Project Details
What do ‘human rights’ mean in a world shaped by ecological collapse, mass displacement, and widening global inequality? Before coming to UBC for my Master’s in Political Science, I was an undergraduate student in Conflict Studies and Human Rights at the University of Ottawa. There, I was taught to understand human rights through liberal international law frameworks—systems built on Enlightenment/Modernist philosophy, state-centric enforcement, and universalist principles that, at times, failed to reflect the lived realities of the communities most affected by violence. These models framed rights as entitlements extended by the state, rather than relationships of responsibility rooted in land, kinship, and collective survival.
Over time, through study, organising, and being on the ground, my understanding of human rights shifted radically. The concept appears increasingly incomplete, and even hollow, when defined solely within human-centred terms. How can we meaningfully speak of “rights” without accounting for the non-human worlds that sustain life? How can we uphold “justice” when international law systematically fails to enforce even its most basic protections?
Learning this in theory is one thing. Witnessing it on the ground is another.
My real education unfolded through movement mobilisation: legal observing as cops brutalised my comrades at Palestinian solidarity demonstrations, disrupting public complacency through art installations, protesting gentrification and capitalist development, coordinating events with rightsholders resisting extraction. I saw how communities’ calls for action were translated by institutions into softened policy language to remain “apolitical”, “non-partisan”, and “constructive.”
Even NGOs and organisations I deeply respect and have worked within are constrained by funding structures, diplomatic norms, and expectations of institutional neutrality. Bureaucracy encourages moderation; colonialism depends on it. This is the quiet violence of institutional human rights work: it can absorb righteous anger into policy recommendations, convert land defence into ‘stakeholder engagement’, and reframe colonial violence as a ‘governance challenge.’
Yet on the ground, there is no mistaking what is at risk: land, life, water, and future generations.
This is why taking action matters. Not as symbolic gestures, but as necessary interventions that interrupt business as usual — delay the governance meetings, halt pipeline construction, prevent deportations, and expose the misconception that rights can be upheld through performative recognition. Encouraging colonial appeasement and pacification has shown its flaws. Indigenous land and water defenders — from Wet’suwet’en to Shuar and Kichwa— are not just waiting for international law to save them. They are asserting jurisdiction, protecting water, and building transnational solidarities that challenge colonial power at its roots.
Human rights, must be reclaimed as a living practice, not a static legal doctrine. Real human rights work requires refusal, reclamation, solidarity, and a radical reimagining of justice beyond the limits of the state. It requires listening to the communities who have long carried these responsibilities and having the courage to stand with those who put their bodies on the line, not as an ally, but an accomplice. Moving forward demands concrete anti-colonial resistance, collective action, and commitment to building the world that bureaucratic institutions tend to struggle to imagine.
Moving Forward: Human Rights Organizing on Campus
Evangelyne Wang
As discussed above, people tend to assume that human rights work can only occur on the international or national scale through prestigious bureaucratic institutions filled with the most highly accredited individuals. As a student passionate about helping others, I also believed that this was the only path forward – through years of formal education and working with organizations like the UN. However, shortly after becoming a youth restorative justice facilitator for my community, I quickly realised that I was wrong. Many people who volunteered alongside me were cooks, secretaries and teachers who did not have much experience in human rights but a lot of passion for their community. This allowed me to realize that human rights is a multidimensional field that can be achieved and enacted through various paths. For instance, community-based efforts are often downplayed when the knowledge, experiences and stories of community members who are most impacted by issues are incredibly valuable and useful in reflecting and dismantling broader issues. Similarly, students are discouraged by not being taken seriously because they are portrayed as lacking knowledge or lack the professional experience to be taken seriously. Yet, throughout history, students and community members have sparked significant change by dedicating their time and resources to impactful movements, while pushing through institutional barriers. Thus, investing in youth-led movements and spaces is crucial to support the change that we can make in reshaping and improving the systems of oppression.
Here at UBC, our community has great initiatives, organisations and movements that are creating change on a greater scale. The Social Justice Centre is committed to advocating against social and global injustice by supporting students to be agents of positive change. The Pride Collective is a student-run community for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community, and is committed to making UBC a welcoming and inclusive space for all. The Disabilities United Collective is a community for disabled students rooted in advocating for increased accessibility and accommodations to create a safe and empowering space for students. The UBC Women’s Centre aims to support those who have faced gender oppression and provide a safe space for all who experience womanhood. The Student Environment Centre provides environmental and sustainability resources to the UBC community through various initiatives.
Beyond these resource groups, Sprouts Cafe strives to combat food insecurity on campus, working to address community needs. UBC Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SPHR) and UBC Palestine Solidarity Action are both groups advocating and fighting for the rights of the Palestinian people through rallies, encampments and calls for divestment alongside other groups (Faculty for Palestine, Staff for Palestine, Grad Students for Palestine, etc.). UBC Sulong is an anti-imperialist organization of Filipino students advocating for national democracy in the Philippines.
The Human Rights Collective (HRC) is also a community of individuals who are committed to examining and advancing human rights in a collaborative manner that acknowledges power and positionality. The HRC partners with the Scholars at Risk Network and the Dallaire Centre of Excellence (DCOE).
Outside of organizations, Tamara Baldwin is teaching the course PPGA: 391 “Human Rights in a Globalized World: Interdisciplinary Approaches and Practical Applications” in Term 2 from January to April 2026. Her class will cover what human rights look like from an interdisciplinary lens, with community-based experiential learning projects to see how individuals and groups advocate for human rights within our local communities.
Ultimately, human rights understandings and practices should extend beyond law and policy to include youth and community-led initiatives. Change means building a society capable of confronting oppression through movements that continue to challenge the limits of the systems we have inherited. Upholding human rights must then become a collective means of solidarity and transformation at all levels.