English
Exam Task- Human Rights
In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A document containing
30 articles of human rights all people in the world should have, and even
though the world have been through much progress towards it, there is not freedom for all.
Chosen pictures: number one, three and four.
Picture
number one connects with article number 18 in the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, especially freedom of thought and conscience. When, for example, a
person like Edward Snowden works at a job that gives him a lot information that
he feels is wrong, it gets on his conscience and effects his decisions. It
might make whistle- blowers feel bad and decide to release it to the public. This
is illegal, but it consists with the freedom of thought and continence, also speech. It is
important to speak your mind, when you have something on your continence and think it is wrong, but where should the limit
go? Should the whistle- blowers do illegal things for what they think is right,
even if they might release information that might “weaken” countries’ defences, or is the information they want to
release an unavoidable evil in the defence of a country, breaking liberties of
the people.
Education is as an important part of the rights of people
around the world, because without education a country cannot prosper and
evolve. According to the Global Development Goals of 1990, every child should
attend and complete primary school by 2015. They were not able
to reach the goal, but people attending school has steadily gone up and youth
literacy rate has increased from 83% to 91%. Many think that education is good, but
still, there are children that have to work instead of being able to attend
school and females under Taliban rule are forbidden going to school. The new development goals
continue having education for all as a goal for 2030; they are making great
strides for it.
Slavery has effected the world throughout history, but what
people do not think about anymore is that slavery still exists in the world
today. It is an extreme violation of the human right according to the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and come in four versions, forced labour, child
trafficking, sexual slavery and organ trafficking. Recognized by almost all
countries as illegal, modern slavery still goes on in the form of exploiting
people in weak circumstances and in unstable countries. It is harder to deal
with than before, because the trade is not a product of a country, but of
black-market dealers and crime networks across the world. This makes it harder
for the authorities to put a stop for it, as the demand for it continues. Using
war-torn countries like Syria to collect people or lying to young girls in Eastern Europe about a
future in wealth. This problem should get more attention, but maybe fixing the
country’s problems first will make the criminals go away when authorities step
in.
The message conveyed in the first picture is about freedom
and justice for whistle-blowers, people demonstrating for Edward Snowden’s
freedom in China. It also depicts people truly believing that the united
States, one of the most powerful countries in the world, are wrong in their
judgement of Snowden, a man on the charges of treason. It could also say that people
in Hong Kong (where the picture takes place) seems to care about freedom of
speech and thought, compared to mainland China, which has been criticised for breaking personal
freedom.
Compared to the first picture, the next one is an edited
picture that wants you to understand the right to education. The picture also shows children, who are the main target for primary
education and the people that need it the most. The message could also be children
who were previously helpless got help, being able to go to school. This is
something that maybe children in western countries take for granted, while
children in developing countries sometimes dreams about doing.
The last picture could
be a billboard depicting a message of slavery. In addition, how it could be for
them. It shows all forms of modern slavery and indentured servitude and is a
problem that still persists and makes a huge sum of money, seen as it is
growing even now.
The most important trafficking according to UNDOC (United
Nations Office on Drugs and Crime), is sexual exploitation, it is the most
common form of human trafficking and accounting for 79% of all trade. This is because it is a high
demand and flourish in war-torn countries, where they force people into slavery.
The second largest one with 18% is forced labour, needed because people do not
want to pay their workers enough. This even plagues a country like the USA
where farmers hire labour and then treats them poorly and even do
not pay them, making them indentured servants until they get payed. The thing
that worries the most, country authorities are ignoring or flat-out denying
that it happens in their country so they do not need to take responsibility or
do not want to look bad.
Firstly, picture 1 has some convincing ascetics that makes
you connect to article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Even
though some of the letters in the pictures are in Cantonese, you can presume
that it says something of Edward Snowden’s freedom and that the US government
is wrong on their judgment of him. It depicts protesters, which further
validates the stand that the picture wants to take, also a picture of Edward
Snowden helps. In all, the message they are trying get into the minds of the
people is effective, but does not capture all of article 18 content, like
religion.
Picture number 2 captures well article 26 and its message
captured in the picture, but still sugar- coats the realism of the situation
with children without education. The picture portrays children who are
learning, this fits well with learning. On the other hand showing children who
do not have education would give the message something more impactful to it and
match the message.
Lastly, the human trafficking picture conveys its meaning seemingly
strong, showing strong pictures that support its message. There does not seem
to be any negatives to this picture, other than it might be too strong for
children to see, but the message matters most. The “illustrations” in the image
are creative and do not “pull any punches”, you understand what it wants to
convey easily.
In conclusion, the pictures
tell what they want to tell and are quite effective at it. It is important to
talk about and discuss these topics to have a better
understanding of the world and to be better informed of things that people might not think of in
their daily lives.
Picture Source: http://quotesgram.com/for-all-education-quotes/
Interview with Edward Snowden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvcND_koF5g
TED Talk about modern slavery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TPFLHvn024
This is what I took down when you handed in the task:
SvarSlettContent: extensive, great examples, well reflected
Structure: well organized in paragraphs that follow the TRIT pattern - good use of linking words
Language: Mostly well written - some concord and spelling errors - look inside to understand more.
To improve, do some work in Exploring English (follow the link in my blog)
Now I am even more impressed due to the videos, links and pictures you have included.