Sometimes, we activists forget the power of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
Eleanor Roosevelt was the UDHR architect and her reasoning was clear. She wanted less pain in the world and more rights for everyone. Eleanor knew what Albert Camus wrote that “there is a difference between those who count the lash and those who receive the lash.” She wanted to help the lash receivers.
Peter Benenson (founder of Amnesty International) added to the legacy of Eleanor by asking the normal citizen to create a bond with the lashed by writing letters and taking actions to help the oppressed. Benenson wanted activists to keep their contract with the oppressed with the same courage as the abased showed to a dictator. A genius move in 1961. In 1976, Jimmy Carter added human rights to the diplomacy of US foreign policy.
Activism is one thing here in the USA but a little different in most countries in the world. The common denominator of all is courage and consistency in the face of oppression. The human rights movement stays alive on the courage of folks who put their flesh against the gun barrel (as in Myanmar) and to suffer the torturer for days on end. We know and feel the loss of thousands of “disappeared” never to be found again. Millions have been debased physically and just forgotten by most except for their families. The millions of the tortured suffer the rest of their life and become survivors. Victories like those of Mandela or Dr Martin Luther King, Jr are few but terribly important as symbols of hope for us who count the lash and those who receive the lash.
Each nation has these brave citizens. A few win awards like the Nobel. Millions just suffer endlessly in stinking jails with little food or water as Navelnay does in Russia today. The loss of one who was stolen (a “disappeared”) remains quietly in the hearts of their loved ones. Few are ever mentioned again as time washes clean most of the memory. Even once political change comes, most nations do not like to look back. Seldom if ever, is accountability called for. Almost like a rule was written for the purpose of silencing the past. An important exception was the Reconciliation of South Africa led by Archbishop Tutu.
People and governments know millions have been tortured. Yet, I would bet that not over 50 have ever been convicted and served out a real sentence. Many Nazis got to the USA as well as the torturers from Latin American who enjoy the beaches of the American south. No problem, it seems.
So rather than debate the 30 articles of the UDHR, the way I look at human rights is basic, it is what every parent wants for their child; to grow to fullness; school, a job, a doctor if hurt, and a regular bite to eat. All of the rights in the UDHR are important but few read the UDHR and most have never seen it. If you have not read or seen it, please get a copy off the internet.
Yet people live and die for the principles of the UDHR. The writing provides a spine to human rights goals. A right demands a response and that is why Harry Truman ran away from the UDHR as soon as it was passed in 1948 in Paris.
My thought is to bring this document back into the discourse. Many have compared the Biden administration to that of Roosevelt. The UDHR came out of the Roosevelt era and needs another look by the international think tanks. Biden is interested in lowering the pain level of the world for each and every citizen.
This is especially important now, after Trump reenergized the dictators of the world like those in China, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Russia. In contrast to Benenson, who lowered the pain level of the world: Trump raised it. His followers need to travel to these lands to discover the truth of my accusations.
Secretary Blinken speaks of having human rights as a major part of foreign policy. Usually human rights mean eliminating torture, executions both legal and illegal, disappearances (people stolen from the street and their homes), political imprisonment for the non -violent. I agree with all those of course. To me, with respect to that list, I would say human rights is what every mom and dad want for their children.