Ric Beard, Staff Writer

Increasing awareness and recognizing the 50th anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights are the goals of Human Rights Week at Appalachian State University.

There are four events to take place during Human Rights Week, Feb. 16-22.

These events include an Amnesty International Movie, Deep Ecology Video, a discussion about migrant workers and a presentation about Guatemala and Honduras.

The purpose of Human Rights Week is to raise people’s levels of awarness about human rights’ issues.

“There are certain basic things that we should be able to think that are accorded to us,” said Director of the Equity Office Melissa Barth.

Human rights issues range from personal safety to the right to express freely who you are, without fear of being punished, said Barth.

Countries such as China, Rwanda, Guatemala, Honduras and Turkey are well-known for their poor human rights, but human rights violations occur throughout the world, said Barth.

“The problem is everywhere,” said Barth.

Countries accused of human rights violations often cite their cultural differences in defense of violations, Barth said.

According to Barth, these countries believe that the United States and other western nations should respect their cultures.

Human rights organizations believe that some issues transcend cultural boundaries, said Barth.

“You want to respect someone else because of their culture, but you say, ‘this is wrong’,” he added.

Melody Schwantes, a student at Appalachian and member of Amnesty International, encourages people to promote human rights.

“A lot of these situations, I think, if more people knew about, they would be actually interested in helping,” said Schwantes.

Schwantes tries to help free political prisoners by writing letters to foreign governments.

According to Schwantes, if governments know people are concerned about the mistreatment of people, then they are more likely to set political prisoners free.

Many people might believe they can’t make a difference in the battle for better human rights, but this is not true, said Barth.

Barth believes that people can start helping by becoming involved in their local community.
“I believe in the philosophy of thinking globally and acting locally,” said Barth.

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