Today is Human Rights Day

BBC NEWS | Special Reports | World marks UN Human Rights Day
A comprehensive news report from BBC. Let's celebrate 60 years of the UDHR.

U60 - TWC2 workshop on foreign workers

A good workshop session at Substation, organised by TWC2.

U60 - TOC's 2nd birthday

Speeches galore at Speakers Corner at Hong Lim park.

U60 - public awareness walk to end violence against women

A walk to raise awareness on ending violence against women. Internationally, there are "16 days of activism", revolving around 3 major commemorative days

It was a leisurely walk from Botanic Gardens to the UNIFEM office at Nassim Road.

U60 - film screening at substation

It was great to see a full-house for the film screening.

The dialogue was wonderful too, lots of issues were discussed...

OHCHR Country Framework - Historical context / Political context

Part 2 below should be more "exciting" than Part 1. Here we can draw references to past historical issues (which we may have forgotten) that affect current ongoing issues, e.g. peace process/agreement in Part 2d. With the election of Barack Obama in the United States, there was a discussion of whether Singapore was ready for a non-Chinese Prime Minister. History buffs would know that this is a moot point, as David Marshall was Chief Minister (the equivalent to a Prime Minister) during our self-governance years.

2. HISTORICAL CONTEXT/POLITICAL CONTEXT

1. Historical brief:
1. Temasek
2. Raffles
3. Farquhar
4. Divide-and-rule (Chinatown, Kampong Glam, Little India)
   
5. Japanese occupation
6. David Marshall
   
7. Lee Kuan Yew
8. Housing & Development Board (HDB)
9. National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)
10. Operation Coldstore
    
11. Merger
    
12. Independence
13. National Service
14. Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
15. Central Provident Fund (CPF)
16. Operation Spectrum
17. Group Representation Constituencies
    
2. Self-determination (foreign occupation; alien domination; colonial presence; racist regimes; independence movements):
1. colonial presence
2. independence movements
3. Parties to the conflict:
1. no conflict
   
4. Peace process/agreement:
1. David Marshall
   
2. self-government
3. Lee Kuan Yew
   
5. Recent political transitions (First elections; revolution; coup d'état; new constitution):
1. none
   
6. Form of government:
1. parliament
2. http://www.parliament.gov.sg/
7. Principal political parties:
1. People's Action Party
2. Singapore Democratic Alliance
3. Singapore Democratic Party
4. Workers' Party
8. Conflict level (international armed conflict; internal armed conflict; state of emergency; civil disorder/sporadic acts of violence; normality; post-conflict reconstruction; etc.):
1. normality
9. Relationships with neighbouring countries:
1. generally cordial, with occasional issues
10. Membership in political/military/regional alliances:
1. ASEAN
2. APEC
3. PSI
4. FPDA
   
11. Legally sanctioned discrimination (race, colour, gender, language, religion, opinion, origin, property, birth, sexual orientation, other status):
1. race
   
1. race restrictions in the armed forces
2. Group Representation Constituencies
   
2. gender
   
1. CEDAW reservations
2. females excluded from Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship (SAFOS)
3. religion
1. jehovah's witnesses
4. birth
1. certain IC numbers indicate origin of birth
   
5. sexual orientation
1. 377A of Penal Code

1st event of U60

Photos from the children's storytelling sessions on 29th & 30th November 2008 at Jurong Regional Library.

It was a great experience to see the story of Rosa Parks being told to children, especially since most of them looked younger than 7 years old (Primary 1).