Topic 1: An Introduction to Personal Space and Activity Rights

This group of rights is about how you can operate as a member of society and how you may interact with others. For these rights to be actively enjoyed, the Rule of Law must be fully operational. The arbitrary exercise of power excludes ordinary citizens who are not part of the ruling elite or clique and prevents the transparency and fairness that is a necessary feature of a functioning democracy.

Your right to your own thoughts and beliefs (Article 18) and your right to express those thoughts and beliefs (Article 19) complement each other.

Your right to expression is limited by Article 5, which forbids torture, abuse and cruel or unusual treatment, including bullying, cyberbullying and name-calling.  This would also include violations of Article 12, the right to privacy and to be protected from attacks on reputation.

As you will learn when you see Article 30, the Universal Declaration should be viewed as a whole. One right, or some of the rights, cannot be set aside by claiming other rights are more important.

In extreme cases, the right to expression can degenerate into the situation described by Gregory Stanton in his 10 Step Model for Genocide. Professor Stanton has a family background of women’s suffrage activist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Henry Brewster Stanton, a notable Abolitionist.

He worked as a voting rights worker in Mississippi, a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Ivory Coast, and as Church World Service/CARE Field Director in Cambodia in 1980. His academic career has reflected his background and early experiences of conflict in America and other countries.

Please see MODULE 10 – Protecting our Rights, for more on the 10 Steps to Genocide.