08 · 22 · 10

Second Call: “A Minute for Human Rights”

Clara Sánchez translated by Cindy Hawes

Present at the event were Liliana Valiña, representative of the UN-DH High Commission, Ana Guesmez, regional director of UNIFEM in Mexico and the Caribbean, Fernando Batista Jiménez, fifth general visitor of the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH), and José Luis Gutiérrez Espíndola, executive secretary of the Mexico City Human Rights Commission (CDHDF).

Liliana Valiña said she hoped the level of Mexican creativity felt in the first competition will be either matched or surpassed in the second one. ”We know many people are interested in participating in this contest that takes up again the theme of International Human Rights Day: ‘Embrace Diversity, End Discrimination.’” Valiña also expressed her appreciation to those present who are working “for change” and together “building a better Mexico.”

Fernando Batista Jiménez read a comment by Raúl Plascencia Villanueva, president of the CNDH, who was unable to attend the event. “Human rights are everyone’s responsibility,” he said, emphasizing that this commitment has two essential tasks: to defend and promote human rights.

“When we know we can defend our rights, this will be an important advance for democracy in this country,” he said. “This will generate a true culture of legality in which all Mexicans will be conscious of their rights and their obligations. This project reflects the impact that the culture of legality has on the country’s human rights.”

Master of Ceremonies Octavio Maya presented the names of some of the jury members, including: Martha Delgado, secretary of the environment for Mexico City; Alberto Herrera, director of Amnesty International Mexico; Rocko Pachucote, social promoter and a singer with Maldita Vecindad; and filmmakers Francisco Franco, Carlos Cuarón, Rodrigo Plá and Eugenio Polgovsky.

Ana Guesmez said that for UNU Mujeres, a UN agency that works for the rights and empowerment of women, the competition is an important project to promote and make people more conscious of human rights.

“Many human rights treaties have been signed in Latin America, Mexico and the Caribbean,” she said. “We have policies relating to gender equality and non discrimination … but still much has be done to change policies, institutions and especially the culture -- where we accept discriminatory and exclusionary patterns as though they were normal.”

Guesmez encouraged men, and especially women, to take their cameras or cell phones onto the streets and “to places where we don’t usually go.”

José Luis Gutiérrez Espíndola, representing CDHDF President Luis González Placencia, said the commission supports these initiatives because they promote social participation. “We can’t speak of democracy if we don’t have social participation. There can be no democracy or a dignified life without the effective exercise of human rights. People must take ownership of the words [human rights], of public spaces and policies.”

Rocko Pachucote sent a videotaped message in which he expressed: “Art, music, dance, words and film are valuable instruments to transform our hearts and all that surrounds us. Art is memory, identity, denunciation and solution. Art acts as a bridge to the rest of humanity. One of the greatest debts humanity has to itself is [the lack of] human rights. Art transforms us … brings joy to our hearts, opens our eyes and awakens our consciousness. I hope this contest is one more step toward the total and absolute respect of human rights everywhere in the world.”

The competition is divided into three categories: Human Right to Water, The Right to Defend and Promote Human Rights and Women’s Rights, and Gender Perspective.  At the same time, a contest is being organized for young people on the theme: “Embrace Diversity, End Discrimination.” The winners will participate in an intensive audiovisiual production workshop to transform these stories into “cineminutos.”

The competition is open from August 19 to October 28. Winners will be announced on February 17, 2011, and an awards ceremony will be held on March 17, 2011. The winning works will be shown at the Morelia International Film Festival, Ambulante, Documentary Film Festival, International Film Festival on Human Rights, KINOKI, International Festival of University Films; Lanterna, University Film Festival, Cinema Planeta and Short Shorts Film Festival México.

“One Minute on Human Rights” will award cash prizes in three categories: 30,000 pesos for first place, 15,000 for second place, 5,000 for third. The Mexico City Environment Secretariat will give a special prize in the category of Human Right to Water, which will consist of a four-day, three-night trip to El Salvador, awarded by the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

In addition to the competition, a series of conferences, workshops and presentations by well-known human rights specialists to encourage reflection and consciousness on human rights will also be organized.

For more information, go to http://www.unminutoporlosderechoshumanos.com