We live in a world troubled by inequality and contradiction. Our parliaments have outlawed a range of inhumane practices and passed laws intended to ensure fair treatment for all; yet human rights organisations remind us that for many of the world’s 6 billion human beings, life continues to be a painful struggle for existence against injustice and abuse.
Given today’s modern sheen of civility, the particulars can alarm.
In its Report 2004, Amnesty International described significant human rights violations in 155 countries. The number of complaints to the European Court of Human Rights has soared from just over 1,000 in 1988 to 38,000 in 2003.
Furthermore, it has been well documented that in some western European countries, mere membership in a religious or ethnic minority can lead to job dismissal, cancellation of one’s bank accounts, and even refusals by schools to enroll one’s children.
Is there a common denominator underlying these insecurities and injustices? Is there some causative factor that if identified and remedied would help bring about a secure, stable and just society? The question is not minor: We live in an age when the power of weaponry and the advances of science do not afford the luxury of permitting international tensions to continue to escalate.
To answer with a definite yes would be ambitious. Yet there is one major contributory factor we can isolate. According to leading human rights organisations and international political figures, it is the respect for human rights that emerges as an indispensable ingredient in the formation of stable societies. Violations of human rights injure not only the immediate victims, they also contribute to societal tensions and can foster terrorism and hate crime. No less of an authority than the U.N. Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, has observed, “Large-scale human rights violations are not merely the product of civil and ethnic conflict, they are also a major cause of such conflicts.”
Clearly it is not enough solely to place human rights protections within the frameworks of national and international law. While these are necessary steps, the nature and importance of human rights must be fully understood and applied by the people as well as by their governments.
Thus, the task of educating individuals in human rights must be of primary concern to every government that seeks peace and prosperity for its people, and indeed, to any society that wishes to survive. To otherwise contemplate a future without pervasive human rights is to glimpse a world out of control.
