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Put to the test

Germany is committed to strengthening human rights. How successful is it in this endeavour? Photo artists offer answers.

16.04.2018
The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. © dpa

Germany. Freedom and equality, the right to work and education, protection of the family and the sanctity of property: It is now 70 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted. Every five years, the UN members report on how they meet their obligations in terms of human rights. In 2018 it is Germany’s turn once more. 

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The German Federal Foreign Office is taking this as an opportunity to engage in an artistic exploration of the topic. Together with the Nuremberg Human Rights Center it is showcasing award-winning images from this year’s photograph competition held by the institution. The artists each interpreted individual articles of the Declaration in the form of a photograph.

1st Prize: Photo by Swinde Wiederhold on Article 4 – the prohibition of slavery and the slave trade. In Sudan, there is a booming trade in kidnapped Eritrean women who have fled there.
1st Prize: Photo by Swinde Wiederhold on Article 4 – the prohibition of slavery and the slave trade. In Sudan, there is a booming trade in kidnapped Eritrean women who have fled there. © Swinde Wiederhold
2nd Prize: Photo by Andreas Reeg on Article 1 – freedom, equality, fraternity. For 20 years now, the doctor Gerhard Trabert has been helping poor and homeless people in Mainz, Germany.
2nd Prize: Photo by Andreas Reeg on Article 1 – freedom, equality, fraternity. For 20 years now, the doctor Gerhard Trabert has been helping poor and homeless people in Mainz, Germany. © Andreas Reeg
3rd Prize: Image by Carina Feneis on Article 9 – protection from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Documentation of Germans exiled from the district of Tachov in the present-day Czech Republic in 1946.
3rd Prize: Image by Carina Feneis on Article 9 – protection from arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Documentation of Germans exiled from the district of Tachov in the present-day Czech Republic in 1946. © Carina Feneis
4th Prize: Photo by Heiko Tiemann on Article 26 – the right to education. The photographer portrays children in schools and other educational institutions in the Ruhr region.
4th Prize: Photo by Heiko Tiemann on Article 26 – the right to education. The photographer portrays children in schools and other educational institutions in the Ruhr region. © Heiko Tiemann
5th Prize: Image by Matthias Ernst on Article 1 – freedom, equality, fraternity. As a remedial education therapist, the photographer has been working with people with mental and physical disabilities for many years now.
5th Prize: Image by Matthias Ernst on Article 1 – freedom, equality, fraternity. As a remedial education therapist, the photographer has been working with people with mental and physical disabilities for many years now. © Matthias Ernst
Youth Prize: Image by Victoria Eberle on Article 1 – freedom, equality, fraternity. Are all people free and equal, including at school and at the workplace?
Youth Prize: Image by Victoria Eberle on Article 1 – freedom, equality, fraternity. Are all people free and equal, including at school and at the workplace? © Victoria Eberle

In addition, visitors to the exhibition can find out all about the history of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and learn more about the UN Human Rights Council.

The exhibition will run from 17 April until 11 May 2018 in the atrium of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, weekdays from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m. 

© www.deutschland.de

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