Video Volunteers celebrated Human Rights Day on December 10 by running a short two day social media campaign to mark the day. For 18 years, as an organization Video Volunteers has been covering human rights violations such as caste discrimination, forced evictions, delayed entitlements, agrarian crisis, health, education etc. and making an impact in the lives of the neglected and marginalized communities of India.
We invited well-known crusaders of human rights to extend their views on the current state of human rights in India. The notable among them were Prafulla Samantara, a noted environment activist who has been vocal against exploitative mining practices in Odisha and other tribal belts. Apart from Prafulla, we also had Sabina Martins, who leads the all women collective ‘Bailancho Saad’ in Goa, Fr. Bolmax Pereira, a priest and a Goa-based activist, Caroline Collasso, a prominent human and women rights lawyer, Nandita Haksar, a human rights lawyer and a writer who has represented workers, women, adivasis, Burmese activists, and the people of the Indian Northeast and Kashmir. Some of the other activists we spoke with are Avertino Miranda, founder of Goa Green Brigade and Gladson Dungdung, a prominent Ranchi-based human rights activist.
As part of the human rights day celebrations, we also published an emotional story involving the rescue of ten bonded labourers from Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh, who were forced into manual labour at sugarcane farms in Maharashtra. Our Community Correspondents Anil Kumar Saroj and Anshuman Singh coordinated with the Maharashtra Police to rescue them and restore their human rights.
We also held a live panel discussion with our Community Correspondents from Kashmir (Basharat Amin), Ambedkarnagar in Uttar Pradesh (Gayatri) and Odisha (Sumitra Baraik) and understood the situation of basic human rights in these regions to wrap up the day.
“Video Volunteers gave me a platform to go the extra mile for people”
Avijit Adhikary is a journalist with nearly 8000 days of field experience till date. In the past two decades, he has witnessed the ebb and flow of the media industry in India, with ripples felt in his region too. This includes the rise of digital media, the decline of print...
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