Jeremy Corbyn and the Mayor of Islington spoke about the importance of human rights at an art exhibition and fundraiser.
Last week’s event at The Urban Social Coffee Shop on Upper Street was organised by Share the World’s Resources for a billboard campaign that aims to raise awareness for Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
This constitution guarantees a range of human necessities including access to food, water, sanitation, clothing, housing, and medical care.
Islington North MP Mr Corbyn thanked the artists and said: “Article 25 is one of the most important parts of the Universal Declaration.
“If we let the marketeers take over our world and take over our country, we won’t have the NHS, we won’t have the universal education service we should have, and the care service that is on its knees will disappear altogether.
“We’re quite big enough and rich enough to afford a proper NHS, a proper national care service, and a universal free education for life.”
The Mayor of Islington, Councillor Troy Gallagher, said the council is supporting food banks and homeless projects by way of locally implementing Article 25.
“We are also providing a lot of support to address homelessness in the borough to ensure people have more temporary accommodation-and not just programmes- but also the infrastructures in place that help support that,” he said.
“Additionally, we have a programme called Fairer Together which ensures that the social services come together to address the very complex issues surrounding all of this.”
The Mayor encouraged local communities and individuals to take inspiration from the article.
He added: “People must think: what can I do to start making that change? How can I help to distribute food that may get wasted?
“How can we come together as a community with our local authorities to come up with solutions that will prevent people from sleeping on the streets?”
The artwork for sale was painted by local artists Sonja Scherndl and Fiona Deighton, and raised just under £600 for their billboard campaign.
They will use the proceeds to fund an extension of their campaign from displaying posters about Article 25 on trains to the back of buses.
To purchase any of the art work, visit: sharing.org/shop
For the fundraiser: sharing.org/about/donate
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