OUR HUMAN RIGHTS WORK

​In addition to Europe’s Jewish population, many other groups and minorities were brutally discriminated against and murdered in the Holocaust – notably, people with a disability, queer communities, the Roma and Sinti populations and Communist sympathisers.
Our Human Rights work and advocacy recognises and honours the importance of standing up for a diversity of human rights - including gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, race and ethnicity, disability, age and religious freedom.
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Our human rights activity and advocacy includes:
 

• Partnering with New Zealand’s Human Rights Commission (“HRC”) on relevant activities/events (e.g. United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day)
  

• Making public/media statements on human rights issues directly relevant to HCNZ’s purpose and focus – both in New Zealand and regionally:      
  

       -    Holocaust Centre of NZ (HCNZ) Calls on PM Ardern to Press Australia on Manus Refugees

• Applying human rights lessons to our broader educational programmes, for example:

        -   Universal Declaration of Human Rights https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/universal-declaration-human-rights
              A World Made New: Human Rights After the Holocaust
       -   https://www.facinghistory.org/universal-declaration-human-rights/world-made-new-human-rights-after-holocaust

• Hosting national and international speakers and seminars on human rights issues.

• Maintaining current knowledge of New Zealand and international human rights developments.
  
• Making submissions to relevant Parliamentary Select Committees on specific pieces of legislation.

Here is a short clip from our panel discussion, 'Disability Rights: Historic and contemporary views'. (March 132019, at the National Library of New Zealand, Wellington)

#Upstander / Social Media

Our #Upstander initiative is focused on helping New Zealand kids who have been subject to bullying and/or harassment, be it online, at school, or elsewhere, to feel safe to tell their stories and to understand how they can practically help other kids they see being bullied or harassed.

• Respect others’ differences and help others to respect differences.
• Stop untrue or harmful messages from spreading.
• If someone is new at your school, make an effort to introduce them around.
• Help others who are being discriminated against.

Using the #Upstander hashtag, post ideas and comments on our Facebook, Instagram or Twitter pages - let’s get trending some really effective tools and tips about how we can help each other to live respectfully and more safely.