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The New Ten Commandments

Human Rights are often considered by the public to have relevance only in the global south, in contrast Higgins sought to position this research project in relation to a small democratic nation in Northern Europe.

Designed to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this documentary project set out to explore how human rights might be represented in contemporary Scotland. To fully explore the question of audio visual representation in relation to human rights, Dr. Higgins gathered together some of the most acclaimed artists and documentary filmmakers at work in Scotland today and asked each to select an individual human right and then he collaborated with them to find a cinematic approach appropriate to particular human rights.

Collaborating with artists as diverse as the Oscar winner, Tilda Swinton, Turner prize winner, Douglas Gordon and novelist Irvine Welsh, the final project offered a double insight; not merely into human rights in Scotland itself but also in terms of innovative documentary practice. Raising funds from the BBC, Scottish Screen and the Scottish Arts council, Dr. Higgins was able to deliver on his original research idea, exploring the abstract concept of Human Rights through documentary practices as diverse as observation, animation and conceptual filmmaking.

This twin trajectory of the research project was further supported by the publication of a companion publication, Learning Through Film: Human Rights in Scotland (2011). This audio-visual education resource sought to make explicit the key relationship between the manner in which a subject is represented and the understanding such a representation in turn generates.

The award winning film and book are currently used within the Police, NHS, Prison service, community groups and many secondary schools as a means to both discuss and critically consider both human rights and there mediated communication.