In the past centuries people couldn’t call themselves “free people”, because many people

weren’t free.

Some were someone’s slaves, especially poor people who were rich people’s slaves, women

and children were treated like animals, they had no rights, as if they didn’t even exist.

But, thanks to some changes and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,

today many of us are free people. We have the right to life, an adequate standard of living,

freedom from torture, freedom of expression, freedom to travel, the right to self-determination,

the right to educationand to participate in cultural and political life, freedom of religion,

freedom of thought etc.

On the other hand, although the breaking of human rights is punishable, there are still a lot of

people who aren’t free, especially in poor countries, where many people are uneducated,

where slavery still exists and there is too much violence and wars, as well as the abuse of

women and children.

I don’t know why people are like that, why they don’t understand that we are all different

but equal, we are all human, everyone deserves to be free and we should all respect

each other.  (Matija Hanžeković)

We are breaking down walls between us

             Throughout human history many cultures had important ethical concepts but many of

them lacked the concept of human rights. For example, McIntyre stated that there was no word

for “right” in any language before the year 1400. The basic ideas that started the human

rights movement developed after the Second World War in what we call today the western world.

Those ideas later resulted with a declaration adopted by the United Nations General

Assembly on December 10^th 1948 in Paris. It was called The Universal Declaration of Human

Rights.

Was it necessary for a disaster like the Holocaust to happen so that people could start to

appreciate what they have – one another and life itself? I think the idea about the need to protect

human rights has brought along respect for diversities. Many statutes have been written

through the years, so nowadays we protect the rights of children, mothers, fathers, women,

men, workers, minorities, disabled persons, students, LGBT, authors, even plants, animals etc.

However, no matter how protected some groups have become, the law still gets broken or there

are people who don’t even know that they have certain rights. Unfortunately, there are many human

beings whose rights are not protected and who are mistreated.

In conclusion, I would like to say that it should not matter if you are skinny, old, Asian,

white, poor, diabetic, intelligent, Jewish, an athlete, a vegetarian or anything else, we are

all humans. So vulnerable, yet so strong and brave. The first sentence of  Article 1. of The

Universal Declaration of Human Rights is: ALL HUMAN BEINGS ARE BORN FREE AND EQUAL

IN DIGNITY AND RIGHTS.   (Sara Dolenec)

                     Today, human rights are not respected. It breaks my heart when I hear how difficult

life is for young girls and women in Pakistan, Somalia, Congo or Afghanistan. Men own women

in some of those countries and they can do to them whatever they want, while women don’t have

any rights to fight against them. Women often die because of hard living conditions, lack of

hygiene, hunger and mostly because of abuse.

I don’t understand that law which has been made against women. Girls are forced to get

married in early childhood. I have heard a story that men poured acid on one young girl and she

couldn’t fight back because if she had, she would probably have been killed. What kind of life is that?

The fact that human rights are not respected in many parts of the world is very sad. I would do

anything to change that. I don’t want girls my age, or older, or younger, to suffer or be abused

until death. Many of them commit suicide by drowning or in some other way because they just

can’t stand life. One girl said: “What is wrong with those parents? They have ruined our childhood,

they have killed everything in us. I would rather die than go back there, to my husband.” After that,

she ran away to her uncle’s family.

I think that all the people should be treated the same, as human beings. Everyone should

have the freedom of speech and the right to vote and the right to become educated. (Lucija Gjerek)