A public meeting was held in the Conservatory Café, Central Methodist Hall in Westminster, London, from 1-3pm on Saturday 12th April 2008. The meeting was attended by around 20 individuals either representing themselves or organisations interested or actively involved in rights-based work.

Our aim is to build an effective rights-based civil society movement to ensure that the UK is human rights compliant between now and 2012. The first step, agreed at the inaugural meeting is to organise a series workshops around various human rights and articles of the UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights), leading to a public event on 10 December 2008, International Human Rights Day and the 60th Anniversary of the UDHR. Through this process we aim to establish an agreed model of organisation, and a programme around which to mobilise for the 2012 Olympics, which will see the spotlight increasingly focused on the UK, and London in particular, over the next four years.

The meeting was introduced by Mark from People in Common who spoke about joining the dots between the different individuals and organisations already working in this area while also pursuing the creation of a shared model of organisation leading to the development of a visible and accessible rights-based movement. Mark emphasised the goal of making the UK human rights compliant in terms of both national law and foreign policy and encouraging people in other countries (for example elsewhere in the EU) to do the same.

A short workshop was then held by co-convenor Aisha on the UDHR, giving participants an opportunity to discuss the various adequacies, inadequacies, applications and the relevance of these rights in the UK and beyond. There was a lot to say about the various articles of this Declaration and perhaps more to say about what has not been achieved and implemented over the past 60 years.

The meeting then opened up to a general discussion about the future and viability of the project. All participants felt that the initiative is a worthwhile effort and are keen to get involved and work together to make it and human rights implementation in the UK a success and a reality for all.

There was some concern that the UDHR is no longer relevant, but there was also agreement that it could be taken as a basis for our work, as opposed to a goal, with the question of individual and collective rights vs responsibilities being considered. and at one point vigorously debated.

There was consensus that the phoney concept of a “War on Terror” and growing corporate power has done much to harm the democratic rights of all, and create a feeling of despondency and pessimism about the ongoing erosion and political attempts to curb and restrict civil liberties and human rights. There was also agreement, however, that it is important to focus on positive achievements and the rights we enjoy as a starting block to move forward from. The recent increase and growing importance of local community organisations also provides grounds for hope, with local people realising and rising to the challenges posed to their daily lives by central and local government.

Related to this point, an important suggestion was made on the need to bridge the gap between the wider public and grassroots campaigners; the latter are often aware of the serious implications of our ever-shrinking rights and freedoms (and may know what to do about it) yet the message – for various reasons – often fails to get through to the wider public who are equally affected. The project must be relevant to the general public and everyone is welcome to join in and get involved – there are no minimum requirements. It was also suggested that this project take on an artistic aspect – involving the visual, performing and musical arts - and the media and academia be invited to join and participate.

There will be another presentation of the proposal this Saturday 19 April at Nottingham University followed by a second London meeting on Sunday 27 April at 1-4pm at the same venue as above. If you couldn’t make the first one it is not too late to get involved. Details of the first workshops will also be publicised shortly. For any other information, please email  project2012@googlegroups.com

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The workshops will be held between May and November 2008. Each will involve a different group or group of individuals (interested in the same issue) working on a different topic concerning rights-based work, with each session being a potential exploration of the history, success, failure, relevance and concrete practices associated with the right in question, with particular emphasis on how (if at all) it has been implemented in the UK and EU.

It is also envisaged that this process will allow us to develop a programme of rights which can be ‘owned and understood’ by all, and around which we can mobilise (for the 10/12 event in December and beyond to 2012).

The aims of the project and the workshops are to work collectively towards the following objectives:

To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, reflecting on the history of human rights implementation since 1948  http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html
To connect and empower individuals and groups involved in constructive rights-based work in different areas
To encourage the development of visible, proactive communities, a workable model of civil society and new forms of constructive resistance
To consider the importance and practical application of Article 1 of the UNCCPR, all people's right to self determination  http://www.hrweb.org/legal/cpr.html in the UK and wider EU
To consider how the EU project is shifting emphasis away from rights & subsidiarity and towards a dehumanised, undemocratic, corporate powered model of globalization
To prepare for January 1st 2009 and the UK's ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon
To mobilise and effectively challenge these processes in the UK and wider EU by 2012

Ideas for workshops/venues always welcome: we hope you or your group will take the opportunity to share the work you do, and help us build a movement for Humanity in the UK 1012 –2012