Opinion | Editorials
Let's take a close look at human rights
The Universal Declaration marks its 60th year today, but what has it really achieved?
- Gulf News
- Published: 23:38 December 9, 2008
It was with a sense of purpose that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was signed on December 10, 1948. And it was with a sense of mission that many across the world advocated its principles over the past 60 years. Today, the world community is in need of deep and thoughtful reflection on where it stands when it comes to human rights. An assessment of what has been achieved as much as what needs to be accomplished is crucial if the spirit of the original principles is to be kept alive.
When the declaration was first adopted, it was to bring about respect, protection, and the promotion of human dignity. Such a goal would not have been possible without consistent pursuit and a forceful defence of human rights.
The Declaration was endorsed "as a common standard of achievement for all people and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance." But decades on, it is not the human rights principles that should be questioned but the measures followed globally to ensure their support. This perhaps becomes more pertinent when the records of major players and world powers are examined.
The era of post 9/11 attacks surely come as a good example of how human rights can be violated and abused even by countries that have historically always stood in their defence. Today, principles should reach beyond the confines of the written clauses to become a practice and goal that is consistently abided by nations across the globe.
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