Applying Human Rights Standards 101

A general view of the U.N. assembly hall in Geneva, Switzerland, during the opening of the Human Rights Council's Commemorative session marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, the United States has failed to ratify key human rights treaties.

Russia, Islam and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 (WASHINGTON/PRAGUE)  On the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Robert Coalson writes that Russian critics consider it "aggressive colonialism and yet another attempt to impose 'Western' values on other cultures." [Read the full article]

In a special commentary titled "Everybody's Misery Matters," William Schulz, the former head of Amnesty International USA, notes that "dozens of states, from every religious and cultural tradition, have incorporated the principles of the UDHR into their national constitutions." He calls the declaration "a revolutionary document exactly because it is universal and thereby takes precedence over every political ideology and every parochial claim." [Read the full article]

RFE/RL's Jeffrey Donovan tells the story of Sabatina James, a 26 year-old Austrian of Pakistani heritage who, since converting to Christianity, "is at the center of a storm between Islam and international human rights law." Her case "dramatically illustrates Islam's growing challenge to the principles enshrined in the world's most translated document, including the freedom of thought, conscience, and worship -- and the right to change one's religion." [Read the full article]

And Radio Svoboda, RFE/RL's Russian service, interviewed former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky about the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, its role in the demise of the Soviet Union, and its potential to influence the situation in Russia.

"The fact that the declaration spawned numerous legal acts and international agreements...has given this document moral authority," he said. "Since its articles have come to be considered the norm, nobody is able to ignore them. Even the Soviet Union pretended to respect these norms. Although, of course, it violated them massively on a daily basis." [More in Russian or English]

human rights universal

The Roman Catholic Archbishop Dom Helder Camara famously said, “When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.”

I work to protect and promote the rights of people. The government and groups with different names and notions challenge me. Most associate themselves with different races, religions, colors, and political and national identity. I also like to identify with my nation and notion, but I don’t want to forget that my first identity is I am a human and my responsibility is seeking rights for humanity. Unfortunately, human rights are denied in times and places where human led crisis cause maximum hatred for a minimum of reasons.

Human rights are the birthrights of all human beings, which are inherent and inalienable and not granted or bestowed by a sovereign power and are not capable of being given or taken away. But it is very sad that there is no place in the world where one can enjoy all rights. Rather, there are many places where people have bare minimum rights.

In the early ages when nature was out of control, man fought against animals and nature. Today, the same man is fighting against the system of suppression and brutality waged by the powerful towards the powerless.

Powerful people are the fuel source of powerful institutions like the state and sometimes they indulge in immoral acts, which are the sources of suppression and oppression.

Some states dictate rights like God edits our wants through our prayers. When we pray, God edits and corrects them and brings them in line with his will. He detects our rights and the boundaries, which according to him should not be crossed at any cost.

Through the charter of the United Nations, almost all sovereign states have recognized the existence of human rights and understand that such rights should be promoted and protected.

The universality of human rights is closely related to the promotion of public moral imperatives under the notions of equality or non-discrimination without distinction to race, sex, language or religion.

But sometimes, religion and political system become a burden before fulfilling any human rights standards. The Abraham religions clearly violate human rights standards by taking the position that men are created higher than women while others like Islam say that those who desire any religion other than Islam will never be accepted.

In some countries dominated by Abrahamic faith believers, the ignorance of believers is causing serious human rights violations in different ways and degrees.

The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of others, which is seen in India’s democratic system.

On Mar. 17, 1998, the then Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi at a commemorative ceremony of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Geneva appealed for a “revision of the Declaration.”

While Islamic criminal laws have a vast official and informal jurisdiction, the UDHR and other U.N. instruments are promoting human rights in countries like Iran.

For example, in 1986, Section 295-C was introduced in Pakistan’s penal code, making the death penalty mandatory for anyone convicted of blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad. Over 200 Ahmadi Muslims were charged with “blasphemy” between 1986 and 1993. The prominent human rights activist John Joseph, Bishop of Faisalabad killed himself to protest against the law. Christians are continuously facing suppression, detention and torture in Pakistan.

The Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam defends its own Declaration but challenges the UDHR, “All the rights and freedoms stipulated in this Declaration are subject to the Islamic Sharia and the Islamic Sharia is the only source of reference for the explanation or clarification of any of the articles of this Declaration.”

While such divisions only help to dissolve human rights, there is still a good opportunity for the world to unite and promote human rights.

60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

It was on this day, December 10, 1948, that the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (which is available in more than 360 languages), for which it called all UN Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and “to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.”

On this the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, events around the world are taking place on this day and for the remainder of the month to celebrate the UN's anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Human Rights Day, which was also declared for December 10th.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

As we approach the 60th anniversary of the signing of the declaration of these rights one of Australia's leading book publishers, Allen & Unwin, has published in conjunction with Amnesty International, the first ever illustrated book of The Universal Declaration.

The illustrations by Michel Streich are quite charming and provide a beautiful and fresh interpretation of this important and remarkable document. Sreich was born in Germany, worked in London for several years, but since 200 has lived in Sydney where his work has appeared on The Bulletin, The Australian Financial Review and other newspapers and magazines. He has also illustrated a number of other books.

Religiosity - partly inherited by Genes

Of course, we don't have specific Genes inheriting the specific musics of Jazz and Beethoven or the languages of French and Chinese. But there is no scientific doubt that we have the genetically heritable traits of musicality and the abilities to speak - which then have to be acquired and formed into concrete, cultural forms in order to confer their benefits. And the same is true of religiosity and religions...

How do we know?

For one, religious behavior is a human universal - it is observable among people in all human societies known to us (since at least the middle paleolithic). Even totalitarian, atheistic regimes have not been able to wipe out religiosity - instead, they developped quasi-religious behavior themselves (as by ritually venerating deceased leaders, simulating omnipresence by pictures and monuments etc.). Of course, there's great individual and sociocultural variation in religious behavior, some people abstaining from it consciously and others never having had the chance to acquire much of it - exactly as we observe it with music and language. You can lose interest in all of these heritable traits, but if you didn't even learn to develop them as a kid, you'll seldom get an expert as an adult.

And second, we have a whole bunch of Twin Studies as presented by Thomas Bouchard and Laura Koenigs, which are measuring observable differences between genetic Twins reared together and apart. And they discover percentages of heritability of many human traits as Intelligence, Musicality - and Religiosity (40 - 60%).

If you think about it, that's the finding we would expect. Through evolution, religiosity became a part of human nature. And the process is going on, as in all free societies, religious people tend to have (on average) more offspring than their secular neighbours of the same educational and income classes.

Universal Periodic Review

Hands up who’s heard of the Universal Periodic Review? OK. UPR then? The Human Rights Council? The United Nations anyone?

Every 4 years your country has its human rights record (and its compliance with its related international obligations) reviewed by its peers, other countries. This mechanism is arguably the jewel in the cap of the new Human Rights Council, which recently replaced the allegedly toothless Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations. The lack of impact was reportedly to do with the ability of Commission members to use this status to avert the Commission’s critical gaze away from their own human rights records.

The resulting UPR is an intergovernmental process where every state is placed on an equal footing, as each will take its turn under the spotlight once within the 4 year cycle. With the help of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, reports are submitted in time for the tri-annual Council sessions where 16 states are reviewed in 48 hours over a fortnight. The state itself submits a report; the UN compiles a report from its sources; and finally, a summary of information provided by NGOs is also included.

These concise documents alone provide a wealth of reliable and up to date information on a particular state’s human rights issues and even without any actual review are surely a welcome development - well worth a read.

The review itself, however, provides an opportunity for dialogue between the state under review and the other states, where a presentation by the state under review is followed by other states’ comments, recommendations and then its own response to these.

This intense 3 hour review is followed-up a few weeks later by a plenary session, where further dialogue ensues regarding which of the recommendations have been accepted or rejected by the state. The interesting element of the plenary sessions is that some time is also set aside for the oft more candid NGOs to enter into the interstate dialogue.

Why is any of this important? Well the good thing is that this mechanism provides a very solid basis upon which you and I can hold states to account. The information is all public. It is all recorded in writing (and via multimedia webcast) and one can clearly see which recommendations a state has voluntarily accepted and sometimes which of these it has actually implemented on the ground.

The UPR may be very new, but its youth should not disguise its serious potential. The UK went under the spotlight in the 1st UPR session, last year. Check out the documents - in particular the UK’s responses to the recommendations made to it by other states - you may be shocked. Now I may be wrong, but I don’t remember reading anything about any of this in the press! Hopefully this will change, perhaps even in time for the states coming up for review this November, in the 6th of the 12 sessions of the first UPR cycle. The involvement of civil society (through the press) is necessary for several reasons, including: for developing real accountability and enforcement, for improving the accuracy and comprehensiveness of the facts and for ensuring that the development of human rights generally is representative of the global community. Under its acronym, UPR, the Universal Periodic Review has the potential to be both short, and sweet.