The Human Rights Video Project is a national library project created to increase the public's awareness of human rights issues through the medium of documentary films. To that end, we have curated a collection of 12 documentary films on human rights issues. The project also encourages collaborations between public libraries and human rights advocacy organizations to present film screenings and discussion programs. The project was developed by National Video Resources in partnership with the American Library Association Public Programs Office. Major funding provided by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation.

        

Courtesy of Women Make Movies

     

Calling the Ghosts: a Story About Rape, War and Women
Calling the Ghosts examines the devastating impact of the war in Bosnia on women through the stories of Jadranka Cigelj and Nasreta Sival. Both professional Muslim women living in the Bosnian town of Priejdor when Serbs seized power in 1992, they were taken to the Omarska Detention Camp. They describe the systematic rape that was used as a means of humiliation and annihilation. While the physical violations take place mostly at night, "mental rape" occured 24 hours a day.

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Complete list of films

Thematic Programing
The Human Rights Video Project provides resources for organizations that wish to create effective discussion programs around human rights issues through documentary film screenings. These five essays suggest how to use the Human Rights Video Collection to present programs on specific human rights issues.

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Women’s Rights

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Children’s Rights

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Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

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Refugee Rights and Related Issues

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Arms, Conflict and International
Humanitarian Law

See Programing Resources for discussion group (list-serve), promotion guide, graphics and press.

 
Essays
� Introduction: Because We’re All Global Citizens Now
� Globalizing the Local: Towards a Global Understanding In Promoting Human Rights
� Talk About Talks: Facilitating Difficult Discussions
� Moving Pictures, Moving Mountains: Using Video in Advocacy Campaigns
� Sustaining the Public Sphere in Libraries
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