Amal Clooney Talks About Human Rights In The Mideast, Gives Commendable Speech
In the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, human rights lawyer and human rights advocate Amal Clooney spoke to an audience in the Middle East, but intended the speech to be heard and taken to heart by governments around the world. The speech was intended to urge head of government in each nation to be “vocal, consistent, principled and transparent about human rights,” as 680 News shares.
The notable lawyer and activist was speaking at the opening of a government communications summit in the UAE. Clooney was one of the event’s headline speakers which also included the ruler of the emirate of Sharjah, Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi.
#AmalClooney: The #UAE is the happiest Arab country due to its #Innovation, tolerance and versatility. #IGCF16 https://t.co/J1Sk6Wdqs0
— Aziz (@ThAzizOfficial) March 20, 2016
The broadcasting outlet relays the words of Clooney who urged leaders to speak up.
“The first piece of advice I would have from my experience is that governments need to be vocal about human rights. [We are in the midst of] an unprecedented human rights crisis. My advice to you is not only to be vocal and consistent, but also to be principled in communications about human rights. The fourth suggestion I have is to be quick. Governments must be prepared to be transparent and get their message out first.”
In her speech, which lasted 12 minutes, Amal Clooney mentioned the nations of Sudan, Iran, and North Korea. Clooney, however, did not make mention of human rights abuses in Gulf Arabic nations or the Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen, which the UAE is a part of, likely to keep from offending the nation on their home turf.
Clooney used poignant words in front of the forum that Arab nations are experiencing “an unprecedented human rights crisis.” The barrister then urged that disagreement with ruling systems and criticism should be met through talks and dialogue, not with prison time, and that protests resulting from opposition to ruling systems be addressed with “crowd control” not with “bullets.”
As the Daily Mail shares, recent events make it clear that Clooney’s urging is for good reason.
“U.N. human rights chief Zeid Raad al-Hussein condemned the ‘repeated failure’ of the coalition to avoid hitting civilians after more than 100 people were killed in an airstrike on a crowded market Tuesday.”
The human rights barrister has recently taken on some high-profile cases in defense of former leaders who have had their human rights violated. Clooney has been successful in nearly all of her cases. The media outlet notes her most recent accomplishments.
“Amal Clooney has taken on high-profile international cases, including representing Egyptian-Canadian journalist Mohammed Fahmy, who spent more than a year imprisoned in Egypt before he and a fellow reporter from Al-Jazeera English received presidential pardons. She was also part of a legal team seeking greater recognition of the 1915 Armenian genocide.”
Historians have shared that up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks around the time of World War 1. This event was viewed by scholars as the” first genocide of the 20th century.” However, Turkey denies that the events can be termed as genocide due to the belief that the death toll was inflated, and that those killed were victims of civil war.
The barrister has become much more well-known and in the constant spotlight due to her marriage to Hollywood heartthrob George Clooney, yet the stardom has not kept Clooney from continuing in her efforts to bring change to nations of the Middle East. George has also built a reputation as being a human rights activist by connecting himself with campaigns that assist war-torn nations. Additionally, the star has connected himself with a U.K initiative that helps the less fortunate.
[Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images]
