Seeing human rights as our common language
Posted on January 19, 2025 by Go Free

A powerful discussion with Jess Westhoff from the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in Idaho, USA
„ I think the idea of human rights can really be a common language for people who are in different, not only different countries, but different situations in our lives. I think that human rights really has the potential to bring people together because, at the end of the day, human rights is about what we value the most, and it’s really foundational to everything. (…) So if we can use human rights as a way to come together and to build something better than what is, I think there’s a lot of power in that.”
This is just a tiny fragment from the very powerful conversation we had with Jess Westhoff, Education Programs Manager at the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in Idaho, Boise, USA. We talked about how the Center promotes and raises awareness about promoting and respecting human rights, the importance of the topic in today’s context and what motivates them to continue this work despite the many challenges and setbacks that we see happening around us.
This discussion comes after having participated, as members of the Rural Newsroom, in a thought-provoking workshop led by Jess about the spiral of injustice used as a framework to understand how our language, attitudes and actions can negatively impact the people around us, mostly the people who are already marginalized and excluded. (If you want to learn more about this framework, please access this page.) To build on this information, we interviewed Jess, who shared with us great insights from her experience and from the work of the Wassmuth Center on raising awareness about human rights.

But first things first, a few words about Jess. She is working as the Education Programs Manager at the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights in Boise, Idaho, helping design and direct various education programs for learners of all ages, and has worked in the area of human rights education since 2004. With a passion for education and teaching, and with a strong sense of duty to get involved and make that change she wanted to see in her community, she did not feel it was enough to just identify issues and limitations of the systems and structures she was working and living in, so she took action and continues to do so through her work at the Center.
Raising awareness about human rights by building safe spaces and through the power of education
In her own words, at the Wassmuth Center they “started with a statue of Anne Frank, with the hopes that especially school children could come to the memorial to learn about what happened in the Holocaust, to read the words of people from Anne’s diary as well as a lot of other human rights leaders over the years, and to really learn and reflect.” Over time, she thinks that their mission has grown to be responsive to what is happening around the world today and, at the same time, be a space for people to connect and learn about, as she mentions: “What are the issues happening in our community? How can we work together to imagine something different, a vision of a community where all people belong and thrive?”
“And I think that holding that hope, and that sense of possibility in creating that space for people to imagine together is something that at least in the States is quite rare; it’s very easy to kind of slide into cynicism and to get frustrated when things, you know, are not going in a very good direction.

So with the Wassmuth Center, we really tried to be intentional about creating programming for people in all kinds of stages of their human rights journey, so both in terms of age as well as their interests and commitment. We have some programs that meet twice a month – so it’s people who are really committed, they’re regularly gathering at the Center and deepening their learning and creating community initiatives – and other programs that people can just kind of drop into and check it out and see what we mean when we’re talking about human rights. (…)”
Human rights education project by project
One of the highlight programs that is being implemented at the Wassmuth Center is the Wassmuth Youth Leadership Programme, open to high school students (in the USA that is young people of ages 14 to 18) from the local community in Boise and surrounding rural areas, who meet regularly to discuss and deepen their understanding about human rights, and eventually to start planning and taking action by developing longer-term initiatives for the community.
The Center also implements many professional development opportunities for teachers, to provide continuous learning especially in the field of human rights education through “one-day workshops, conferences and then also a fellowship program where teachers spend a week together during the summer, really digging into human rights topics like: What does it mean to teach about human rights? How can we teach through human rights? (…) How are we teaching for human rights so that we’re contributing to creating a better world where everyone’s dignity is honored?”
Apart from these two central programs, other impactful initiatives are taking place at the Center, such as two book clubs: Generations for Justice and Hope and Humanity, where people of different ages come together, choose the books they want to read on specific topics of their choice, related to human rights, get together and discuss.

Through their activities, the Center is trying to bring together young people not only from around the Center, but also those from surrounding rural areas who most of the time have fewer opportunities to get involved in. To reach these young people is a challenge in itself, as we also see most of the time in Romania, as the physical distance makes it harder for young people to connect with other participants as often as they would wish to. Through school counselors, the Center has managed to encourage young people to get involved and to spark interest in their activities. “So we’re still thinking a lot about how we can better connect with students in other parts of the state. I think that the model that you have here where you have students from around the country and that you’re able to bring them together, not every other week like we did, but you know, at certain points during the year, is definitely something that I’m thinking a lot about and how we might be able to incorporate that. (…) But Idaho is very large and we have mountains like you do here too, so the transportation is very hard. But I think that it’s really important because individuals from, especially the very rural areas, don’t have a lot of opportunities to connect with students who are similarly interested in this learning and doing this kind of work.”
The power of community spaces – the Anne Frank Memorial
Besides the engaging activities taking place at the Center, a core part of it is the Anne Frank Memorial, which is not just a simple place where you have a statue and some benches to sit on, but it is a community space where people can go, visit, but also learn and reflect. And, as Jess put it, “a really great way to introduce not only Holocaust education, but also the idea of human rights in general.” Among other things, the Memorial includes the statue of Anne Frank, the tablets where the entire Universal Declaration of Human Rights is carved into, as well as other walls and spaces with written quotes from human rights leaders.

“And I think that one thing that the Memorial also does is it helps us clearly connect history with the present. History is often weaponized and used in ways to promote whoever’s political agenda, but I think that when we can take something like the Holocaust – where at least, at the moment, there’s still some broad agreement as to what happened – and say what can we learn from what happened here, how can we use the spiral of injustice to identify how this mass atrocity happened?, people can at least kind of have that common ground. It’s like: okay, we know language was such an important part of priming people for the incredible violence that took place, so how can we connect that to what’s happening in our community today? How can we connect it to the way that politicians are sometimes using this dehumanizing language to talk about folks from different communities?
I think that’s a really powerful way to make that connection between the past and present.”

Staying resilient in the face of setbacks
“(…) we don’t want to make anyone in our community feel like the Wassmuth Center isn’t their Center.” This is another powerful message that came out of our conversation with Jess. It really captures the essence of this type of work, but it is also a challenge in itself.
“Human rights and the recognition of human rights requires us to take action, and to do more than just have conversations and reflect. So that’s the part that we struggle a lot with, because we don’t want to make anyone in our community feel like the Wassmuth Center isn’t their Center.” The Center aims to be a welcoming space for the entire community. Jess recognizes that people can be at different stages in their understanding of human rights and that change cannot happen if discussions only happen among like-minded people. Their challenge as a Center is two fold: maintaining their clear moral values while fostering inclusive dialogue where diverse perspectives are discussed constructively.
Sometimes, challenges are also felt at a personal level, and we need to know our sources of motivation to tap into them especially in those challenging situations. What motivates Jess to continue this work?
“Well, you know, at the end of the day, you just have to decide: are you going to hold that possibility for a better future and are you going to keep that hope alive, or are you going to kind of slide into despair? For me, it’s just a better life if I’m connecting with people and constantly working together to create something better, rather than just being upset about what is and the limitations of the current systems and structures. (…)

I have 2 young children: I have an 8-year-old and a 10-year-old, and this isn’t the world that I want for them. I want our world to be a place where all people can experience joy and possibility and that people aren’t always just having to kind of survive and to grab onto these politicians who are just using fear to motivate people. (…) I feel a responsibility to keep working for better.”
Finally, Jess admits that the meaningful relationships she builds with other individuals is another crucial aspect of her work. Those engaged in human rights activism come from diverse backgrounds but share a common goal of creating a community that is better, safer, and more joyful for everyone. These meaningful relationships and shared purpose are a source of ongoing motivation and support for Jess.
Physically distant, yet more similar than we appear
As this was her first time in Romania, we asked Jess what similarities or differences she had noticed between Romania and the USA from a human rights perspective. Although the two countries are miles apart physically and have a different history, there are some similarities that stood out to her: the media, that seems to become less and less independent; the increased visibility of politicians who use fear and promote nationalism; and the difficulty to bring people together, physically. But as Jess pointed out, common challenges mean that we can “learn from each other and work together to try to overcome (them). (…)
I’ve just been thinking so much about our youth leaders and how interesting it would be to connect them with the students in the Rural Newsroom. There’d be so many things I think that they could learn from each other. It’s surprising how connected we are, but it’s still so rare, at least for students in the United States, to ever have the chance to build a relationship with somebody who is not an American. And I think that would be so powerful. (…)

The other thing I’m really taking away is just seeing how Romania’s history is different in so many ways to the United States’ history, but there’s still so many parallels. And I think the current situation in both countries is remarkably similar. So I wonder a little bit about what would happen if more people in the States understood that. Because in America there’s kind of this American exceptionalism where we think that America is different from all the other places. But I think that there’s a lot of power in the American scene, actually, there’s so many parallels to Romania and many other countries, right? And what can we learn from that? What can those similarities tell us that could inform how we could actually be a more inclusive and just society?”
Human Rights – our common language
This conversation reminded us that advocating for human rights is a journey in itself, with its ups and downs, with its challenges, motivation, setbacks and progress, a journey which many of us embark on having different roles, and contribute to building a world that is a better place for everyone.
“I think the idea of human rights can really be a common language for people who are in different, not only different countries, but different situations in our lives. I think that human rights really has the potential to bring people together because, at the end of the day, human rights is about what we value the most and it’s really foundational to everything. And I think that for the most part, we can all agree on one thing: the value of human life and the value of people being supported to thrive and to live joyful lives.

So if we can use human rights as a way to come together and to build something better than what is, I think there’s a lot of power in that. And it’s so easy to get distracted by the nuances of different issues but, coming back to that central idea that every person matters, and as a community, we have a responsibility to make sure that there’s a place for everyone, everyone feels like they belong and they have the tools and the resources to live the life they want to live, I think that’s the key.”
And don’t forget, no matter where you are in this journey: Just Say Yes to Human Rights!
Material created by Ana Maria Simerea, a community journalist at the Rural Newsroom developed within the project “StReEt: Community Journalism School #inRuralRhythm,” coordinated by Go Free – Association for Supporting Civil Society and the Active Development Association, with the support of the Erasmus Plus program of the European Union. Photo credits: Andra Camelia Cordoș, Ema Gavriluță