IS THIS SEAT TAKEN?- there are over 400,000 children in Ghana who do not have access to education

International Human Rights Day is marked every year on 10 December to commemorate the day in 1948 when the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  A milestone document in the history of human rights- it sets out, for the first time, fundamental human rights of all persons in the world that are to be protected .



The theme for Human Rights Day 2015 is "Our Rights. Our Freedoms. Always". 
 The four freedoms are: freedom from fear, freedom of speech, freedom of worship and freedom from want.



The focus was  on "freedoms" – recalling the four freedoms that are the cornerstone of  the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and two major human rights covenants: the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and its two Optional Protocols articulated in 1941 by President Franklin D Roosevelt in his "four freedoms speech" to the US Congress.

In 2014, Amnesty International recorded and investigated human rights abuses in 160 countries and territories around the world. Here are some of the most shocking statistics uncovered:

• War crimes or other violations of the "laws of war" were carried out in at least 18 countries.

• Refugees and migrants were - and still are - at particular risk. More than 3,400 people drowned in the Mediterranean Sea in 2014.

• Armed groups committed abuses in 35 countries.

• Nearly three-quarters of governments, around 119 countries out of 160, arbitrarily restricted freedoms.

• 82% (131 out of 160) of countries tortured or otherwise ill-treated people.

As has become the ritual on a day as important as this,the world's focus was on abuses against women, children and the vulnerable.

The war in syria, Ukraine-Russian conflict and the refugees crisis  coupled with media reports of women being raped in refugees camps scattered across Europe shaped discussions ,especially on social media.

The controversial matter of police brutality against blacks in the United States and the "Black Lives Matter" movement that was birthed from came  to the fore in conversations. 

  GHANA

In Ghana, the day was marked with a national dialogue on the plight of older females,children with disabilities and persons with mental problems accused of witchcraft.

Nana Lye Luther,the minister of Children and Social Protection-whose ministry is organised this year's event in Ghana- said the country intends to use thus day to deepen national attention on these issues.

Making these three priority means there are other equally  important topics that would be sidelined.

At an exhibition to commemorate the Human Rights day, students, teachers and parents of Lincoln Community School created special chairs to represent historically barbaric violations of human rights from the war in  Syria to apartheid in South Africa.

Artists also paid homage to victims of  Nanking massacre.

Exhibition at lincoln community School to commemorate Human Rights Day inspired "Jews in Krakow Ghetto Project"

      

Tribute to victims of the war in Syria

     

  

Right to food, clothing and shelter

Every person has the right to education

Access to clean water is a human right

HISTORY

 To commemorate jewish Holocaust in Krakow in 2005, architects Piotr Lewicki and Kazimierz Latak  designed 33 steel and cast iron chairs (1.4m high )  and 37 smaller chairs ( 1.2 m high ) to be placed at squares and bus tops- each chair represent 1,000 victims of the Holocaust.

The chairs  symbolises the deception used by the Nazis to convince their victims that they were simply being "resettled" & they should bring their personal & household belongings. Many brought full sets of furniture.


It is also to remember the uncertainty victims felt,  as thousands of people were meant to stand each day during the inhumane "selection process" that took place on the square, not knowing if they would return to their beds or sent to a death camp.

IS THIS SEAT TAKEN?

I came out of the exhibition thinking :If Ghana were to have its own "Jews in Krakow Ghetto" inspired exhibition to mark international  Human Rights Day, who will these chairs represent?

I figured they will be a lot.

According to the World Bank Development Indicators 2014, the total number of  females not enrolled in either primary or secondary schools stands at 207,128. At a figure of 221, 476, more males are out of school than females.

This means there are 428,604 young people of school going age  missing out on education because of poverty and lack of  schools in their communities. 

If we decide to honour each child with a seat like the holocaust victims, we will run out of squares and bus stops to situate them.

Th reality  that  a child's  inability to assess education is  not perceived as a human right violation is  one of  the greatest injustices of this world.