Human Rights Day – Dec. 10, 2008

Sixty years ago today, the new world organization, the United Nations, adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This was a landmark event, as the nations of the world joined together to try and bury the spectre of genocide raised by the Second World War:

Article 1.
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Article 2.
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.

Article 3.
Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

There are a total of 30 articles. Please read them all at: http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

This declaration was based on these words written 232 years ago to the British monarch, King George III by a small group of men representing the 13 colonies in North America.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”

14 years ago, in the African Country of Rwanda, a group of citizens, known as the Hutus, tried to totally eliminate a smaller group of Rwandans knows as the Tutsis. On April 6, 1994 the killing started. 100 days later, almost 1 million people were brutally murdered; some while they sought protection in churches. During this time the rest of the world stood by and watched. The United States’ official position was to not get involved because “we had no economic interest” in Rwanda. What happened to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights ?

From 1992-1995 in the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina, conflict between the three main ethnic groups, the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia. 200,000 Muslims were murdered. What happened to the Universal Declaration on Human Rights?

Today, in many parts of the world, these types of atrocities continue, mostly in Africa and Asia.

In our baptismal vows, as Episcopalians we promise before God to:

“strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being.” (BCP 305)

The concept of human rights has to be defended every day of every year by all of us who treasure our freedom and liberty. What can we as Episcopalians in Valrico Florida do? We can write to our national political leaders, reminding them that as a free people we have a responsibility to guard the freedom of others, and that this country should be a world leader in defending human rights. Never again should we stand aside while massive killing of other human beings happen because we had “no economic interest.” When human rights are being violated in other countries, regardless if they are our "friends" we need to speak out. If we don’t defend the human rights of others, some day there may not be any one left to defend ours.