RightsBridge: Cartoons Capture Discussion And Calls For Change


On Thursday 21st January Just Fair, ATD Fourth World UK, Essex University Human Rights Centre, Amnesty International UK hosted the first event of the Building a Human Rights Bridge out of Poverty series. “Bringing together lived and learnt experience” saw over 50+ participants from across the UK coming together to share, reflect and learn from each other. The brilliant cartoonist, Graham Ogilvie, captured discussions.

Just Fair’s Campaigns and Advocacy Lead, Misha Nayak-Oliver, was in conversation with ATD Fourth World UK Activist, Patricia Bailey on poverty and human rights:

Image showing that rights are the foundation, mechanism and plan for building a literal bridge out of poverty.
Illustration showing that we should bring lived and learnt experience are like puzzle pieces and that we should bring them together.
Image illustrating a see-saw representing balance of in-work poverty, meaning more work done leads to less universal credit, and everything becomes a stretch and struggle.
Image showing the necessity of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with a critic saying that "it's just a loophole for terrorists", but a proponent says it's about "communities and nations" while standing on a podium titled "peace".
Image of two puzzle pieces, showing that we should let help more people make the connection between poverty in Britain and Human Rights, and that people in poverty are not treated as less than human.
Image asking the question: "what does injustice and inequality really mean", showing a large finger with 'discrimination' written on it, pointing at a person who says "no! this must stop. it means it's feeling stigma about things that are not our fault".
Image showing a few people shouting 'power and participation', demonstrating that human rights education liberates and helps people to raise their voices.
Image showing a person holding a sign with a person thinking that when it comes to government policy, beyond it being underpinned by spending decisions, there should be transparency to preserve dignity and safety.
Image showing someone holding a sign that says "my rights", and doing the protest call and response chant of "who 'owns' our rights?', responding 'we do!', with the message that no-one should suffer discrimination.
Image demonstrating that newspapers like the Sun, Express and Daily Mail keep the population in the dark through politically driven myths about people in poverty being scrougners, asylum seekers stealing jobs and "rights" are used to break the law, and that we should challenge such demonisations.
Image showing person following a sign towards their life and rights, but the "system glue" is keeping them stuck and getting in the way. They are saying "we shouldn't need to fight through this".
Image showing the digital divide between an asylum seeker needing access to online information and online services, but not having access to laptops or the internet.
Illustration showing that the drive for real change comes from tackling poverty & inequality by working with people who have lived and learnt experience.
Image demonstrating that for public policy human rights is a bulldozer digging to find the roots of poverty which includes factors like destitution, child poverty, hunger, homelessness and life expectancy. Image
Image showing a person in power holding two people in the palm of each of their hands, using the system to divide and rule, while the two people are saying that there shouldn't be power imbalance and power shouldn't be exercised in bad ways.
Image showing two people pointing to sings on a path of life to food, shelter and work, as well as enjoying like and having fun, signifying that while we need the "basics", life is more than just "existing" and we need to be able to flourish and succeed.
Image showing a "hostile environment" created by the UK government is violating our rights, which cages asylum seekers and migrants in a confined space, with writings on each of its walls reading: exploited, lack of public funds, vulnerable conditions, digital divide, covid & disconnection.


A second panel included Vitalis, of RAPAR (Refugee and Asylum Participatory Action Research) who spoke about the Status Now 4 All network:

Image showing a person standing under a thunderstorm (Which is titled the Home Office), with a sign to elsewhere reading "recreation, family, friends, and connections", while the person is saying "this isolates me". The purpose of the image is to demonstrate that often asylum seekers live in hostile environments.


Nikki Hewson, ATD Fourth World UK, spoke about how she defends human rights through parent-to-parent advocacy:

Image showing a few people shouting 'power and participation', demonstrating that human rights education liberates and helps people to raise their voices.
Image saying that "too often when we struggle to cope", child protection and its investigations are intense and blame "parenting" while children services keeps families heads above water while dealing with mental health matters and poverty.
Image showing a person with lived experience holding two signs, one saying the system and the other saying my experiences, with a t-shirt reading "been there, done that", and that we need to use the experience of such people who are the real experts.


And Kait Laughlin, educator, researcher and anti-poverty campaigner, spoke about accessible human rights education on poverty:

Image showing a book of human rights education and two people saying that it must be accessible and that there is a growing demand for this.
Cartoon of a woman showing two pieces of paper, comparing the UK and its level of poverty, demonstrating that the UK should be doing so much better. Being the world's 6th largest economy, the UK should not tolerate these levels of poverty.
Image showing that the UK government is shooting a water cannon (symbolising human rights being 'watered down') at people who are using human rights as a shield, while a bomb in the image shows that this issue is a ticking time bomb.


The event closed with a call to action:

Image showing a thumb drawing a line in the sand to "protect our rights", while the UK government is a sand castle saying "what can we abolish". The message is "let's not agonise, let's organise".


The next event in the series is on Wednesday 10th February and will be a showcase of good practice in local advocacy from across the UK. Interactive workshops will be hosted by Participation and the Practice of Rights, Together Creating Communities, Making Rights Real, RAPAR, BetterConNEcted, Hart Gables, Poverty 2 Solutions and Law for Life with the Roma Support Group.

Registration details are here, in the meantime follow #RightsBridge on social media to stay informed.

This blog was first published on the Social Rights Alliance website.