Using Cultural Resources to Provide an Alternative to Mainstream Perceptions of Human Rights

CIHRS, as a regional human rights institution working in the Arab world, has adopted an approach that seeks to reconcile prevalent Arab culture with human rights principles and values. CIHRS departs from the point that art, literature, and virtual performances communicate and interact directly with and among the audience members.

CIHRS engages artists in identifying ways human rights culture is already celebrated in society. This is done through the promotion of films, essays and analysis that describe the roots of human rights values in local cultures, literature, film and folklore. In this regard, CIHRS organises a monthly film screening called the "Cinema Club for Human Rights and publishes a booklet series titled "Human Rights in Art and Literature". Through these two activities, CIHRS' tactic emphasises that ideas of human rights are already present in the Arab countries; people are persuaded that there are genuine roots of human rights principles in their cultures.

Specifically, the idea of "Cinema Club for Human Rights" is mainly based on a monthly film screening. After the movie, a guest speaker comments on the film's topic from a human rights perspective in the presence of the film director, or at least a cinema critic. Invitations are always targeted artists (This concept is also a fundamental part of the training courses, which each presents a selected group of documentary and narrative films that include human rights dimensions to the participants). On the other hand, the series of booklets on human rights in arts and literature highlights the role of arts and literature in dissemination human rights. The educational dimension of art series is able to convey knowledge and positive values without preaching and rote learning. Artists are always encouraged to present their experiences that include human rights aspects, and introduce that in attractive and artistic manner.

The network of artists is also encouraged to create projects that promote human rights in contemporary society. This includes collecting the ideas of artists as a way of identifying important issues and funding projects that focus on these issues. In this way, CIHRS works closely with artists to clarify human rights values in the culture. Occasionally, CIHRS will choose a specific theme or issue, identify how artistic approaches could play a role and then approach network members who could successfully address that theme through a variety of artistic media.

Rights

"This work has contributed to a greater awareness of the cultural relevance of human rights in Egypt and the Arab world. This approach can be adapted in many countries where the state or dominant culture emphasises the local irrelevance of human rights."