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International Human Rights Day - 10 December

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Jennifer1984 On July 20, 2022
Returner and proud





Penzance, United Kingdom
#1New Post! Dec 10, 2018 @ 07:17:48
It's 70 years today since the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Good or bad thing..?

Practical or unworkable in the real world..?

Vital humanitarian legislation or Political Correctness gone mad..?

We all have our own take on these things. For me, one of the most poignant aspects of the foundation of the UDHR was the role of women. Sure, many men were involved, but in 1948 we lived in a world where the authority of men was much greater and some of them weren't overly keen on women getting involved*

But without Eleanor Roosevelt, how far would it have gotten..? Would it have been enacted at all...?

Of course, the former First Lady was the most high profile female figure, but others were involved: Hansa Mehta, whose own country (India) was still involved in a struggle for independence against the British Empire.

Minerva Bernadino who highlighted the emphasis of women's equality.

Begum Ikrahmulla, who championed Article 16 for equal rights in marriage in order to combat child marriage and forced marriage.

Bodil Begtup of Denmark who made sure that the wording was appropriate. Not "All men", but "everybody". It may sound nit-picking, but a document like the UDHR had to be drafted correctly, for example: There is no explicit mention of minority rights, but instead, the charter guarantees equal right to everyone.

Today we are fortunate to have Shami Chakrabarti, the former director of Liberty, an advocacy group which promotes civil liberties and human rights. She is now a Labour politician and member of the House of Lords, and is a woman for whom I have the utmost admiration and respect, not least for the way she (at times almost single handedly) fought against legislation for the British security services that would - if it had passed unamended - have totally stripped us of our privacy. The Bill passed, but not without her amendments and the Big Brother State was averted.


Perhaps, today, we take Human Rights for granted. We shouldn't. This is a precious document that we should protect because there are those in the world who would see it destroyed or altered to suit their own aims.

But today, let's just be thankful that we have it.






*How self defeating is that...? The belief that women shouldn't be involved in the drafting of a document that promotes the human rights of all...!!!
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