As a lawyer, when I hear about human rights abuses my reflex is to seek legal solutions through criminal prosecution, a more human-rights-positive approach to interpretations of laws and regulations, and, when all else fails, new legislation. However, over the past year or two, I keep bumping into things that bring my attention to another form of resistance that is perhaps more accessible and more democratic — art.

Every once in a while I come across a book that changes my understanding of the world. Laurence Bergreen’s Over the Edge of the World, which describes Magellan’s attempt to circumnavigate the globe, has had this effect on me. It is a truly harrowing tale of determination, discovery, and human strengths and weaknesses across different cultures. It made me step back and look at trade as a human endeavour.

Article 1. Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels.

— Declaration on the Right and Responsibility of Individuals, Groups and Organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms Adopted by General Assembly resolution 53/144 of Dec. 9, 1998

Over the holidays, there was a family discussion/debate/argument — don’t you just love them — about LGBTQ rights, specifically gay marriage. An older member of our group resisted the notion of specific rights for the gay community and the younger ones were outraged. The kids repeated what they had learned about identity and performance theories and finally got to the more convincing argument of discrimination.

Twenty years ago I would not have thought that the founders of the Idle No More movement and the anti-rape activists in India had much in common, but along with women activists who were an integral part of the Arab Spring, as well as greater numbers of women in higher political office, it is evident both are part of a growing trend of women leading social change.

The 2012 tag line for Human Rights Day (today, Dec. 10) is “My Voice Counts” — highlighting the rights of all people to make their voices heard in public life and be included in political decision-making.

The social movements of human rights and environmental rights have traditionally operated in separate spheres. Human rights activists have focused on violations of recognized national or international human rights in areas not related to the environment. For their part, environmental activists traditionally focused their activities on advocating for protection of the environment through consultation mechanisms prior to activity that was viewed as harmful to the environment, as well as accountability for environmental harms. Human rights arguments were not part of the picture. More recently, however, there has been an overlap by both of these communities. They have begun to use the language of human rights — both civil and political rights, and economic, social, and cultural rights — to argue against the impacts of activity that would lead to environmental degradation.

It is one thing to write an academic critique of the Genocide Convention, or to debate the merits of different forms of transitional justice; it is another thing altogether to be present in a courtroom, trying to comprehend that a small, unthreatening-looking man sitting calmly only a few feet away is the same person accused of participating in a mass slaughter of human beings.

While we are all in a period of adjusting from summer mode to fall activities, I find the mood to be more sombre than in previous years. Perhaps it is because I am in the sandwich generation — between aging parents and university-aged children, both of whom require time and assistance. Perhaps it is because I can see that no matter how hard we work to eliminate problems, new ones arise.

Jean Vanier, the Catholic priest and founder of l’Arche, wrote in Community and Growth: “The fundamental questions of humanity are always around love and hate, guilt and forgiveness, peace and war, truth and lies (or illusions), the meaning of life and death, and belief in God.”