Running for rights
Sue Shaw estimates the price of freedom.

Trashing our rights
Illustrating the US view of human rights.

Sexual exiles
A gay-rights activist in exile from Iran talks to Bill Schiller.

MEDALS: THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

The divided mother
How daughters cope with being unwanted - a true stoy from Pakistan by Maria Naseem.

MEDALS: THE RIGHT TO HEALTH

They stole my name
Hugh Poulton reports on the dramatic change in Bulgaria's attitude to its Turkish people.

MEDALS: THE RIGHT TO REAL POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

HUMAN RIGHTS - THE FACTS

Offending the eyes of the mighty
The Olympic Games brings misery not medals to the slum dwellers of South Korea.
Stephen Webb explains.

MEDALS: THE RIGHT TO SHELTER

Defying the drought
Botswana - from famine to feast by Colleen Lowe Morna.

MEDALS: THE RIGHT TO FOOD

Simply: How to stop abusing human rights - a guide for governments

Inside prison walls
The sony state of US prisons.
Matthew Reiss reports.

MEDALS: THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM FROM STATE VIOLENCE

ACTION

'YES,' said Vanessa a bit doubtfully. 'I do like it, but I'm not quite sure about the face.' We were poring over the image of the Olympic runner which had been drawn for the front cover of this magazine.

We studied the picture carefully. The decision to commission the illustration had seemed entirely clear-cut when we first saw the rough sketches. But the image had suddenly become ambiguous as we saw it for a moment through another editor's eyes.

Certainly the runner's face has a kind of fierce desperation about it which gives it an edge. 'And that is what I like,' said Chris, who was helping me produce this magazine. He was clasping his head in his hands, wrestling with the doubt that had crept into his mind. (Actually I was just thinking 'is nothing ever easy in this place?' - Chris)

Both he and I were trying to assess how you, the readers, would view the image. Would you, like us, relish its subtlety, recognizing that it is hard these days to see the Statue of Liberty as an unambiguous symbol of goodness? Or would you simply find the runner's face disturbing and wonder what on earth we meant by it? The answer meant the difference between keeping the face the same or making changes.

Part of an editor's responsibility is to ensure that sentences and images communicate what is intended and are not misunderstood. But sometimes you need to listen to others. So we did what people here often do when there is a question-mark over a decision - we canvassed other people's opinions.

Recognizing the value of consultation is one of the advantages of working in a co-operative. The reason we have open-plan offices is so that we can eavesdrop on each other's conversations and chip in when we have something to add. And often in the middle of a day editors or designers will approach one another and ask: 'What do you think of this?' about the lay-out of a page or a T-shirt design.

Sometimes when the decision over which photograph to choose for the front cover is proving particularly tricky, everybody stops work to gather around the slide projector and offer their point of view. This tried and tested method has proved repeatedly that many minds are better than one.

On this particular occasion, however, half the co-op were for the face, and half against. The ball was back in our court. So we decided to keep the drawing the same. We liked the image as a whole because it made this magazine easily identifiable as a sibling to the first Human Rights Olympics issue we produced in 1988 - the same artist, Argentinian Hector Cattolica, was responsible for both. And we chose the image then because it seemed like a poignant symbol of the importance of keeping human rights standards alive; of representing the very best that human beings have to offer.

Since that last magazine the idea of 'human rights' has been at the centre of an extraordinary transformation in the world order. In a very real sense the front-cover image is right - it has set the world aflame. Human rights are (ahem) a burning issue of our times.

Letters
Letter from India
Updates
Reviews: plus The Clash classic
Curiosities
Endpiece by Kit Garbett
Country profile: Paraguay

FRONT COVER ILLUSTRATION: HECTOR CATTOLICA
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