Human Rights Put to the Test

Fadi Abou Hassan has a degree in international law. He is a refugee of the Syrian conflict. Two facts, which in combination make for an eagle-eyed analysis of the systematization of the international community.

The Human Rights, for instance, clarify each article of the Rights by replacing "all" with "everyone" and "no one". Each human being is entitled, as it is specified, to be met with respect while living in freedom and security. 

Well?

Fadi Abou Hassan: Against the Dictatorship of the Omar al-Bashir Regime,

First published December 11, 2013. - this version is from August 18, 2014.

Kianoush drew the razor blade as a symbol for the need for speaking up, even if it meant having one's vocal cords cut open in the process. Fadi Abou Hassan has drawn a balancing act, no less successful for the one trying to survive. The drawings of the latter can be recognized by the tiny frame of the single individual against the larger principle or power setting his or her life at stake.

The principle is usually pictured by just the one object, massive in size, already cruel by its mere presence on the picture plane. The blade above have lines laid across in the same direction as the indicators of movement of the stick of the Sudanese with which he attempts to keep his balance. Only, in the case of the blade the lines signify the reflection of the light, as if he was not even there.

The same goes for the mother holding her child close to her heart while utterly exposed in her vulnerability. She is so minuscule that she is hardly noticeable and her child not at all: 

Fadi Abou Hassan: Political Solution, July 15, 2013.

Fadi Abou Hassan has dared play with a typification, which makes us react instinctively only to discover that it is the imprint of a white boot print making yet again a thing of a fellow man. 

If you prick us, do we not bleed?

Fadi Abou Hassan: Human Rights in Egypt, March 27, 2014.

The white tear is proof of the one wihtin, who is barred from speaking up, creating a rupture, just as the refugee leaving his innermost being behind. It is a drawing, whose title says it all, so let us give the final words to Fadi Abou Hassan himself, who stresses the need of an Arab spring in Europe when it comes to moral responsibility. In that so far:

"Human rights are nothing but attractive slogans"

Fadi Abou Hassan, No Comment, February 9, 2014.

All cartoons shown are courtesy of Fadi About Hassan and must not be reproduced without his permission.