HUMAN RIGHTS
PAINI Andrea Class 4F
1. “Magna Charta as a source of liberty”: write a brief paragraph to motivate the title of the
text.
2. Surf the Net to find out more information about the IRA and the Hunger Strike in Long Kesh
prison.
3. Discuss examples from contemporary life of abuse of basic human rights.
1. Magna Charta : The Magna Carta was signed in 1215 by the English King John and since
then it is considered the greatest constitutional document of all time. This document limited
the king's power, forcing him to seek advice from a parliament or establishing for the first
time that anyone had the right to a fair trial. The title "Magna Charta as a source of liberty"
was used to underline that this document still defended and still defends the freedom of
individuals against the great power of the sovereign and also underlines equality before the
law.
The word "source" also refers to the fact that the Magna Carta laid the foundation for many
other constitutional documents that upheld early human rights, such as the Bill of Rights of
1689 in Britain, and inspired various human rights advocates such as Martin Luther King jr.
and Nelson Mandela; this document is so important for political life that it is now cited in
court cases.
2. IRA : The Irish Republican Army was a paramilitary organisation established by the Irish
Volunteers, which in 1919 the Dáil Éireann, the lower chamber of the Oireachtas (Parliament)
of the Republic of Ireland, recognised as an army of the Irish Republic, proclaimed during the
Easter Revolt of 1916 and reaffirmed by the Dáil in January 1919. As such, the IRA fought in
the War of Independence against British forces. After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in
1921, the members of the IRA who had approved it formed the nucleus of the national army
founded in 1922 by IRA leader Michael Collins. Although the IRA side opposed to the Treaty
continued to exist after the defeat in the Irish Civil War, by the 1930s it had lost much of the
support that the Republicans on the island had initially granted. To better distinguish it from
the regular army of the Republic of Ireland and the organisations that later used and continue
to use the same name (Provisional IRA, Continuity IRA, Official IRA and Real IRA), the
Republican army is also referred to as the Old IRA. In July 2005 the organisation announced
the end of the armed struggle and the decision to dismantle its arsenal. Two months later, an
international commission confirmed the disarmament.
hjThe members of the IRA were so loyal to the cause that they gave their lives for success,
sabotaging, fighting and refusing to obey the British authorities. The greatest manifestation of
loyalty to their cause took place in Long Kesh Prison, also known as Maze, from 1 March
1981 to 3 October 1981.
