Pillay, a trailblazer in Human Rights Law, was born in 1941 to a humble Indian family in apartheid South Africa. She faced enormous obstacles to her aspirations for further education and a meaningful career. However, in 1967 she was the first black woman in South Africa to set up a law practice which she used to defend many anti-apartheid activists. She also used her skills to protect the rights of political prisoners and remarkably, in 1973, she succeeded in obtaining legal representation and basic amenities for the inmates of Robben Island. In 1995 when the first democratic government was formed in South Africa, Nelson Mandela nominated Pillay as the first black female judge in the Supreme Court. In the same year she joined the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Since then Pillay has become one the world's leading advocates in the field of human rights. The biography of Navi Pillay is part of Arcadia's BlackAmber Inspiration series edited by Rosemarie Hudson, founder of BlackAmber. These pocket-sized biographies, aimed at students and general readers alike, celebrate African, Caribbean and Asian heroes.
Navi Pillay is a modern icon in the world’s efforts to protect humanity through international law and policy. She played a leading role in the multi-national operation to clean up the humanitarian dross left on the essence of modern civilization by the Rwandan Genocide of 1994. Her contributions in that effort were in virtue of her role as a judge—and, eventually, as the President—of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. From there, she went on to serve as one of the first appeal judges at the newly established International Criminal Court—another international endeavour aimed at protecting humanity through law. In time, she was fittingly appointed the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, just ahead of a call to honour her with a book of essays in international law and policy, for the contributions that she had already made in the international enterprise of protecting humanity. Inspired by Pillay, some of the modern legends and experts in international law and policy have, in this volume, shared their experiences and thoughts on how better to protect humanity in our time. In the book, we read the wise words of Nobel laureates and other envoys of peace, renowned international judges and famous scholars, as well as those of energetic younger minds with great promise. Some chapters are in French.
In Women Reshaping Human Rights, ordinary - yet extraordinary - individuals tell their stories. Readers will meet Vera Laska, who joined the Resistance against the Nazis in Czechoslovakia; Dai Qing, who fights the Communist Party's grip upon the government in the People's Republic of China; and Juana Beatrice Gutierrez and the Mothers of East Los Angeles, who challenge drug dealers and toxic polluters threatening their neighborhood.
The question 'who is my neighbour?' challenges the way we see ourselves as well as the way we see others. Especially in situations where we feel conflicted between our own self-identity and common identity within a wider society. Historically, religion has contributed to this inner conflict by creating 'us versus them' mentalities. Challenging this traditional view, this volume examines how religions and religious communities can use their resources, methodology and praxis to encourage peace-making. The book is divided into two parts - the first includes sources, theories and methodologies of crossing boundaries of prejudice and distrust from the perspectives of theology and religious studies. The second includes case studies of theory and practice to challenge prejudice and distrust in a conflict or post-conflict situation. The chapters are written by scholars, religious leaders and faith-motivated peace practitioners from various global contexts to create a diverse academic study of religious peace-building.
LEARN FRENCH NEWS Vol.1: English & French THIS EDITION: The dual-language text has been arranged into sentences and shorter paragraphs for quick and easy cross-referencing. The source text is the French language edition of Voice of America (VOA). The French text has been translated into English for this dual-language project. The reader can choose between four formats: Section 1: English to French Section 2: French to English Section 3: English Section 4: French A methodology for getting the most out of this bilingual format is explained in the book’s Foreword. The primary purpose of this text is to equip a foreign language learner with the ability to start reading news in the particular foreign language: to be able to read only in the foreign language, and extract enough understanding to continue the language learning process fruitfully this way. A reader might like to go back to reading dual-language news for reinforcement and further development, returning to foreign language only news with a deeper understanding. By going back to the same ‘old’ news, you are going over words, word patterns, and passages with which you already have a certain familiarity. The process of reinforcement, learning or retaining of what is new, and exposure to what is unfamiliar, is much easier this way — even though the news may seem a little dated. The aim of informing the reader about actual news is secondary, especially given that the content will become less current (and less relevant) over time. If you are having trouble with the level of difficulty in the text, a suggested path for learning languages is as follows: Familiarise yourself with a basic language instruction book — or re-read the one you have. Once a student has studied the basics, a suitable book about basic grammar can be helpful. The suggestion is that any grammar book be studied more with the intent of recognition and understanding, rather than memorising and obsessive rote learning. Go through as much of the grammar book you feel you can digest — maybe even the whole book — skipping over what is not easily understood. After this, read through a portion of text in a book called ‘French Sentences’, by 2LanguageBooks, looking for examples of what you have picked up (or gleaned) in your hopefully not so arduous study of grammar. Even repeatedly seeing a word that you remember seeing listed as a ‘subject pronoun’ or a ‘third person plural’ verb of some sort is a great help. Then, depending on your inclination, return to the grammar book (or your basic French book), or move on to lengthier bilingual text — like in 2Language Books texts containing news or stories, for example —, or find some suitable French text: a simple novel, a French news website, etc. Grammar books will likely have some verb charts. However, there are currently good on-line resources that go further — dictionaries with a verb conjugation ‘search’ option. Many basic language books offer some form of audio support. Internet services — primarily news based radio stations — offer podcasts. Audio from television is an additional resource, and can be formatted for use on various digital platforms. However, if audio is an important component of your interest in languages, electronic devices that support quality text-to-speech (TTS) will likely be appealing. With a library card, TTS technology (in a device that supports the relevant content), and the above mentioned resources, an entire language learning system is available for not much more than a cup of coffee! There is no substantial financial outlay to get you started. Furthermore, there are no additional ongoing fees (and updates), and there are no expiry dates on ‘premium’ content and resources. (A Dual-Language Book Project) 2Language Books
Roja Singh's critical ethnography on caste and gender is rooted in interactions, and lived experiences in communities of Dalit women in Tamil Nadu, India. Situated in transnational feminist discourses, Singh's perspective as a Dalit woman, provides an intersectional social analysis of power structures that sustain caste dominance in South India today. She describes strategies of social change in Dalit women's activism as rooted in subversive applications of imposed identities of "difference" thwarting social boundaries and punishment traditions. The core of this Interdisciplinary work is Dalit women's songs, oral and written testimonial narratives, including Singh's personal story.
In this first systematic examination of the role of the top United Nations human rights official, editors Felice Gaer and Christen Broecker analyze the achievements, leadership styles of, and obstacles encountered by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and propose recommendations for the future. The editors are joined by 18 expert contributors including present and former UN policymakers, human rights practitioners, legal scholars, and current High Commissioner Navi Pillay. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: Conscience for the World examines how the six individuals who have served in this post have worked to end atrocities, hold perpetrators of abuses to account, promote equality and justice, and provide protection and redress to victims.
A revealing oral history collection, Profiles in Diversity contains in-depth interviews of twenty-six women in South Africa from different racial, class, and age backgrounds. Conducted in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Bloemfontein, Vryburg, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Grahamstown, Durban, and a rural section of Kwa-Zulu Natal, these life histories encompass diverse experiences ranging from a squatter in a township outside Cape Town to an ANC activist in Port Elizabeth, who lost three sons to the struggle for democracy and who herself was imprisoned several times during what many in South Africa now refer to as the "civil war." Nearly all of these women describe their formative years spent growing up in South Africa's segregated society. Three young black students discuss the hardships they experienced in an unequal educational system as well as aspects of segregation in their childhood. They are joined in their memories and hopes for the future by two mature women—one now a high court judge in Durban and the other a linguist at the University of South Africa in Pretoria—both of whom studied at Harvard in the United States. Nancy Charton, the first woman ordained as an Anglican priest in South Africa, speaks about her past and what led her, in her early seventies, to a vocation in the church. Three Afrikaner women, including one in her late twenties, speak about growing up in South Africa and articulate their concerns for a future that, in some respects, differs from the predictions of their English-speaking or black sisters. Two now-deceased members of the South African Communist Party provide disparate accounts of what led them to lives of active opposition to the discrimination that marked the lives of people of color, long before apartheid became embedded in South Africa's legal system. Also included is an account by Dr. Goonam, an Indian woman who grew up in relative comfort in the then province of Natal, while Ray Alexander discusses how she witnessed the tyranny visited on the Jews of her native Latvia before immigrating to the Cape.
Human rights diplomacy provides an up to date and accessible overview of the field, and serves as a practical guide to those seeking to engage in human rights work. Kelly-Kate Pease uses clear language and practical examples to teach readers the difficult skill of systematically looking at human rights and humanitarian negotiations. After a brief overview of human rights and what is meant by diplomacy, Pease argues that while human rights are internationally recognized, important disagreements exist on definition, priority and implementation. With the help of Human rights diplomacy, these differences can be bridged, and a new generation of human rights professionals will build better relationships.
