New Delhi

A festival to highlight justice, liberty

NEW DELHI: To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Amnesty International India is organising a weeklong festival here in the Capital beginning December 5.

The International Week of Justice Festival will take place at Alliance Francaise de Delhi, India Islamic Cultural Centre and WWF Gallery. The event will be inaugurated at India Islamic Cultural Centre.

In keeping with its long tradition of activism powered by artists under its art for activism campaign, AII has invited unique artists, film-makers, cultural centres, media and celebrities from across the world.

A large number of people will attend various pre-festival and festival activities involving film shows, theatre and music performances, photography exhibition, as well as talks and discussions.

The festival is anchored in the worldwide experience of defence of fundamental freedoms, politics of exclusion, impunity, redress and justice in the voices of prisoners, journalists, lawyers, youth, children and artists. With its central theme, “Voices of Dignity”, IWJF will highlight issues of death penalty, disappearances, dictatorships, displacements, evictions, war on terror, prison experiences, trials and testimonies under the themes of ‘The Vanishing Act’, ‘Dreams and Nightmares’, ‘Out of Place’, ‘Behind the Bars’, ‘Why Democracy?’.

The festival will take up the issues of freedom of expression and rights of human rights defenders through its “Special Tribute to Journalist and Artists”. “Neighbourhood Spotlight” on Tibet, Afghanistan and Burma focuses on the right to protest, fair trials and other freedoms in the aforementioned region.

The opening film, “Trouble Sleeping”, by Robert Rae of the United Kingdom tells the story of a Palestinian refugee and his struggle to survive and remain a good man. “The casual use of torture in films is something that disturbs me; it’s not something which happens in that moment and then its over -- it’s something which defines people for the rest of their lives,” says the film-maker.

The film will be screened under the festival’s thematic “Out of Place” that highlights the issues of displacement and evictions. It has been chosen as the opening film for its untold story on refugees in Scotland, its unique featuring of real refugees in Edinburgh, who have helped to both write the script and make the film.

Amnesty International India along with the Centre for Media and Alternative Communication has crafted a photo exhibition highlighting a range of human rights concerns.

The collection is based on images contributed by some of the finest photographers in India and parts of Asia including Suvendu Chatterji, Swapan Nayak, Sonia Jabbar, Parthiv Shah, Harikrishna Katragadda, Gowhar Fazili, Sara Rahbar and Salima Hashmi.

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