Expressing a thought, an opinion, a belief.

How we treat each other is a reflection of the world around us, a manifestation of a sickness that expresses itself in the near constant drama of war and crisis.

That’s why human rights abuses are the thin end of a very big wedge. It’s a good time to read through the UN Declaration and spend a few minutes thinking about what it means to us as individuals.

And then please sign up as a member of Amnesty International wherever you live.

This has been one of the most debated and patrolled articles. The use of torture has been so widespread in times of war and terrorism that it has become government policy in many countries, just another extension of police and military processsing.

It probably falls under “does the means justify the ends” debate. Does torturing information out of a prisoner, which turns out to save lives, justify the action.

Abu Ghraib is an example of how it can all go horribly wrong. The US is not alone in taking whatever measures are needed to break or humiliate a prisoner.

There is no mention in the UNDHR of the responsibilities that come with the granting of rights. Clearly breaking the law is one of them and that would include waging terrorism or state sponsored war.

The Geneva Convention set the standard for treatment or prisoners in a more conventional theatre of war. But many political prisoners are routinely tortured and they may include prisoners arrested for any number of reason which may include terrorism, which these days cuts a wide swathe.

But when dealing with people who wish to kill and maim civilians (such as the 7/7 bombings in London) how far would you go in trying to extract information?

Is it justifiable under pragmatic grounds or should it just be ruled out? Does one take an absolutist perspective such as no death penalty or does one take a more relavatist or utilitarianist approach?

There are many differing views on this.

My personal view is that we should oppose torture. It just lowers us and keeps the fire of anger and hatred burning and quite frankly rarely achieves anything except to deliver more bad karma into the universe.

What do you think?

On December 10, 1948 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the full text of which appears in the following pages. Following this historic act the Assembly called upon all Member countries to publicize the text of the Declaration and “to cause it to be disseminated, displayed, read and expounded principally in schools and other educational institutions, without distinction based on the political status of countries or territories.”

PREAMBLE

Whereas 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,

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,

Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law,

Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations,

Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms,

Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge,

Now, Therefore THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY proclaims THIS UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, 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 measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.

Well it’s a grand start, a huge sweeping statement of love, peace and freedom. The advent of a new world, freedom from fear and want.

Freedom from tyranny and oppression?

It’s too easy to list the abuses, killing and destruction of the last 60 years. I think what is important here is to revisit the vision and imagine it then and now. Is it relevant? Is it too aspirational? What have we learnt about human nature, the institutional arrangements we live with, the way we are ruled or governed?

Are we a big happy human family?

The UN feels like a marriage made in haste and on the rocks. It’s lost its will, its purpose and its values. Its time to refresh and renew those vows or move on to something new.

Here’s another questions for those in school or with kids in school: How many of your schools display the UN Declaration of Human Rights?

Take the opportunity now to send them a link to it or try and get a poster from your local Amnesty team or Human Rights Commission.

10 years ago on the 50th Anniversary I displayed a copy of the wall of the dealing room I worked in. People thought I was nuts; my American colleagues thought I was a commie….but very few people wanted to read it, to understand it, to think about it.

And maybe that’s the problem. We don’t want to think about it, it’s too hard. We might have to take some action, be accountable, question ourselves and our attitudes.

Sometimes I wonder how many member states have read this recently.

Well it’s never too late.

We saw the construction of a new financial system in Bretton Woods and the formation of a extended global brotherhood, The United Nations. But for me the real action was on December 10th 1948 when the UN made a Declaration of Human Rights.

As we approach the 60th anniversary of this hopeful statement it is time to reconsider the Declaration, examine its content and intent and ask ourselves how we see Human Rights today.

From today I’ll be posting up one article daily with some commentary and invite all readers to think about what it means for them and whether it is still relevant today or some hopeless outdated and optimistic posturing.

If you’re looking to get involved in some way then just look up your local Amnesty office and check it out.

I’ll leave with a quote from Edmund Burke,

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”.

Numbers of this magnitude tend to overhwhelm causing a certain numbness to appear. 90,000 or 120,000, it’s a big number. But I don’t want to dwell on that aspect of the disaster but more on what this means for Burma.

A period of searching and mourning followed by rebuilding will take place, following a similar pattern to these events, but in what framework? The miltary junta, bunch of decrepid bovver boys, has no choice but to allow the world in as it has no hope of handling this on its own. Repression yes! reconstruction nah.

If ever a message was to be heeded this is it. The Saffron Revolution was just the beginning, creating a force of energy which some might say has manifested in this terrible way. It is surely no coincidence that just 2 days away is the proposed referendum on a new constitution. A referendum where you can vote but not against it.

It’s been interesting watching the warlord generals and how they look shellshocked and dazed as the cameras focus in on them. But more than anything they look very human. Sure they have plenty of vicious thugs to carry out their torture and murder but now they look weak as they are exposed to the world.

It’s time for the world to really put the hammer down on these dictators and try and bring about some kind of change. Just being able to live without fear of being carted off to prison or a labour camp would be a good start but this may be the point at which birth, although painful, can be given to a new Burma.

The Kingdom is very sensitive to any mention of reform or greater freedom of expression. It has huge strategic importance in the Gulf area and has always been a major bulwark for the West against Iraq and Iran. At the same time its treatment of its own citizens has left a lot to be desired. In some ways its an example of the ultimate trade off between human rights and strategic concerns.

But the key issue here is one of freedom of speech. Many organizations have worked long and hard around the world to support people like Fouad who are imprisoned on no charge and on spurious grounds at best.

Amnesty is one and needs no introduction but Index on Censorship is another organization doing great work in preventing and informing us on cases of repression and curtailment of speech.

It’s a cause all bloggers should support.

It was nearly a year ago that I wrote this post on him. Coincidentally I saw the Last King of Scotland again recently and was struck by something very clear: all these dictators want one thing and that is love. Yes I’m serious they want to be loved, to be accepted and they will do anything to get it. However, they end up not getting it and lash out destroying anything in their path and so the descent in sociopathy begins.

Mugabe has tried so hard to make the Motherland love him, no not Zimbabwe but Great Britain. But that love never came and so he reacted with violence against his own people, with suitable groups identified as the enemy. We’ve seen it all before.

Like Amin, he’d love to go out on top….loved not loathed but his end was written many moons ago. Like all the others before him he will die miserably in some place of exile surrounded by a few loyal servants who have long resigned themselves to his fate.

Amin went to Saudi Arabia but it’s hard to know where Mugabe will end up. Maybe with his mate Mbeki in South Africa? I think not.

I like the quote from Reed Brody at Human Rights Watch, “If you kill one person, you go to jail; if you kill 20, you go to an institution for the insane; if you kill 20,00, you get political asylum.”

As they say in New Zealand, sweet as.

What will the U.N. do? What will South Africa do? The time has come to act before the killing really gets into gear.

Stories about the Taliban’s treatment of women and those who try to help them are legendary in their barbarism.

Now we hear about the treatment of women in Saudi Arabia. It’s one thing to treat women with violence (we have plenty enough of that terrible behaviour in the non-Islamic world) but the dis-empowerment via lack of rights and education is really unacceptable at the most basic level. It means there really is no escape from a life of slavery.

This extremist form of Islam does a dis-service to mainstream Islam and shows how vast and wide that congregation is in terms of beliefs and practices.

You wont hear anyone in power being critical of Saudi Arabia because their strategic position is so important and of course they buy a lot of weapons and sell a lot of oil. The hypocrisy of human rights and trade is summarised nicely here.

This year it’s the 60th Anniversary of the UN Declaration on Human Rights. The UN better start pulling its finger out before it gets done under the trades description act.

Yet out of this comes a story of healing which has lessons for all of us especially those in developed countries where teenage crime is on the rise. I’ll leave you all to draw your own conclusions.

There was Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, who processed thousands through S-21, a prison and torture centre. As he tells it he simply followed orders and after a time realised either he carried on or he and his family would be killed like all the others. This is a common theme: the chance of survival at any cost or certain death. Once you’ve killed a few another hundred or thousand is just numbers.

What about Joseph “Zig Zag” Marzah, a “lieutenant” of Charles Taylor, Liberian warlord. He recalls a culture of fear and severe repression within which there was no escape. Henchman who failed to carry through vicious killings were dispatched in similar fashion, on one occasion completely dismembering a former rebel leader and eating his liver. Cannibalism was encouraged as a weapon of fear.

Anyone who has seen “Blood Diamond” or even the new “Rambo” film will have seen theatrical glimpses of the way ordinary civilians are routinely tortured and killed in various parts of the world.

Never mind the 20th century as the bloodiest on record the 21st is shaping up to be pretty wet also.

Branton posted recently on the film “Beowulf” and how the myth demonstrates that we manifest what we truly believe about ourselves. The birthing of monsters is something we see all the time today. Did the US not support and fund the Khmer Rouge initially? Did they not fund Saddam initially as well as the Taliban?

So what can we learn from all this? Not that there is somehow a solution to genocide or that, as was said post-Holocaust, it will never happen again. It will happen again, somewhere and somehow. Sure we can make changes to the system that generates conflicts and doesn’t provide for all but really it’s ourselves that need to change. What we believe about ourselves is what comes out into the world. Will we continue to be like Hrothgar or will we be like Beowulf? Will we unite with the source or continue to separate ourselves and descend into a world of monsters?

The choice is ours.