human rights 101: understanding human rights & the rules of war
We're all in this together
Our experience as holistic home herbalists expands our awareness around the world, as we connect with our world family of herbalists.
Holistic home herbalism acknowledges and supports every culture's relationship to the land and every individual's right to peace and freedom. We know that human rights apply to everyone, everywhere, all the time, no matter what.
Holistic thinking is a willingness to see the interconnections, to find our place in things, and then to activate and leverage our power to do what we can.
As holistic home herbalists, we know that our apothecaries connect us to ecosystems and cultures around the world.
We view community holistically. We know that community includes Nature and our world family of herbalists. We stand up for human rights and for Mother Earth, and our day to day choices reflect these commitments.
Understanding human rights can be very grounding and important during times of international stress.
Seeing things through a lens of human rights can help us understand what we're seeing, in current events, and can help to focus us and to inspire us to take some kind of action.
Understanding human rights
The International Declaration of Human Rights was created by the global community, in the aftermath of the terrible events of World War 2. This Declaration is an attempt to avoid anything like that ever happening again. Human rights apply to everyone.
These are the rights that we have, simply because we were born.
The Emergency Watchlist report is the International Rescue Committee’s assessment of the 20 countries at greatest risk of new humanitarian emergencies each year.
International Humanitarian Law
Also known as the rules of war.
The rules of war include many documents signed over the years by many different countries. Some of these are United Nations documents. Some are from the Red Cross. Others are simply a product of the world community coming together to create change on a global level.
The following links are an exploration of three of these important global resources.
International Committee of the Red Cross Rules of Belligerent Occupation
The Rules of War
also known as International Humanitarian Law
Because the world has agreed that even when there’s a war going on, there are certain things that are never okay.
Humanitarian Law is a series of documents and agreements that explore this and put it on the books. These agreements outline what's allowed during times of war and conflict, or when land is being occupied.
In our exploration of the rules of war, we're starting with the Six Grave Violations.
the Six Grave Violations
Why are we starting with the Six Grave Violations?
It's pretty much impossible for any rational person to argue about the 6 Grave Violations. They make things really simple, really fast.
The Six Grave Violations outline some of the worst things that can happen to children, and they underscore these actions as absolute and undeniable war crimes.
The Six Grave Violations
Killing and maiming of children
Recruitment or use of children as soldiers
Sexual violence against children
Abduction of children
Attacks against schools or hospitals
Denial of humanitarian access for children
This is a good place to start because it's very easy for us to understand why these things are wrong. No one needs to explain it to us. We don't need to go to school for it, or do a bunch of research, study it for a long time to understand without a doubt that these things are wrong.
The 6 Grave Violations take the mystery out of humanitarian law. They are very simple. They are not complicated. These violations are wrong and any mentally healthy person is going to recognize that.
In addition to being very simple, the 6 Grave Violations give us a starting point where we can consider other examples of the Rules of War, like the Geneva Convention or the Red Cross's guidelines of occupation.
Each of the 6 Grave Violations are all also included in other documents, accords, conventions, etc. that outline the Rules of War. These specific violations are represented here as a reminder to the world that all children are born with the inherent right to peace, freedom, and safety. Full stop. End of story.
But even the 6 Grave Violations are not without their limitations, because they are a product of the United Nations. You may have noticed that the UN is perpetually disappointing. They talk a big talk but don't follow it up with action. They've got a bark but no bite. Basically.... when push comes to shove, they fail to make anything stick.
So the exploration of the 6 Grave Violations is also a conversation about International policy, in general. It's an investigation of what's working and what's not working and what we might like to do about it, individually and collectively.
Check out the video above for a deeper dive into why we are beginning with the 6 Grave Violations.
For starters, here is a link to the UNs website about the 6 Grave Violations.
Here is an excerpt from their website, with links for more information about each of the 6 Grave Violations:
The six grave violations serve as the basis to gather information and report on violations affecting children, and are:
What can you do?
Check out this article for 60+ things you can do everyday to create the kind of change you want to see in the world.
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world apothecary: unsettling herbalism
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