As world ruler, I would set up human rights education in every school, in every part of the world. And of course if I ruled the world every girl would go to school. I accept that, even with these powers, I can’t just wave a magic wand: change on this scale would take a few generations. It’s about more than sitting in a classroom and memorising the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It requires an environment that instils respect between teachers and pupils and is free from all forms of discrimination. Human rights mean learning not just how everybody else should be, but also about how you might be, in order to make the world a fairer, safer place.
Violence against women is endemic in so many different parts of the world. Every time I see another case, or launch a new campaign, I always think that this behaviour takes root at such a young age in both boys and girls through stereotyping, poor expectations and lack of access to education.
A year ago, I was in Sierra Leone, where they are now struggling with the horror of Ebola. The work we were doing focused on teaching women in villages their rights and how to apply them in relationships. We made a film documenting the impact of our work in one particular village. There, in cases of domestic abuse, the women now gather and go to the household where it is happening. They sit the man down and explain the damage he is doing, not only to his wife but to himself and to his children. They warn they will report him to the authorities if the violence does not stop. In El Salvador, where abortion is illegal, Amnesty became involved in the shocking case of Beatriz, a 22-year-old girl whose life was at risk due to complications with her pregnancy and where the foetus would not have survived past birth. We ran a successful campaign and she received life-saving treatment. Now, girls in the schools where we campaigned are aware of the need for better access to abortion.
Another priority would be to stop trade issues dominating relationships between nations. The British government’s response to the plight of the Saudi blogger, Raif Badawi—who was accused of “insulting Islam” and sentenced to 1,000 lashes— has been slow and muted. The Foreign Secretary swatted away calls for a public statement, claiming the government has “found in the past the best way of influencing Saudi behaviour is to message them privately through the many channels we have available.” Yet world leaders including David Cameron travelled to Paris in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attacks to protest the right to freedom of speech. What is an outrage in Paris should also be an outrage in Riyadh. My worry is that our hesitancy, in part, stems from the fact that last year alone the United Kingdom issued licences for the sale of arms totalling £1.6bn to Saudi Arabia. The UK, the United States and other nations need to collectively and publicly condemn this, and take the consequences.
Read more If I Ruled the World:
Margaret Drabble
Richard Rogers
Jonathan Evans
You need consistency on the big issues to enforce a global human rights agenda. Just because certain groups are claiming to commit atrocities in the name of Islam, doesn’t change the fact that we all have the freedom to follow our religions or absence thereof. I would make states responsible for implementing and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
My goal is for us to live in a world where all human rights are respected, and while my changes to education are taking effect, I would make sure that the art of letter writing is preserved. The internet is a wonderful tool for mobilising people but I’ve so often met people who have come out of prison, or the families campaigning for their release, who have told me how much receiving our letters as a physical manifestation of solidarity meant to them. A few years ago a man was released from an Egyptian prison after 18 years. He didn’t get any of the letters we sent him—the authorities wouldn’t allow it—but his family got them and it made them feel they weren’t alone.
The by-product of my education reforms would be that eventually Amnesty International would cease to exist. When Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest a couple of years ago, she thanked us and said she was looking forward to the day when there was no need for Amnesty. I’d be out of a job, but I’d keep busy visiting as many of these new schools as possible, just to make sure it was all progressing properly.
As told to Serena Kutchinsky
