EDITORIAL: A milestone for human rights (12/06/98)

EDITORIAL

A milestone for human rights

This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most important human rights documents in the world - if not the most important, because it was the first such document that formulated global standards. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted on December 10, 1948, by the United Nations General Assembly "as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations."

The landmark document states in its first two articles that "all human beings are born equal in dignity and rights" and are entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in the declaration without regard to their race, color, sex, religion, national origin, etc. Outlined in its succeeding 28 articles are the rights to which all are entitled, including civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was proclaimed "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 measure, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of member-states themselves and among the people of territories under their jurisdiction."

Indeed, individuals, organizations and governments around the globe took the tenets of the Universal Declaration seriously. Among those who sought to apply its principles were human and national rights activists in the Soviet Union (to whom this newspaper devoted countless pages through the years). Various organizations sprang up to demand and defend the many rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration and the numerous rights agreements it engendered, or in which it was expressly cited, including the Helsinki Final Act. Many of these groups, including the Ukrainian Helsinki Monitoring Group, would routinely cite the Universal Declaration as the basis for their activity.

And, on December 10, which each year is celebrated internationally as Human Rights Day, many courageous rights activists in repressed societies would organize observances of the declaration's anniversary. The end result, of course, was persecution of those who sought to lead or attend such public meetings. In turn, their activity was defended by leaders around the world who understood full well that, as stated in the preamble to the Universal Declaration, "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world."

Unfortunately, human rights abuses continue even today - 50 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. People in countries around the globe continue to be dispossessed of their basic God-given rights, whether in Chinese-occupied Tibet or Yugoslavia, Russia or Rwanda, or elsewhere ...

That is why, on the occasion of this milestone anniversary, it is fitting for people of good will, wherever they might be, to rededicate themselves to the fulfillment of the Universal Declaration's precepts so that some day the promise of the Universal Declaration may become reality for all.

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