Human Rights Day (tomorrow) Tribute To Defenders Of Human Rights

Cartoons the laughable state of human rights in Malaysia.

This year’s International Human Rights Day is dedicated to the human rights defenders. Who are actually human rights defenders?

According to the International Declaration on Human Rights Defenders (the name of the declaration is longer than that but I am not bother to write the full name, so Google, people!) they can be anyone who uphold and protect human rights in the course of their work and daily life.

Hence, it can be activists who risked being detained by the State for challenging acts of human rights violation, a journalist who exposed corruption or even a teacher who protect his or her students from harm as evident in Nepal.

A week ago, the Malaysian public rise again to challenge the decision by the State to privatize and increase the price of water, a necessity to all and a human right under Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Some were arrested, chased and injured in the peaceful assembly.

It was in support of such spirit and passion, that I drew the following cartoons. My artwork is of course nowhere near Zunar or Banksy, but I hope to stand in solidarity with all human rights defenders in Malaysia through these pieces that expressed how I feel about the state of human rights in Malaysia.

To everyone, Happy Human Rights Day! :-)

Tags: Human Rights Day, Malaysia, Zunar, freedom of expression

Posts by Shazeera Ahmad Zawawi

Shazeera is a Malay Muslim that is still unable to understand why groups like PERKASA exist. But as long as they are around, she will be around too.

Posted on 9 December 2010. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.

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