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Introduction: Life/Rights Narrative in Action - Margaretta Jolly
- University of Wisconsin Press
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3 Intro duc tion Life/ Rights Nar ra tive in Ac tion mar ga retta jolly The Human Rights Act 1998 (also known as the Act or the HRA) came into force in the United King dom in Oc to ber 2000. . . . The Act sets out the fun da men tal rights and free doms that in di vid u als in the UK have ac cess to. They in clude: • Right to life • Free dom from tor ture and in hu man or de grad ing treat ment • Right to lib erty and se cur ity • Free dom from slav ery and forced labor • Right to a fair trial • No pun ish ment with out law • Re spect for your pri vate and fam ily life, home and cor re spon dence • Free dom of thought, be lief and re li gion • Free dom of ex pres sion • Free dom of as sem bly and as so ci a tion • Right to marry and start a fam ily • Pro tec tion from dis crim i na tion in re spect of these rights and free doms • Right to peace ful en joy ment of your prop erty • Right to ed u ca tion • Right to par tic i pate in free elec tions united king dom govern ment citizens’ ad vice page Sign our pe ti tion: no arms for atroc ities Em ma nuel Jal was forced to join a mi li tia group, pick up a ma chine gun and fight in Sudan’s bloody civil war when he was just eight years old. Sudan is just one of 19 coun tries where tens of thou sands of chil dren 4 margaretta jolly are still for cibly re cruited as child sol diers. Their re cruit ment, ab duc tion and arm ing would be a lot harder if the arms trade was glo bally reg u lated. It’s not. But the first glo bal treaty reg u lat ing the trade could be created this year. We need UK lead ers to stand up for human rights ahead of inter na tional talks on arms reg u la tions. Clegg, Mil i band and Hague have al ready voiced their sup port for an Arms Trade Treaty that pro tects human rights, but David Came ron has been not ably si lent on this issue. We have one chance to get this right. • Add your name to our pe ti tion to David Came ron • Watch Em ma nuel speak about why he’s sup port ing our cam paign am nesty inter na tional home page You might im a gine, read ing govern ment ad vice pages like that from the UK cited above, that human rights ad vance through the civ il iza tions of law—with rights cod ified; ap peals made to courts in re sponse to vi o la tions, dep ri va tion, and abuse; and ob li ga tions ac quired by govern ments and cit i zens.1 This legal ap proach has an im por tant place. But it is only part of a much wider story. Human rights as an eman ci pa tory tool have also de vel oped at cru cial mo ments in re sponse to people’s every day de mands that those around them under stand their ex pe ri ences of in jus tice. The glimpse that Am nesty Inter na tional gives us of Em ma nuel Jal’s child hood in vi o lent Sudan, and his per sonal ap peal for its cur rent cam paign, tells us as much about the ev o lu tion of human rights as any law.2 This book looks at the mo bil iza tion of pub lic con cern through per sonal ac counts and life story nar ra tions as a fre quently ne glected di men sion of change and de liv ery. Could black South Africans have over turned apart heid with out nar rat ing per sonal sto ries of suf fer ing? Could Ab o rig i nal Aus tra lians or Ar gen tin ian “moth ers of the dis ap peared” have emerged as po lit i cal sub jects with out read ers, lis ten ers, and cin e ma goers, not to men tion law yers and pol i ti cians, wit ness ing their nar ra tions...
