December 10: Universal Human Rights Day
Universal Human Rights Day is celebrated on the anniversary of the acceptance in 1948 by the United Nations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The Declaration came out of the experience of war and of massive disregard for human rights. For it to receive such wide support was remarkable, given the deep hostility between nations at the beginning of the Cold War. The Declaration continues to set the standards for the relationship between human beings in society today.
It is honoured more in its absence, however, than in its observance. The disregard by combatants and their supporters in the Gaza war for civilians’ right to life and security, the widespread practice of imprisoning children, the unequal treatment of minority peoples in society, and the subjugation of women, are only some examples of disrespect for human rights.
When thinking about what human rights involve, we ought to pay equal attention to both words. Human beings have rights because they are human. And human beings cannot live fully human lives unless their rights are respected. In the United Nations Declaration, Human Rights arise out of the ‘dignity and worth of the human person’.
The concept of human dignity is central to understanding human rights. Rights name some of the conditions that must be met if human beings are to flourish. These conditions can be spelled out roughly in terms of the human need for food and shelter, for security, for love and nurture, for education, for freedom of movement, of speech, of religion and of association, for freedom from discrimination on the grounds of race, gender, religion or wealth, for protection by the rule of law, for raising a family, for work and contributing to society.
These rights are not a disconnected or an ungrounded list. They rest on an understanding of human life in which each human being is unique but is also bound to others. Our flourishing as individual persons depends on the flourishing of all. This connection is important, because the rights of one person or group will often stand in tension with the rights of others. In Australia, for example, the right of the community to safety is sometimes in tension with the rights of children to live and move freely with family and friends. If we see human beings as competitive individuals, we shall see such tensions as winner take all. If we set rights within the context of our shared humanity, however, we shall expect such tensions to arise. We shall then seek to resolve them by negotiation in such a way that respects the dignity of all people involved.
Human Rights Day defends rights. It is also built on a rich understanding of human dignity. On this day we celebrate the fact that the rights it enunciated are universal. We can be proud of the Australians who shared in the drafting of the Declaration of Human Rights and proud that we have committed ourselves to it. It is a standard by which we can judge our national life and priorities.
By these criteria Australian public life will always display grounds for reform. People will always see the conflict between their own rights and the claims of others and will try to restrict others’ rights. Governments, too, will always be tempted to spend more effort on evading inconvenient appeals to human rights than on upholding them. The defence of human rights requires constant vigilance and the capacity to enter the lives of those with whom we differ when there is tension between rights.
Fr Andrew Hamilton SJ writes for Jesuit Communications and Jesuit Social Services.
