International Center for G.

After years of political violence by both the African National Congress (ANC) and the white minority government, leaders realized that they were locked in a mutually harmful stalemate. A negotiated settlement was the only way to prevent more bloodshed. Negotiations for a transition to majority rule opened in 1990 and, unfortunately, led to an increase in political violence. This episode explores how this violence threatened the transition to a multi-racial...

This episode examines the historical record of human rights in China and Vietnam. "Moving the Mountain," a documentary directed by Michel Apted and produced by Trudie Styler, profiles former Chinese dissident Li Lu. As an economics major at Nanjing University, Li became politicized and took part in the student protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. In an interview, Li discusses his life in exile in America and his success as an investment banker. Another...

Sergei Kovalev was serving as Boris Yeltsin's human rights advisor when he publicly opposed Russia's military involvement in Chechnya. He cooperated with the rebels and urged Russian soldiers to give up. In this episode, he discusses the ongoing conflict along with Ludmilla Thorne of Freedom House. Also featured are a video diary from Tomas Goltz on the town of Samashki and its efforts to defend itself from the Russian army's assault, and an exclusive...

The Human Rights Commission estimates that in the 1990s, 11 million children were working in Pakistan; half of them were under the age of 10 and that 25% of Pakistan's work force is made up of child laborers. This episode excerpts the film by Magnus Bergmar, "The Carpet," which looks at Pakistan's system of child labor and the movement to abolish it. The life and death of Igbal Masih is examined. Sold into bondage at the age of 4 over a $12 debt,...

More than half a million women die each year from pregnancy and childbirth. Gender-based violence kills and disables as many women between the ages of 15 and 45 as cancer does. Women are twice a likely as men to be illiterate. These were some of the issues that were discussed at the Beijing Women's Conference. This episode looks at the progress that has been made in the struggle for women's rights, and how far there still is to go. Feminist activist...

A drop in popularity of the Hungarian conservative political party Fidesz led to charges of liberal bias on the part of the media there. The media became a scapegoat for the defeat of the party in the 1994 parliamentary elections. This episode explores the lack of media independence in post-communist Hungary and the neo-conservative's attempt to control public television and radio. Andrew Tyndall reports on how the media covers itself. Also featured...

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989 to protect the rights of children, is the most widely ratified human rights treaty ever. It encompasses civil rights and freedoms, family environment, basic health and welfare, and education. This episode gives an overview of the condition of children around the world. From a rap video created by students at El Puente Academy for Peace and Justice in Brooklyn, to a profile of...

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Canada, the United States, and Mexico was supposed to protect the environment, create high-wage U.S. jobs, and raise the living standards of all three countries. The downside is the loss of over half a million U.S. jobs when companies moved jobs to cheaper labor markets, and the near destruction of the Mexican farming industry due to government subsidized produce from the U.S. entering the Mexican...

From Thomas Paine's "The Rights of Man," and Henry David Thoreau's "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience," to the practice of slavery and the treatment of Native Americans, the idea of human rights in North America has not always matched the deeds. This episode takes a look at "Freedom of My Mind," a documentary on Mississippi's Freedom Summer. Also included are reports on the impact of Canada's hydroelectric project at James Bay on the indigenous people...

Are there common threads among ethnic conflicts throughout the world? How does the hopelessness born of poverty and illiteracy contribute to the appeal of violence and fanaticism for young people? These are some of the questions asked at the Tomorrow's Leaders conference which brought together young people from Africa, the former Yugoslavia, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, and the United States. Elie Wiesel's Foundation for Humanity sponsored the...