Author Houchang Zargarpour to speak about twelve fundamental human rights.| Courtesy of Houchang Zargarpour.
Local Vancouver author Houchang Zargarpour’s upcoming essay Human Rights and Spirituality, has been acknowledged by Harvard, Stanford, U.B.C. and Columbia, and touches on twelve main human rights.
Zargarpour will be speaking about Human Rights and Spirituality at the West Vancouver Memorial Library on Jan. 27.
“Spiritual and moral foundations of human rights” is the message that Zargarpour aims to convey through his highly acclaimed essay.
The twelve pillars
“[The essay] analyses twelve rights,” says Zargarpour “because people think that there is usually only one right, the right of expression and freedom.”
However, according to the United Nations conventions, there are twelve main human rights. Some of these are the right to education, the equality of women, the rights of children, the right to work, the right to a healthy environment, and so on.
“All these rights are violated in the world, around the world,” says Zargarpour. His essay is a concise description of how this is so.
The essay is an overview of what the author has learned over many years of working with organizations such as the United Nations and UNICEF and the intent behind the work. The goal of the finished product is ultimately to “protect the rights of you and me,” says Zargarpour.
“After fifteen years of studying these reports [this essay is] an extract of all these reports,” says Zargarpour.
Violation is a main theme in Human Rights and Spirituality, as it discusses how the twelve addressed rights are violated throughout the world.
“This essay shows that despite all these conventions and covenants and agreements in the United Nations that enclose all nations of the world, still so many rights are violated,” adds Zargarpour.
“We need a moral and a spiritual revolution,” says Zargarpour, “that is the conclusion.”
In Zargarpour’s essay, all twelve rights are spoken of as equals. Less recognized rights such as ‘”the right to a healthy environment” and “the right to work” are brought to closer attention.
“People don’t know about them,” says Zargarpour on these two human rights.
Connecting the dots
Zargarpour believes in the importance of the right of equality for women.
“For example it proves how the equality of women is important, and how the influence of women in political and higher ranks is important for improving the environment, for establishing universal peace, and how these rights influence each other,” says Zargarpour, “they are all connected, they are not separate rights.”
Zargarpour says that women could be instrumental in resolving many human rights issues, including women’s rights.
Bringing awareness to the public
Zargarpour is a graduate of social and economic sciences from the University of Geneva in Switzerland. He has always been a writer and has published approximately 75 articles in various publications in Iran, France, Canada and the United States.
The goal of Zargarpour’s public appearance is to spread awareness “so that people are aware that these are the rights they have and that they are the rights that are being violated,” says the author.
For more information, please visit https://westvanlibrary.ca/events/authors-our-community-human-rights-spirituality
