Considering the Protection of Rights and Freedoms During the 2010 Vancouver Olympics:The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, theInternational Olympic Committee Principles of Olympism, and the City of Vancouver Bylaws
Technology Links:
International Olympic Committee Fundamental Principles of Olympism HERE
United Nations Declaration of Human Rights HERE
Plain Language Declaration HERE
Vancouver by-laws in effect during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games HERE
Writ of Summons challenging the constitionality of the by-laws HERE
Vancouver Civil City By-laws explained HERE
1. Start with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. As a document it provides clear background information on the ideal of human rights and how that ideal is upheld and enforced in the real world.
Discuss: What is this document? What is a Declaration? Who wrote it? Who signed it? Where did they sign it? Where is it? What is done with it?
2. Expand the discussion to the notion of human rights in general. Article 1 of the Declaration sets the stage. It introduces the words dignity, justice and equality. Discuss what these three words signify in your own lives? How are they related? What is a human right? What is not a human right? Do we have them naturally, just as we have toes and eyes? What is universal about them? What are our responsibilities towards our rights? Is it the same as our responsiblities towards the rights of others? How can we make sure our rights are respected?
3. Examine the International Olympic Committee's Fundamental principles of Olympism. How is it similar and different to the UN Declaration of Human Rights?
4. What should happen to a member nation that makes no attempt to meet the UN’s goals? Try to be realistic.
5. What should happen to a member nation that makes no attempt to meet the IOC's goals? Try to be realistic
6. Examine the civil city bylaws, and temporary Olympic Games bylaws that will be in effect during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic games? Why do think that there are restrictions on freedom of speech and expression? Do these bylaws contradict the the UN Declaration of Human Rights or the International Olympic Committee Fundamental Principles of Olympism?
7. Do you see any contradictions between what the IOC and the nations of the world say they believe in, and what they do in practice?
8. If you were designing a charter for a community that you belong to, what aims would you include?
*Based on the activities provided by the United Nations Cyber School Bus
http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/about/about.asp#guide
Fundamental Principles of Olympism
1. Olympism is a philosophy of life,exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind. Blending sport with culture and education, Olympism seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of effort, the educational value of good example and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.
2. The goal of Olympism is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of man, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.
3. The Olympic Movement is the concerted,organised,universal and permanent action,carried out under the supreme authority of the IOC,of all individuals and entities who are inspired by the values of Olympism. It covers the five continents. It reaches its peak with the bringing together of the world’s athletes at the great sports festival,the Olympic Games.Its symbol is five interlaced rings.
4. The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practising sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship,solidarity and fair play.The organisation,administration and management of sport must be controlled by independent sports organisations.
5. Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race,religion, politics,gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.
6. Belonging to the Olympic Movement requires compliance with the Olympic Charter and recognition by the IOC.
From: http://multimedia.olympic.org/pdf/en_report_122.pdf
Universal Declaration of Human Rights Plain Language Version
1
When children are born, they are free and each should be treated in the same way. They have reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a friendly manner.
2
Everyone can claim the following rights, despite
- a different sex
- a different skin colour
- speaking a different language
- thinking different things
- believing in another religion
- owning more or less
- being born in another social group
- coming from another country
It also makes no difference whether the country you live in is independent or not.
3
You have the right to live, and to live in freedom and safety.
4
Nobody has the right to treat you as his or her slave and you should not make anyone your slave.
5
Nobody has the right to torture you.
6
You should be legally protected in the same way everywhere, and like everyone else.
7
The law is the same for everyone; it should be applied in the same way to all.
8
You should be able to ask for legal help when the rights your country grants you are not respected.
9
Nobody has the right to put you in prison, to keep you there, or to send you away from your country unjustly, or without good reason.
10
If you go on trial this should be done in public. The people who try you should not let themselves be influenced by others.
11
You should be considered innocent until it can be proved that you are guilty. If you are accused of a crime, you should always have the right to defend yourself. Nobody has the right to condemn you and punish you for something you have not done.
12
You have the right to ask to be protected if someone tries to harm your good name, enter your house, open your letters, or bother you or your family without a good reason.
13
You have the right to come and go as you wish within your country. You have the right to leave your country to go to another one; and you should be able to return to your country if you want.
14
If someone hurts you, you have the right to go to another country and ask it to protect you. You lose this right if you have killed someone and if you, yourself, do not respect what is written here.
15
You have the right to belong to a country and nobody can prevent you, without a good reason, from belonging to a country if you wish.
16
As soon as a person is legally entitled, he or she has the right to marry and have a family. In doing this, neither the colour of your skin, the country you come from nor your religion should be impediments. Men and women have the same rights when they are married and also when they are separated.
Nobody should force a person to marry.
The government of your country should protect you and the members of your family.
17
You have the right to own things and nobody has the right to take these from you without a good reason.
18
You have the right to profess your religion freely, to change it, and to practise it either on your own or with other people.
19
You have the right to think what you want, to say what you like, and nobody should forbid you from doing so. You should be able to share your ideas also—with people from any other country.
20
You have the right to organize peaceful meetings or to take part in meetings in a peaceful way. It is wrong to force someone to belong to a group.
21
You have the right to take part in your country's political affairs either by belonging to the government yourself or by choosing politicians who have the same ideas as you. Governments should be voted for regularly and voting should be secret. You should get a vote and all votes should be equal. You also have the same right to join the public service as anyone else.
22
The society in which you live should help you to develop and to make the most of all the advantages (culture, work, social welfare) which are offered to you and to all the men and women in your country.
23
You have the right to work, to be free to choose your work, to get a salary which allows you to support your family. If a man and a woman do the same work, they should get the same pay. All people who work have the right to join together to defend their interests.
24
Each work day should not be too long, since everyone has the right to rest and should be able to take regular paid holidays.
25
You have the right to have whatever you need so that you and your family: do not fall ill or go hungry; have clothes and a house; and are helped if you are out of work, if you are ill, if you are old, if your wife or husband is dead, or if you do not earn a living for any other reason you cannot help. Mothers and their children are entitled to special care. All children have the same rights to be protected, whether or not their mother was married when they were born.
26
You have the right to go to school and everyone should go to school. Primary schooling should be free. You should be able to learn a profession or continue your studies as far as wish. At school, you should be able to develop all your talents and you should be taught to get on with others, whatever their race, religion or the country they come from. Your parents have the right to choose how and what you will be taught at school.
27
You have the right to share in your community's arts and sciences, and any good they do. Your works as an artist, writer, or a scientist should be protected, and you should be able to benefit from them.
28
So that your rights will be respected, there must be an 'order' which can protect them. This ‘order’ should be local and worldwide.
29
You have duties towards the community within which your personality can only fully develop. The law should guarantee human rights. It should allow everyone to respect others and to be respected.
30
In all parts of the world, no society, no human being, should take it upon her or himself to act in such a way as to destroy the rights which you have just been reading about.
This plain language version is only given as a guide. For an exact rendering of each principle, refer students to the original. This version is based in part on the translation of a text, prepared in 1978, for the World Association for the School as an Instrument of Peace, by a Research Groyp of the University of Geneva, under the responsibility of Prof. L. Massarenti. In preparing the translation, the Group used a basic vocabulary of 2,500 words in use in the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Teachers may adopt this methodology by translating the text of the Universal Declaration in the language in use in their region.
From: http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/humanrights/resources/plain.asp
BCCLA Files Lawsuit Against City For Violation of Charter Rights
Citizens push back. Story by Megan Stewart with Linda Solomon
Oct 7th, 2009
Vancouver Observer
The Olympic Resistance Network’s Chris Shaw and Alissa Westergard-Thorp,announced this morning that they have filed a statement of claim against the City of Vancouver in the Supreme Court of
BC. Their lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of an Olympic bylaw limiting free speech during the 2010 Winter Games that was passed by council in July, Eby told reporters this morning.
The BBCLA, with plaintiffs Shaw and Westergard-Thorp, claim their rights to free speech and freedom of movement will be denied once the Winter Games by-laws passed by city council take effect. They say the bylaws, commonly referred to as the omnibus bylaws, will infringe their Charter
rights and are unconstitutional.
"If people believe these security measures are being taken to protect them," Eby told the Vancouver Observer, "they are sorely mistaken. All the documents that we have ever seen of the mandate of the Integrated Security Unit (ISU) is to protect the athletes at the Games and the "Olympic family," which are the sponsors and the IOC (International Olymipc Committee.)
"So the billion dollar security budget is not intended at all to protect the population in Vancouver, whether housed or homeless. It is intended to protect an elite group of people who are spending two weeks in Vancouver and Whistler." Shaw is the author of Five Ring Circus, The True Cost of the Olympic Games, a critical report on the process leading up to Vancouver's selection as host to the 2010 Winter Games. "Waving the flag while acquiescing to civil rights violations does not make you a patriot, rather a hypocrite. Surrendering part of the commons to a private party surrenders it all.
Accepting a Charter violation as part of the circus, even for three weeks, accepts each and every civil rights violation of the future," Shaw said.
The City charter, if allowed to stand, will set a precedent for the erosian of hard won rights, Eby said. "It's as fundamental as Canadians being able to express their opinions on public land without interference from the government. VANOC, in my personal opinion, is a government organization, set up by government, controlled by government, and the city of Vancouver. The City of Vancouver is accountable to its citizens and neither have the ability to tell Canadians that they cannot hold a Free
Tibet banner on the public sidewalk in front of GM Place. That's what the bylaw says. You're not allowed to hold any signs that are unlicensed in the zones set out in the bylaws. "The idea of the right to free speech trumps, in our opinion, the right not to be offended, because we believe that the best way for society to come to a conclusion on important issues is free and public debate rather than
represssing unpopular idea," Eby said.
Here Is What the "Anti-Free Speech" Bylaw Says
The bylaw includes a passage entitled "prohibitions regarding city land," which includes a clause that will almost surely trigger a Charter of Rights and Freedoms challenge. Clause 4B makes it illegal during the Winter Games without authorization to:
"(a) bring onto city land any
(i) weapon,
(ii) object, including any rock, stick, or glass or metal bottle useable as a weapon, except for crutches or a cane that a person who is elderly or disabled uses as a mobility aid,
(iii) large object, including any bag, or luggage that exceeds 23 x 40 x 55 centimetres;
(iv) voice amplification equipment including any megaphone,
(v) motorized vehicle, except for a motorized wheel chair or scooter that a person who is elderly or disabled uses as a mobility aid,
(vi) anything that makes noise that interferes with the enjoyment of entertainment on city land by other persons,
(vii) distribute any advertising material or install or carry any sign unless licensed to do so by the city."
Protest signs usually are made using sticks, often are larger than subsection (iii) allows (as are puppets and other protest devices), demonstrations almost always employ megaphones or other voice
amplification devices, and can well "interfere with the enjoyment" of the Olympic spectacle by who chose to be so offended. Protesters often pass out leaflets as well. Thus, any of the dozens of protests I've attended over the last few years would easily be in violation of five of seven subsections.
The Safe Streets Act:
BC passed the Safe Streets Act in 2004 to prohibit panhandling “in an aggressive manner,” such as obstructing the path of a person, using abusive language, or following behind, alongside or ahead of a person being solicited for spare change.The act included persons in motor vehicles being solicited, such as by ‘squeegee cleaners’ who wait at traffic lights to ‘clean’ driver’s windows. Police are authorized to arrest persons violating the act without warrant.
Although a provincial act, the legislation is directed primarily at downtown areas of cities, and in particular Vancouver. A coalition of
business groups (downtown hotels, banks and corporations), including th Vancouver Downtown Business Improvement Association and the Vancouver
Board of Trade, were the main promoters of the Safe Street Act (SSA). Th act has been severely criticized by civil liberties and anti-poverty groups.
Project Civil City:
In 2006, Vancouver City Hall launched ‘Project Civil City’, a broad-ranging initiative focusing on homelessness, panhandling, policing and public disorder.
According to former Mayor Sam Sullivan, it seeks to reduce by 50 % homelessness, aggressive panhandling, open drug use, and excessive drinking & fighting in the downtown area (all by 2010). Along with a proposal to hire more by-law officers prosecutors, there are also actions to increase CCTV video surveillance of streets and the city’s anti-graffiti campaign.
To accomplish these tasks, the city allocated some $1 million from the 2007 Olympic Legacy Fund budget to expand policing and by-law enforcement, and $300,000 to directly fund Project Civil City. The corporate media has assisted the government in this process by running sensationalist stories on street crime, aggressive panhandlers, and drunken partiers in the downtown area.
Although Sullivan claims Civil City has nothing to do with the Olympics, previous statements have contradicted this: “There is no question that we must act swiftly & decisively to solve the public disorder problems that affect our city. I believe we have a tremendous opportunity to use the upcoming 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Games as a catalyst to do just that.
GVRD Homeless Count:
Greater Vancouver's homeless crisis continues to grow at a "stunning" and "shocking" rate, with a 373-per-cent increase in street homelessness since 2002. The number of homeless in Metro Vancouver is now approaching 3,000 -- there were at least 2,660 homeless people in Metro Vancouver on the official day of the count on March 11 2008
The report's key findings include:
- Street homelessness increased by 373 per cent since 2002.
- The number of people who were homeless for a year or more rose by 62 per cent from 2005. Almost 50 per cent of homeless people found during the count had been homeless for a year or more.
- Native people, despite representing just two per cent of the population, comprise 32 per cent of the homeless, up from 30 per cent in 2005. Close
to 45 per cent of homeless women and 41 per cent of unaccompanied homeless youth were native.
- The vast majority (84 per cent) of homeless people had health problems such as addiction (61 per cent), mental illness (33 per cent) and physical
disability (31 per cent).
- The so-called working poor are being forced into emergency shelters.
*Street Sweeps:
Aggressive street sweeps have been raging through the DTES from increased and aggressive ticketing for things like panhandling or jaywalking to "illegal" vending.
-VPD year-end performance report: officers issued 467 tickets for violations of the Safe Streets Act in 2008, compared to 202 tickets in 2007; 133 tickets for violations of the Trespass Act, up from 95 in 2007. Tickets for city-bylaw infractions, including tickets for vending, panhandling, and loitering, shot up to 439 tickets in 2008 compared to 247 tickets in 2007.
