Women in Art 278 magazine’s mission is to
promote female artists from across the globe.
Additionally, as global citizens, we also promote
awareness of universal issues. To begin this journey,
we are bringing awareness to Human Rights, which
is internationally recognized December 10th.
As defined by the United Nations “Human rights
are rights inherent to all human beings, whatever
our nationality, place of residence, sex, national
or ethnic origin, colour, religion, language, or any
other status. We are all equally entitled to our
human rights without discrimination. These rights
are all interrelated, interdependent and indivisible.
Universal human rights are often expressed and
guaranteed by law, in the forms of treaties, customary
international law, general principles and other
sources of international law. International human
rights law lays down obligations of Governments
to act in certain ways or to refrain from certain acts,
in order to promote and protect human rights and
fundamental freedoms of individuals or groups.”
RT
I’d like to acknowledge our talented cover
page artist winner: Ilisa Millermoon whose
beautiful artwork, to me, captures freedom from
imprisonment. As well as Vivian Anderson whose
piece “Killing Honour” featured in this issue won
an online contest that we hosted. “Killing Honour”
pays homage to the countless lives lost to honor
killings. (Yes, when you feature women around
the globe, we have a different way to spell things
sometimes but it all means the same thing!) The
practice of honor killings continues today as do
many violations of human rights.
It’s through education, awareness and
empowerment that we can make a difference.
For Women in Art 278 magazine, it’s our belief
that empowering female artists around the globe
is a small contribution (but an important one) to
transforming women’s lives, their families’ lives and
communities. When women are empowered,
communities are transformed.
I’d like to briefly share some statistics from
DoSomething.org about Human Rights.
1. 40+ million children below the age of 15
suffer from abuse and neglect.
2. Approximately 27+ million people are
currently enslaved in the human trafficking
trade around the world.
3. More than 300,000+ children under the age
of 18 are being exploited as child soldiers in
armed conflicts worldwide.
4. Even though two-thirds of the world has
abolished the death penalty, 1,591 people
were knowingly executed in 2006 alone. While
the real figures of executions are likely much
higher, 91 percent of these penalties took place
in China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Sudan, and the
U.S.
5. Millions of people are internally and
externally displaced in regions like Darfur
and Syria where ethnic cleansing and violent
conflict over land and resources occurs