Faculty of Law and Administration hosted International Human Rights Day and Amnesty International Letter Writing Marathon

What are human rights and how can we support their observance? The participants of the International Human Rights Day, which took place on 10 December 2024 at the Faculty of Law and Administration of the UO, debated these questions. The event was co-organised by secondary school pupils, students, teachers and academics.

The programme of the meeting, which took place on the fourth floor of the Collegium Iuridicum, included first and foremost the Amnesty International Letter Writing Marathon. These letters, and several thousand of them are written around the world every year, are intended to put pressure on countries and their institutions that violate human rights.

This year, letters were written in defence of: Maria Kalesnikawa (Belarus), Manahel Al-Otaibi (Saudi Arabia), Neth Nahara (Angola), Prof. Şebnem Korur Fincanci (Turkey), Dang Dinh Bach (Vietnam), Joel Paredes (Argentina), Kjung Seok Park (South Korea) and the defenders of Wet’suwet’en (Canada).

‘We host a lot of young people from secondary and technical schools and students. The event is addressed at them,’ said Dr Hanna Duszka-Jakimko, Head of the Centre for Counteracting Human Trafficking at the UO. ‘Today, we are addressing issues related to understanding, interpreting and comprehending the essence of human rights, freedom, tolerance, non-discrimination and equality.

The meeting also featured lectures, workshops and an Oxford debate. All these centred around the theme of human rights. The aim was to broaden public knowledge of the problems mentioned and to help those imprisoned and persecuted, including political prisoners

‘It is important to show young people that human rights are not given to them once and for all and that they must fight for them,’ stressed Prof. Anna Frankiewicz-Bodynek, Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Law and Administration. ‘To fight for them, one must be aware of what they are and what kind of actions of others violate them. When you are such a young person and you have a notion that the world is beautiful, you should also be aware that there are people in the world who are in a much worse situation.

International Human Rights Day at the University of Opole was organised by the Faculty of Law and Administration of the UO. The event was held under the patronage of the Rector of the UO, Prof. Jacek Lipok, the Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Ewa Pierzchała, and the Opole Regional Bar of Attorneys at Law.

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