Taking a Stand
The Evolution of Human Rights
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
Juan Méndez has experienced human rights abuse first hand. As a result of his work with political prisoners in the late 1970s, the Argentinean military dictatorship arrested, tortured, and held him for more than a year. During that time, Amnesty International adopted him as a "Prisoner of Conscience." After his release, he moved to the United States and continued his lifelong fight for the rights of others, and the lessons he has gleaned over the decades can help us with our current struggles. Here, he sets forth an authoritative and incisive examination of torture, detention, exile, armed conflict, and genocide, whose urgency is even greater in the wake of America's recent disastrous policies. Méndez offers a new strategy for holding governments accountable for their actions, providing an essential blueprint for different human rights groups to be able to work together to effect change.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
M ndez, a torture victim turned U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, describes the progression of human rights legislation in the 20th century in this ambitious but uneven survey that ends up reading like an extended public service announcement for the U.N.'s work in preventing genocide and human rights violations. The narrative oscillates haphazardly between the author's experience with torture he was imprisoned for more than a year during Argentina's "dirty war" and a contemporary history of political violence from China to Guant namo Bay, drawing attention to the efforts to overturn such practices as unlawful detentions and disappearances. The book is organized in lecture format with chapters focused on individual aspects of the human rights cause, the psychological damage of having friends and relatives "disappeared," and the efficacy of sanctions in punishing offending governments. Unfortunately, poor organization means that themes are repeated and rehashed. While M ndez the individual and activist inspires, and his vividly recounted examples of human rights violations convey the urgency of the cause, his message wants clearer articulation and a sounder structure.
