PHOTOS
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Photos
of the 2011 International Human Rights Day Student Symposium visit: https://picasaweb.google.com/105584159483663850059/2011IHRDSS Photos
of the 2010 International Human Rights Day Student Symposium visit: https://picasaweb.google.com/theklalit/2ndIHRDSS2010#
Photos of
the 2009 International Human Rights Day Student Symposium visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/theklalit/1stIHRDSSDec10# http://picasaweb.google.com/theklalit/1stIHRDSSDec11# Feedbacks
from Students Best
3 selected submissions from students attended the International
Human Rights Day Student Symposium (listed in alphabetical order of their names） From 2010 Participants:- Grace Jin Moscrop Secondary 300,000 - to many, it is but a number, yet beyond the simplicity of
such an integer unearths the three hundred thousand brutal deaths of those in
Nanking during World War II. Those who once lived and breathed, who gazed
upon our same sun, lie dead while the vileness of their deaths remains
untold. On December 10th, 2010,
students and teachers throughout the lower mainland came together to commemorate
International Human Rights Day at Vancouver Technical Secondary. I entered
the auditorium mentally preparing myself to heed the atrocious facts that may
be thrown my way, yet the viciousness and brutality of actuality exceeded my
imagination and I felt my mouth open wide and chills run up my spine as I
gasped in astonishment. Race has no existence.
We are one race; the Human Race. When the rights of one human being are
violated, the rights of every single human being are desecrated. There is no
superiority of one race to another, yet even to this day many fail to realize
and accept this fact. When Dr. Ishii used humans to perform vulgar
experimentations on, he simply regarded them as “logs” entering and exiting a
factory. In the same way, Dr. Mengele separated
countless families and slaughtered innumerable innocents to complete his
research. I cannot help but shudder when I see the malevolence and evil that
one human being is able to bring forth.
I am just one human
being, just a miniscule portion of the billions of people on this planet we
all call home. At the same time, I am just one human being, someone who is
capable of bringing alteration and change.
One person, whether you believe it or not, makes an impact and
represents the Human Race. One person is capable of extreme atrocities, but
even greater; one person is able of love. There’s no way to amend history,
but if there is enough love, care, and compassion, we do, indeed, stand a
chance against what is immoral and unjust. Jessica
Law
Tony who was a real Canadian soldier that survived the
brutality of the Japanese shared his experience as a Prisoner of the War. His
story made many of us and not only me to discover the capacity of human
strength. His story has touched many of the student’s hearts and looked upon
them. His perseverance and strength caught my attention in amazement. The suffer and pain he strived through really puts a huge
impact on our lives that we aren’t suffering the same as he did once. Are we
considered lucky? Or should we be ashamed for the pain that many fought
against and did not survive? With such an inspiring story, I was excited to enter into the
two workshops we were able to attend. My first workshop was the Rape of
Nanjing. This topic has always caught my eyes that all the brutality wasn’t
done much too help the people from the Japanese. The pictures and video that
were presented scared me at points that nothing could’ve been done. The most
that was done was the safe zone that a few thousands were safe. That was
definitely a fortune but for the rest who didn’t make it has made me realize
the life we live in now, today. I can’t stress how much I feel the pain of
these young women and children being raped and the others being buried alive
or murdered to death. This action is wrong, and something that is this
important should be shared to the world of these brutal actions. This
workshop has definitely deepened our understanding of the Rape of Nanjing and
the effect of this horrendous crime. With such an outstanding presentation,
this has inspired me to look further into this action. Our voices need to be
heard, the actions that are wrong can be stopped. Knowing that the Human Experimentation workshop was
concentrated on the different experiments and methods conducted by doctors
frightened me in some ways of the exposed and horrific images and documents.
This workshop led by Mr. Martelli taught us a moral lesson of borrowing
examples from historic accounts. Taking bits and bits of the documents on experiments
puts a huge impact on all of us. Discussing about the morality of the humans
was the main focus in this workshop. The doctors of Shiro
Ishii and Josef Mengele were the founders of the
experiment facilities. The two doctors were charismatic and honourable people
to undertake vivisections and numbers of painful experiments on live people.
The discussions, presentations, and the lectures of this workshop were
powerful and definitely put some sense into ourselves that this action is
wrong. The horrific situations that were brought upon from the ancient times
cannot be changed today, however we are the generation that may prevent it
from happening again. The purpose of this lecture and workshop with the other
students was to acknowledge us on the virtues and sins of the humanity!
Aiko Yajima, King George
Secondary School The Human Rights
Symposium at Van Tech was very interesting and I was glad I was able to go
and listen to not only the presentations but different people’s inputs from
other schools as well. It’s always great to have new thoughts and new voices
heard outside our classroom because it gives different outlooks and
perspectives on the same topic.
For our first
workshop, I went to the library for the Human Experimentations and Biochemical
Warfare done by Dr. Josef Mengele and Dr. Shiro Ishii during the war. There was a video of twin
survivors who were experimented on during this time who explained how these
‘doctors’ would experiment on them by hurting one twin and seeing how the
other twin reacted. It was very uncomfortable to hear that human
experimentation existed for such sick ways, yet the video also brought hope
and showed that these twins (who had families now) really valued their lives.
These people who were experimented on didn’t have a choice on what happened
and I was really glad for them that they were able to get out healthy and
living their own lives now. After lunch, I was
back in the auditorium for the Forgotten Holocaust workshop. There we watched
videos on how some people survived during the time when Japanese soldiers
were killing and beating them. It was heartbreaking to see a video of a man,
who was a child back then, explaining how Japanese soldiers had taken his
brothers’ and mother’s life in front of his eyes. At the end when
everyone gathered in the auditorium, we were able to hear from Satoko Norimatsu , a founder of Peace Philosophy Centre in
Vancouver. I was happy because she assured that people shouldn’t be mad or
resent the Japanese as a whole but the people who were part of it during
those days. There’s still lingering tension in some areas or in some people,
but that we should be able to live in peace now if we acknowledge what
occurred and not ignoring what happened. I felt guilty during the whole day,
feeling like I myself was a cause for such pain and suffering for all these
people, but she made me realize that I shouldn’t feel guilty, but to
acknowledge what has happened in order to be able to learn from such mistakes
and hope that this never occurs again. What really surprised me was the fact
that this material isn’t present in Japanese textbooks or curriculums. Not
having lived in Japan and not familiar with their lessons and teachings, I
was really surprised and angered at the fact that they’re not teaching kids
what their ancestors did. I believe that it should be taught so that these
kids don’t grow up to make the same mistakes. Overall, it was a
really great experience and I would love to attend something similar to this
again. From 2009 Participants:- Jimmy Lou Seaquam Secondary School Thank
you so much for a wonderful learning experience today in the “Human Rights in
the Asia –Pacific Workshop.” I hope this paragraph explains a little bit of
what I have gotten out of today. It
is not often can students be endowed with such opportunity as to explore the
atrocities of war, humans’ capacity of extreme harm to one another and the
detrimental effects of war crime all in one day. However, today, I not only
learned that these unfathomable ideas exist but also witnessed the
indescribable pain that the victims have experienced. To
be honest, before coming to this workshop, I have never truly understood what
is so horrific or harmful about a war. Growing up, I was sheltered at homes,
protected by parents and treated equally in society that I’ve never had to
worry about malice soldiers, constant bombing or fighting in war. In school,
I never really had to understand what people went through, and as a result,
their deaths and suffering simply became meaningless words that I had to
remember. Today,
I felt, for the first time, greatly disturbed and concerned about what had
happened in these past events. The Rape of Nanking, for example, was no
longer an event with “lots of death and unhappy people”, but rather one with
boys, much like myself, who were helplessly stripped of family, girls and
women who were brutally raped and murdered, or soldiers who were tortured and
killed. It was human hell, and I could see that clearly and sorrowfully. In
the end, I was dumbfounded with the images, films and the first hand recounts
of war to which I was exposed. Despite being a rude awakening, this
experience has provided me with the lifelong lesson of not taking human
sufferings lightly and always trying to help others, for if people had taken
notice of the severity of events like Nanking Massacre amidst these crises,
much damage could have been reduced or even avoided. Ultimately, I thank all
the lecturers in today’s workshop and I hope to one day spread the awareness
that you have all kindly sent to me! Tony Nguyen Vancouver Technical
Secondary The
Symposium held today on Human rights in the Asia-Pacific during the years of
1931-1945 was one of the most significant and, I feel, important trips I have
made in regards to furthering my education. Up to this point I, like many
others, had been more or less ignorant of the events that occurred in that
region over 60 years ago. I wasn't even aware that 10 December was Universal
Human Rights Day. There is no doubt that this is a troubling circumstance.
However, this symposium, without which I would never have had the opportunity
to gain a more in depth study of the various atrocities committed at that
time, is a fantastic contribution to the education of students. It's
a pity that there remain so many other aspects of it to cover. I was shocked
to see that there existed a text available to schools that taught about this.
I can't understand why it was that so few of us student had had access to it,
let alone having ever seen it before. I was further shocked when I heard the
admissions of Mr. I
don't mean to be critical, however, I see now that the effects of these
events still resonates not only personally in survivors and those directly
affected, but on society and the politics of today. I was also disgusted at
learning of the Japanese company who attempted to play a role reversal in
compensating those affected and, instead of taking true responsibility, took
to furthering injustice. In
closing, I'm impressed with the efforts of those involved with the symposium
to try and inform students. It's only unfortunate that, despite this being a
great step forward, there are still so many ignorant of the facts I was able
to learn today. Catherine
Torres. Fraser
Heights Secondary School Hi there, my name is Catherine Torres. I am a student from
Fraser Heights Secondary School and I am in grade 11. I attended the Rape of
Nanking and Biochemical Warfare Workshop. Personally, I have found it
extraordinarily thought provoking. At first I said to myself, “how
unfortunate that this had to happen to Nanking citizens.” I’m not saying that
I don’t have sympathy or empathy for these situations that is still play
backing in the hearts and minds of many witnesses and people. It’s more of the lack of courage and
inspiration keeping me glued on the side that says, “What kind of difference
can I make?” My favourite was the Rape of Nanking Workshop. Having the
opportunity to attend the Rape of Nanking Workshop made me think and firmly
ask myself a series of questions, “What am I going to do now, now that I heard
this story? What is my responsibility? How am I going to react? Am I going to
condone what has happened here?” I mean, I do understand that this has
happened at 1937, and to some people, it is no longer relevant. However, I
cannot help but ignore the fact that what we call history, is still occurring
as we speak. It is not only in the seen world that
we see the brutality and atrocity, but also in the unseen world where it is
much worse because that is the very place where seed is planted, resulting to
the situations and events that happen out in the seen
world. A lot of us may not notice it because of the lack of recognition.
However, I am not leading to a depressing little essay but I am proud to have
learned more about those who stepped up and had the courage and strength at
that time to do anything and everything they can do to help as much as
citizens in Nanking. As we all know, we all have our own beliefs and values, for
me, I am a Christian. I believe in God. I believe that Jesus came down to earth
to die for us so that we may believe and be saved. In having that knowledge
of God and finding Hope in Him when no hope is found is something
extravagantly important. I relate it to all that has happened in the Rape of
Nanking. A lot of people found hopelessness not only during those times but
right now because of what had happened. Instead of always looking at the
disasters and traumas that had occurred, why not give hope to the hopeless?
Through prayer by faith, like what the few missionaries that stayed behind to
help out the Nanking citizens did. The situations that seem impossible in our
point of view, is not one bit impossible in God’s view. In the end of all this thinking, it leads us back to this
question, “What is my responsibility?” |