Human rights are not privileges. What exactly are human rights?
A life textbook suitable for everyone to read
What does the taxpayers' rights law have to do with me? Do parents have the right to say no to "gay education"? Can singers not sing their own songs? When will the red light come on and when can you find love? ...
The most practical human rights textbook, the exploration and reflection on 30 basic human rights, helps us truly understand the meaning of human rights and become a more progressive world citizen.
A life textbook suitable for everyone to read
What does the taxpayers' rights law have to do with me? Do parents have the right to say no to "gay education"? Can singers not sing their own songs? When will the red light come on and when can you find love? ...
The most practical human rights textbook, the exploration and reflection on 30 basic human rights, helps us truly understand the meaning of human rights and become a more progressive world citizen.
● Special recommendation: Read the Judgment Together (Popular Legal Fan Page) / Li Maosheng (Professor of Law, National Taiwan University) / Li Xueli (Editor-in-Chief of The Reporter) / Zhou Weitong (Seed Teacher of the National Education Agency's CRC Education Staff Empowerment Program) / Lin Chen (Knowledgeable Youtuber, Taiwan Bar Bar》co-founder) / Qiu Yiling (Secretary General of Amnesty International Taiwan Chapter) / Shi Yixiang (Secretary General of Taiwan Human Rights Promotion Association) / Zhang Yufeng (Senior Judge, Author of "Octopus Judge Explains the Law") / Xu Quanyi (Social Science Teacher of Taichung First High School) / Huang Chengyi (Researcher of the Institute of Law, Academia Sinica) / Huang Huizhen (Spokesperson of the Deep Roots Alliance of History Teachers, History Teacher of Banqiao High School) / Cai Zhongyue (Advisor of Earth Citizen Foundation) / Qian Jianrong (Supreme Court Judge) / Lan Tian Lawyer (sorted by last name strokes)
Human rights are not rights granted by the state, but exist before the state, any society or legal system. The essence of human rights is to embody respect for human dignity. Everyone is an autonomous subject and will not be reduced to an object controlled by others or the state.
On December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first global document to protect human rights. This day was also designated as Human Rights Day.
After the end of World War II, people around the world saw how brutal state machinery oppressed their own people or people of other countries. Therefore, when the United Nations was founded, countries regarded the protection of human rights as one of the most important goals of this international organization and quickly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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The purpose of codifying human rights is to give people weapons to fight against state violence and discrimination. Although it is too difficult to renege on or amend the provisions, we can keep human rights laws alive and resilient by reinterpreting and expanding the meaning. On the contrary, if the government is allowed to exclude or restrict the content of human rights at will, it will lose its original spirit of defending individual dignity and promoting social justice. This was also the main goal of editing this book at the beginning. I hope to provide readers with a basic understanding of human rights and basic freedoms. After learning the relevant vocabulary, they can use it to observe their own and other people's living conditions, and then outline the blueprint of the ideal society in their minds. - Legal Vernacular Movement
This book was written by a group of young people with ideas who have written many popular legal books, the "Legal Vernacular Movement". They use clear and easy-to-read words to transform serious legal knowledge into common sense that is easy for the general public to understand. The content is based on the 30 articles of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" specially written by the United Nations for young people. It explains the core spirit of each article and cites domestic and foreign cases to help explain the correct concept we should have about the article, explore the appearance of human rights, convey basic knowledge of human rights, and help us better recognize and think about the importance of human rights.
Perhaps we are familiar with these human rights provisions, but we still have only a vague understanding of their content, or even knowingly violate them. In a world still full of disregard and violation of human rights, how we understand and safeguard our own human rights has become an important contemporary issue.
As a country that claims to respect human rights, Taiwan actually still has a lot of room for improvement. This book, written in a profound yet simple way, reminds us to face up to the importance of human rights so that we can move forward and become progressive world citizens.
●Content
Why is Britney Spears, a famous American singer, afraid of her father's supervision? Do sex workers really not deserve the right to work? Why did the anti-extradition movement lead to protesters being tortured? The Uyghurs were enslaved by China to produce cotton, which caused many famous brands to boycott. Does China really buy into Western human rights? Is transnational same-sex marriage a dream? How to cite the "presumption of innocence" in the match-fixing case of baseball player Cao Jinhui? COVID-19 nucleic acid test reports have become a stumbling block to freedom of movement? Singaporean teenager Amos Yee criticized Lee Kuan Yew as a dictator on the Internet. Did he "hurt the religious or racial feelings of others"? The body of a little boy in red floated on the Turkish sea. Is he enough to summon the innocent refugees? Is it illegal for the aborigines to take back wood from their traditional tribal areas? Is it wrong to ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa? …
The book touches on many fields, including the physically and mentally disabled, vagrants, laborers, Uighurs, human rights workers, refugees, people infected with AIDS...; the topics are diverse, including the anti-extradition bill movement, the Formosa Fun Coast fire, the death penalty controversy, match-fixing, privacy, publication control, children's freedom of speech, assembly, demonstration, strike, forced relocation, homophobia, the right to education, copyright, international human rights...
From individuals to society, from Taiwan to the world, all kinds of basic human rights issues highlight the fragility of human rights. When the public's rights are violated, can they really know the law and protect their rights? The "Legal Vernacular Movement" systematically sorts out the rights that humans are born with, not only allowing the general public to be enlightened by reading this book, but also to reflect on the rights they should have, so as to avoid losing their rights due to ignorance of rights and weak knowledge, and letting their lives fall into the quagmire of fear.
Each chapter of this book discusses the missing pieces of human rights. Only by piecing together the broken pieces can we get closer to the truth about human rights.
At the end of each chapter, there is a "Reflection and Discussion" to guide readers to further think about the chapter; at the end of the book, there are notes from relevant human rights workers (such as the Taiwan Alliance to Promote the Abolition of the Death Penalty, Taiwan Women with Disabilities Equality Network, the Mental and Physical Disabilities Alliance, the Taiwan LGBT Counseling Hotline Association, etc.) as a reference to enrich the discussion of human rights.