«We can no longer afford to take that which was good in the past and simply call it our heritage, to discard the bad and simply think of it as a dead load which by itself time will bury in oblivion. The subterranean stream of Western history has finally come to the surface and usurped the dignity of our tradition. This is the reality in which we live. And this is why all efforts to escape from the grimness of the present into nostalgia for a still intact past, or into the anticipated oblivion of a better future, are vain.»

Hannah Arendt

 

It is a sad fact that the worst human right violations take place with the silent consent of the wide majority. Without a widespread culture of human rights, democracy is not by itself a guarantee of respect of human rights. We feel an obligation to recognize any situation that may eventually compromise the possibility of a serene and decent life for any number of people, beginning from the social environment we are living in. Essays, reports, and research papers  on these pages attempt to recognize present-day targets of discrimination and hatred, and to signal and analyze situations - with a special attention to the social, economic and anthropological aspects - in which people assimilate and spontaneously accept discrimination and exploitation of the civil rights of individuals and minorities. We believe that the creation of a human rights culture through education and information is the ultimate, even if long-term solution against human rights abuses. 

The official Statute of Human Rights Awareness (a registered non-profit organization) is available in Italian and in English. The HRA index page is also available in Italian.

We  presently works on three core issues:

  1. the  rights of sexual minorities, especially  transgender and homosexual persons. Visit our page on transsexual rights; 

  2. the fight against any treatment that is dis-humanizing and degrading, any cruel and unusual punishment, including any form of torture and the capital punishment;

  3. the preservation and the affirmation of  fundamental civil rights like freedom of speech and expression.



L’indifferenza è il peso morto della storia. L’indifferenza opera potentemente nella storia. Opera passivamente, ma opera. È la fatalità; è ciò su cui non si può contare; è ciò che sconvolge i programmi, che rovescia i piani meglio costruiti; è la materia bruta che strozza l’intelligenza. Ciò che succede, il male che si abbatte su tutti, avviene perché la massa degli uomini abdica alla sua volontà, lascia promulgare le leggi che solo la rivolta potrà abrogare, lascia salire al potere uomini che poi solo un ammutinamento potrà rovesciare. Tra l’assenteismo e l’indifferenza poche mani, non sorvegliate da alcun controllo, tessono la tela della vita collettiva, e la massa ignora, perché non se ne preoccupa; e allora sembra sia la fatalità a travolgere tutto e tutti, sembra che la storia non sia altro che un enorme fenomeno naturale, un’eruzione, un terremoto del quale rimangono vittime tutti, chi ha voluto e chi non ha voluto, chi sapeva e chi non sapeva, chi era stato attivo e chi indifferente.

Antonio Gramsci (1917)

Of interest on this site:

  1. Diritti Umani: Ne siamo realmente consapevoli? (in Italian), an article which appeared on the Spring issue of the Quarterly Magazine Gaia;

  2. a navigazion primer, which covers the most widely debated human rights topics, and is meant as an introduction to the human rights resourses available on the Internet;   

  3. research papers, essays and reports which analyze  exploitative conditions, and or with educational content (for a complete listing of the available material, see the archive page);

  4. an exhibition on the teachings of the Jewish  Holocaust for today and tomorrow. A second exhibition on The Art of Human Rights is being prepared;

  5. a book review program. Featured books are usually novels, biographies or in any case non-too-technical books that let the reader experience the sheer injustice of discrimination and human rights abuses.

We are a think tank of several volunteers (75% women, 40% holding a PhD or an MD degree) without any profitable aim or connection to political parties, open to anyone who is willing to meaningfully contribute.  Please feel free to contact us.