence in Conflict: Youth Speak Out Through the Arts

This exhibition was conceived by Special Representative Patten, after seeing the work of students at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, who decided to address the issue of sexual violence through their artwork. The students’ works on display here were chosen through a selection committee chaired by Special Representative Patten, on the basis of both their artistic merits and ability to address this complex topic through visual art with a raw emotional impact.

Original music was also produced to accompany this exhibition by composer Carlos Aguilar, who was inspired by the students’ work.

Sofia Juan Ramirez​, 10th Grade | Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

Kelsey Acosta, 10th Grade | Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

Angieliz Caceres, 10th Grade | Frank Sinatra School of the Arts

Throughout history, conflict-related sexual violence has been treated as an inevitable byproduct of war, the spoils of the victors, mere collateral damage, or a crime against morality and family honor. It has been the world’s least-condemned crime of war, shrouded in a conspiracy of silence that shields the perpetrators and isolates the victims from society, and even from each other.

Against this background, the past decade has seen a dramatic shift in paradigm and perspective, leading to the recognition of conflict-related sexual violence as a tactic of war and terror that demands dedicated attention, action and resources.

Palestine Through its People: Portraits of Palestinians

From the Nakba – a catastrophe marked by the destruction of Palestinian communities and the displacement of a majority of Palestinians from their homes in 1948 – to this day, the Palestinian people have experienced constant dispossession, displacement, and the denial of their human rights. The story of this ongoing collective tragedy, and of struggle and steadfastness in the face of unimaginable hardships, is the sum of millions of individual stories that deserve to be told and heard. These are individual tales of painful suffering and untold injustice, as well as of remarkable resilience and human triumph.

Yasser Murtaja: Armed with a Camera in Gaza – The story of Yasser Murtaja’s journey is not only about documenting the suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza under Israeli blockade and successive wars, but also about their unbreakable will to defy these circumstances.

Muna El-Kurd: “You are Stealing my House” – This is the cry of one of the iconic twins, Muna and Mohammed El-Kurd, who became the face of Sheikh Jarrah and its resistance against the attempts of Israeli settlers to seize Palestinian homes in Jerusalem and the ongoing attempts to forcibly displace Palestinian families.

Loay Elbasyouni: From Gaza to NASA – The inspiring journey of Loay Elbasyouni, a testimony of what a generation could do if given the opportunity to live and thrive, and of the potential of an entire nation.

Ahed Tamimi: The Palestinian Wonder Girl / The story of Ahed Tamimi and of her family on the frontlines of the struggle to preserve the land and the heavy toll they endure. This is the story of one family among thousands, one village, among hundreds, and of their struggle to preserve their land from the claws of the Israeli occupation’s wall and settlements.

This exhibit is inspired by the life work and sacrifice of Shireen Abu Akleh, one of the greatest storytellers of the Palestinian tale, shedding light on the lives of Palestinian victims, restoring their names, proclaiming their rights, resisting attempts to dehumanize them, silence them, deny their plight and their just cause, until the day she became one of them. Shireen wanted the world to know the people behind the story. Her legacy lives on.

This is the story of Palestine through its people, the story of a nation’s suffering and its resilience, against all odds, and in the face of brazen violence and impunity, through the portraits of Palestinians and their long walk to freedom that remains underway.