World Human Rights Day
We put the freedom and dignity of every human being at the centre.
If rights are not recognised and guaranteed even in the smallest places in the world, they have little meaning everywhere
This day today coincides with the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which emphasises the rights of every human being as a human being and is also the most translated document in the world (available in 500 languages).
If every year on 10 December we return to the reminder that every man, without distinction, should be born free and equal to every other – not only on paper – we owe it to Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the late President and promoter, since 1941, of the Four Freedoms (of expression, religion, from want, from fear).
Photo: www.onuitalia.it
Eleanor Roosevelt, as President and most influential member of the UN Commission on Human Rights played a very important role in the formulation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which she presented to the UN General Assembly with the following words:
“We stand today on the threshold of a great moment in the existence of the United Nations and of Humanity. This Declaration could become the international Magna Carta, for every man and in every place”.
Image: massimedalpassato.it
“Human rights begin in small places, close to home, so close and so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere”. This vision, revolutionary for the time, is found in Article 1
It is not difficult to grasp the revolutionary significance of the work of a Commission that for the first time enshrined the equality of all individuals, regardless of gender, skin colour, religion or ethnicity. In fact, although World War II had officially ended, times were still difficult: think of apartheid in South Africa, the Indo-Pakistani war, Stalin’s regime in the Soviet Union, and the spectre of the Cold War, which progressively drew down an iron curtain to divide the world in two. And in the United States, home of the four freedoms, racial segregation was the brutal everyday norm.
WHAT IS THE SITUATION TODAY?
“We need to be more proactive in defending human rights.”
Image: www.eeas.europa.eu
This is what Josep Borrell – Vice President of the European Commission and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy – said last February while recalling the 75th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights: “The situation we are facing at the beginning of 2023 gives pause for thought. The sad reality is that, in 2022, the world has deteriorated in terms of human rights. We have witnessed gross violations of human rights in a variety of countries, conflicts and crises: in Ukraine, Iran, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Myanmar, China and many other places.”(Source: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/nel-2023-invertiamo-la-rotta-materia-di-diritti-umani). Not to mention what is currently happening, since last October, in the Gaza Strip where even the Four Freedoms of 1941 at the origin of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (of expression, religious, from need, from fear) are being trampled upon.” Anything that could be traced back to civilisation has been annihilated in Gaza…everything has been killed here. Especially the future.” (Source: repubblica.it)
#IT IS NOT ENOUGH TO DECLARE RIGHTS:
IT IS URGENT TO RECOGNISE AND ‘FEEL’ THEM RECOGNISED
LET US DO OUR PART FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
WE OF THE GOOD SHEPHERD ARE THERE AND WE FIGHT:
THE DREAM OF A MOVEMENT OF SHARED HUMANITY CONCERNS US!
“…to empower people to fight for their rights and to take action.”
(official UN website)
