Over the last 60 years rights have been progressively institutionalized, with many countries adopting the Declaration into protective legislation, such as the UK’s 1998 Human Rights Act. Our own Constitution refers specifically to human rights, and courts have been set up around the world to enforce them. The downside to institutionalization of human rights discourse is that rights now form a part of global political rhetoric, so that even countries that practice water-boarding and detain indefinitely without trial continue to preach their commitment to human rights because it is politically expedient.
But protection of human rights is not always popular. And this is precisely why the Universal Declaration was proclaimed by states in recognition that they could not be trusted, that they needed a moral code to look and be accountable to, to ensure that for difficult, and even controversial issues their power was checked. So that when, for example, two gay women wish to stand in a hotel before their friends and family to declare their love for each other, regardless of religion, Article 12 says they should be able to without arbitrary state interference with their family or private life, and without discrimination based on sexual orientation.
And human rights need to be much more than political rhetoric. The Declaration demands more of governments than non-interference, it calls on them to pro-actively protect the human rights of its weakest and most vulnerable. This means enacting legislation in the workplace which would protect people living with HIV from discrimination and unfair dismissal (Article 23), it means ensuring that sex workers have a right to non-stigmatizing health care (Article 25), it means training the police force to sensitively address rape cases, and ensuring young people have the right to security against guns and violence.
It is said that the measure of a society is the way it treats its vulnerable. For this Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and at the end of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, we in Antigua and Barbuda should all reflect on the most vulnerable and marginalized in our society, and re-engage with our collective responsibility in getting up and standing up for other people’s rights even when it might not win us popularity or votes.
The UN Secretary General said in his message for this Human Rights Day, ‘we can only honour the towering vision of that inspiring document when its principles are fully applied everywhere, for everyone.’ This means carrying this mighty moral code around inside of us and enacting it through our daily interactions with people. It means demanding that our government do the same, for all humans, including those humans that for fear, personal prejudice, or misunderstanding, we might not like, or agree with.
