Human Rights Day 2009

Human Rights Day is celebrated annually on December 10 to mark the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was adopted in 1948. In her statement to commemorate the occasion, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay observed:

I would therefore like to encourage people everywhere--politicians, officials, business leaders, civil society, national human rights institutions, the media, religious leaders, teachers, students, and each and every individual--to honor Human Rights Day 2009 by embracing diversity and resolving to take concrete and lasting actions to help put an end to discrimination.

The Declaration was proclaimed through United Nations General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III) and has been translated into more than 300 languages and dialects. The English version is available here, while other versions are available via an online database. A guide to UN Human Rights documentation as well as various related UN databases are also accessible on the UN Human Rights web site.

World AIDS Day 2009: Universal Access and Human Rights

World AIDS Day has been observed annually on December 1st since 1988 and has served to increase international awareness in the campaign against HIV and AIDS. More than 25 million people are estimated to have died from AIDS from 1981 to 2007, with over 30 million currently infected with HIV.

In his World AIDS Day message, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé stated:

“The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is Universal Access and Human Rights. For me, that means doing everything we can to support countries to reach their universal access goals for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support--all the while protecting and promoting human rights.”

Further information on UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, is available on its web site, including its most recent biannual report (2008) on the global AIDS epidemic.

At the University of North Carolina, a number of events are being held from November 30 to December 5 in recognition of World AIDS Day; for details, see the schedule online.

Interactive Theater Carolina: Promoting Health, Wellness, and Social Justice

Interactive Theater Carolina (ITC), according to its mission statement, "uses scripted and improvisational theatre to promote health, wellness, and social justice in the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill community. We believe that when audience members engage the characters and conflict on stage, they are more likely to explore and change their own attitudes and behaviors."

To inquire about ITC performing or holding a workshop for your class, organization, or event, contact Ben Saypol, Program Coordinator, at itc@unc.edu or 919-966-2999. For further information, visit the ITC web site.

First Amendment Day 2009

The University of North Carolina is sponsoring a number of events campus-wide on Thursday, October 1, 2009 to celebrate First Amendment Day. The Center for Media Law and Policy has prepared a web page listing all the activities that are planned, and describes the day as follows:

This campus-wide, day-long event is designed to both celebrate the First Amendment and explore its role in the lives of Carolina students. Students and others will read from banned books, sing banned music and discuss the importance of each of the rights protected by the First Amendment, the need to be tolerant when others exercise their rights and the public university's special role as a marketplace of ideas.

In 2004, Congress mandated that September 17 be designated Constitution Day and Citizenship Day to commemorate the anniversary of the US Constitution and that all publically funded educational institutions offer programming on the history of the Constitution. At UNC, the Law School offered a lecture on the Supreme Court case Korematsu v. United States, which involved the forced internment of Japanese citizens in relocation camps during World War II.

The Khmer Rouge Trials and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

The theme for the August 5, 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association is violence and human rights. Dr. Jeffrey Sonis, a faculty member in the Departments of Social Medicine and Family Medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, is the lead author on an article entitled: “Probable Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Disability in Cambodia: Associations With Perceived Justice, Desire for Revenge, and Attitudes Toward the Khmer Rouge Trials” (JAMA. 2009;302(5):527-536).

The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, with support from UNAKRT (or United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials), is currently prosecuting some of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge (or Democratic Kampuchea), who perpetrated mass-violence and genocide from 1975-1979, when an estimated 1.7 million people were killed—one-fifth of the population.

Sonis and co-authors have investigated whether the Cambodian tribunal, which was empanelled in 2006, and subsequent trials have elicited symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder and disability among adult Cambodians. A national survey conducted between December 2006 and August 2007 found that 14.2% of respondents over 35 suffered from probable PTSD. Although most Cambodians hoped the trials would promote justice, 87.3% in the same age group felt the trials would create painful memories. Sonis et al. state that a longitudinal study will be necessary to determine whether the Khmer Rouge trials will result in the reduction of symptoms of PTSD due to increased feelings of justice or increase symptoms due to the revival of traumatic memories in survivors. Further information on the study is available on the UNC School of Medicine’s web site; the entire study is available to subscribers on the JAMA web site.

Other resources of related interest include the Cambodian Genocide Program at Yale University, and finding aids to archival collections on the Khmer Rouge housed at Cornell University Library: Guide to the Cambodia Documentation Commission Records, 1985-1990 and Guide to the Tuol Sleng Confessions and Photographs, 1991-1993.

Note: The video above was produced by the UNC Medical Center News Office, which has a video library available online. Videos are also accessible via the School of Medicine's YouTube channel.