Thirty of the best known Irish based authors have come together to contribute to a unique celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in collaboration with Amnesty International and the Irish Times.
Every Saturday, in the run up to International Human Rights Day on December 10, the Irish Times will carry an original work featuring one of the thirty articles of the Declaration and a writer's response to, or interpretation, of it.
The series was begun with an essay by Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney.
Colm O’Gorman, Executive Director of Amnesty International said: “The Declaration was a result of the global effort to ensure that the inhumanity of the Second World War would never happen again. Unfortunately it is as relevant and as essential today in a world where torture is tolerated and poverty is pervasive as it was in 1948.”
It is the first comprehensive agreement among nations as to the specific rights and freedoms of all human beings. It recognises the inherent dignity and the inalienable rights of all members of the human family as the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. It is the closest humankind has ever come to agreeing a common global understanding of human rights and obligations.
“We are very grateful to all the artists who have participated in this series, and hope that through their creativity more people will have an opportunity to engage with and stand up for human rights,” said Mr O’Gorman.
March 2008
Human Rights, Poetic Redress by Seamus Heaney, published on 15 March 2008
The Round Hall by John Boyne, published on 22 March 2008
I Just Don't like Screaming by Colum McCann, published on 29 March 2008
April 2008
Custer never had to go in front of a Tribunal by Roddy Doyle, published on 5 April 2008
On being asked to write 1,500 words to celebrate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by Neil Jordan, published on 12 April 2008
What harm? by Lia Mills, published on 19 April 2008
"Why are you doing this?", by Dermot Bolger, published on 26 April 2008
May 2008
An anthem for the king, by Kevin Barry, published on 3 May 2008.
A black and white priestly garb topped off by a derisory hag’s wig, Eugene McCabe, published on 10 May 2008
I have desired to go, by Jennifer Johnston, published on 17 May 2008
Christopher Jenkins, by Carlo Gébler, published on 24 May 2008
How do you draft a plan to fix a broken world?, by Mark O'Halloran, published 31 May 2008
June 2008
Grace in a tree, by Anne Enright, published 7 June 2008
Christopher, by Eoin Colfer, published 14 June 2008
Free and full, by Glenn Patterson, published on 21 June 2008
Pages from an alien dictionary, by Joseph O'Connor, published on 28 June 2008
July 2008
Right of passage, by Éilis Ní Dhuibhne, published on 5 July 2008
The problem with democracy is the people, by Lara Marlowe, published on 12 July 2008
Learning to grieve for our enemies, by Hugo Hamilton essay 19 July 2008
Lost in Arizona, by Zlata Filipovic, published on 26 July 2008
August 2008
St Monance (Peer Education), by Irvine Welsh, published on 2 August 2008
Low resolution by Claire Kilroy, published 9 August 2008
Domestic Declarations, by Gerry Stembridge, published 16 August 2008
Choose your wound by Frank McCourt, published 23 August 2008
'They were trying to isolate me' by Ann Marie Hourihane, published 30 August 2008
September 2008
The Smell of roses by Dermot Healy, published 6 September 2008
The Barber of Barcelona by Colm Tóibín, published 13 September 2008
One day in the life of . . . by Tom Humphries, published 20 September 2008
A home of my own by Maeve Binchy, published 26 September 2008
October 2008
'Today they are nailing this terrorist' by Gary Mitchell, published 3 October 2008
On The Anatomisation of an Unknown Man (1637) by Frans Mier by John Connolly, published 10 October 2008
Customers that bought . . . by Ross OCarroll Kelly, published 24 October 2008