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10 October 2008
Commission on Human Rights, Quezon City
delivered by
LEILA M. DE LIMA
Chairperson, Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines
Good morning! A very pleasant morning to all of you who made it here today!
In behalf of the Commission on Human Rights, I welcome all of you to the kick-off ceremony for the celebration of the 60 th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
On 10 December 1948 , the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Forty-eight (48) voted in its favor, zero (0) against, and eight (8) abstained (all Soviet Bloc states, South Africa and Saudi Arabia ).
Every year, on the 10th of December, individuals, community and religious groups, human rights organizations, parliaments, governments and the United Nations commemorate the adoption of the UDHR. For this year, the theme is “Dignity and justice for all of us.” According to the UN, the theme “reinforces the vision of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as a commitment to universal dignity and justice. It is not a luxury or a wish-list. The UDHR and its core values, inherent human dignity, non-discrimination, equality, fairness and universality, apply to everyone, everywhere and always. The Declaration is universal, enduring and vibrant, and it concerns us all.”
As the UDHR celebrates its entry into the ripe age of 60, it is important to remember the people who had a hand in its eventual adoption on that late night in December 1948. It is important to remember all those people because they were pebbles in a pond; they were people whose acts had ripple effects that reached far and beyond their own time and their own personal circles. These, of course, include the drafters, headed by John Peters Humphrey of Canada , and the world leaders and States of the time who voted for its adoption. We must note, though, that just about everyone who had ever lived, everyone who had any impact on history, also had a hand in the genesis of the UDHR.
The UDHR was not the product of a few months’ or even a few years’ or decades’ deliberations. The UDHR was the product of thousands of years of civilization; of the chain of victories, defeats, mistakes and acts of good judgment of everyone who had ever walked the face of the earth. When the first human beings were born, the right to life began to crystallize. When the first human community or family began to hunt and gather, the idea of the right to food began to form.
Despite the thousands of years of experience that are supposed to have guided us to where we are today, however, the world we live in today is still far from perfect. It is true that, to a great extent, progress was made when the Declaration was adopted, especially given the landscape of the world at the time. It symbolized a threshold that marked the fundamental rights and concomitant minimum obligations from which no one, not even the richest or the most powerful of States, could derogate. Nevertheless, although the UDHR is, by its title and by its language, a declaration of the rights of all people, we must realize that, after all the statements therein, the UDHR adds to those a big, resonating question mark. So it has declared what the fundamental rights are, the next question now is: what do we do about them?
This year, the UDHR celebrates its Diamond Jubilee. The diamond, because of its remarkable hardness and clarity, reigns supreme among all gems in its representation of power, strength, brilliance and unparalleled beauty. The celebration this year, therefore, is very symbolic. It gives us a unique opportunity and, at the same time, poses a noble challenge to all of us. What can we do to make the commemoration of its 60 th anniversary even more meaningful and evocative? What can we do to demonstrate and showcase the power, strength, brilliance and beauty of “the single most important document created in the twentieth century, and … the accepted world standard for human rights,” especially given the tumultuous landscape of the world today and, in particular, of our own country?
We are all pebbles in a pond. Our actions have consequences. The 60 th celebration of the UDHR this year gives each of us ¾ citizens, public servants, parents, children, students, teachers, advocates ¾ an opportunity to leave our legacy, our contribution to the ever-developing understanding, protection, promotion and fulfillment of human rights. How do we use it? Do we organize big, fancy festivities with plenty of food and entertainment for important high-ranking guests? Do we make a token contribution by putting up streamers and banners announcing the celebration?
In a world where the two people vying to be the leader of the most powerful nation in the world are not sure whether health care is a responsibility, a right or an entitlement, the big question mark resonating from the UDHR definitely requires more than token involvement from all of us. The Republican candidate said it was a responsibility, while the Democratic candidate said it was a right. This is particularly interesting to anyone familiar with the rights-based framework. The right to health, as a component of the right to life is, of course, both a right and a responsibility. It is a right that can be claimed by right- or claim-holders, and it is a responsibility or obligation on the part of duty-holders. And, because the rights-based approach is aimed at empowering rights-holders, it entitles them to demand that their rights be protected, promoted and fulfilled.
The question, the answer given, and the apparent lack of understanding of the rights-based approach on the part of major policymakers, who have the capacity of influencing the policies of all the world’s nations, prove just how much work still needs to be done. Therefore, we in the Commission on Human Rights seek the sincere pledges of everyone, especially our fellow public servants, to formulate creative and effective ways to contribute to a meaningful celebration of the 60 th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Although we are called the Commission on Human Rights, it doesn’t mean that the State’s obligations with respect to human rights begin and end with us. It does not.
The amount of work that the CHR does is indirectly proportional to the level of State’s fulfillment of its obligations to protect, promote and fulfill the human rights of all. In other words, if all that the CHR has to do is stand on the sidelines and observe and monitor because each and everyone in the government service is doing his or her part, then that means we’re standing on solid ground. However, observe the workload of the Commission on Human Rights. The more cases we investigate means that more is expected of each and every one of us.
In a perfect world, the UDHR asks nothing extraordinary out of anyone. But this is not a perfect world.
This is not to say, however, that we have not been doing our job up to this point. It was Marie Curie who once said, “One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done.” And, true enough, there still a lot that remains to be done. Perhaps, we can do more. Perhaps we can widen our perspective, think of the things and the people we don’t usually consider. Perhaps we can make a conscious effort to bring them into the mainstream. Isama natin sila sa mga pangarap natin, both in our professional aspirations as well as personal ones.
The means and method, I assure you, need not entail huge costs. The simple reformulation of the declaration of policies of each government body or instrumentality in order to reflect a rights-based approach to governance and development would be a great contribution by itself. A pledge by each government official or employee to shift to a rights-based perspective would go a long way towards the protection, promotion and fulfillment of the human rights of all, particularly those belonging to the vulnerable sectors.
And it’s not even about trying to be heroes. It’s simply about being human, and acting human.
Pagiging tao, at pag-aasal tao .
During one of the presidential debates leading up to the 2008 national elections in the United States, the Democratic party candidate, speaking about the genocide in Rwanda, said that, in those situations, if “we stand idly by, it diminishes us.” Nababawasan ang ating pagkatao. Every time we put property rights on a higher level, or even the same level as the right to life, to health, to food, it diminishes us.
So, let’s each of us make a self-check. The tree is known by his fruit.
What can I pledge? How can I, in performing my official duties, act preventively, not just reactively? What can I change in my personal life to make myself worthy of the appellation of being human? Do I treat the people around me with the proper respect?
We are pebbles in a pond. Each of us can make a small difference; a small ripple. But by working together, we could create a powerful tsunami capable of changing the very face of the earth. We could make this world a human rights-friendly world, even if we start small.